Management accounting and control deals with administrative devices which organizations use to control their managers and employees. Management accounting systems are a very important part used to motivate, monitor, measure, and sanction, the actions of managers and employees in organizations.

Preface ix About the Authors xii PART I An Introduction to MACS: Issues, Cases, and Perspectives 1 1 Issues: Why Management Accounting and Control Systems (MACS)? 3 1.1 Why are MACS so Important? 3 1.2 What are MACS? 5 1.3 The Structure of the Book 6 2 Cases: Building the Empirical Basis of the Book 9 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 The Society of Jesus 10 2.3 Wedgwood Potteries 18 2.4 Empire Glass 22 2.5 Johnson & Johnson 28 2.6 Summary and Conclusions 34 3 Perspectives: A Toolbox to Understand MACS 37 3.1 Introduction 37 3.2 Believing in Reality: Positive Faith in Individuals, Needs, and Structures 41 3.3 Believing in Relations: Relativist Faith in Interactions, Actions, and Networks 46 3.4 Summary and Conclusions 52 PART II The Nature, Structures, and Modes of Operation of MACS 59 4 The Nature of MACS: Information, Power, and Control 61 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 Dealing with Power and Control 76 4.3 Relating Theories to Empirical Observations 88 4.4. Summary and Conclusions 95 5 The Structures of MACS: Market, Hierarchies, and Systemic Controls 101 5.1 Introduction 101 5.2 Market versus Hierarchy? 102 5.3 The Metaphor of the System 106 5.4 Relating Theories to Empirical Observations 114 5.5 Summary and Conclusions 126 6 The Structure and Strategy of MACS 129 6.1 Introduction 129 6.2 Strategy and Strategic Planning 130 6.3 Strategy and the Structure of MACS 138 6.4 Product Life Cycle, Strategy, and Controls 151 6.5 Strategy as Ideological Control 153 6.6 Summary and Conclusions 156 7 MACS: Modes of Operation 159 7.1 Introduction 159 7.2 Closed-Rational versus Open-Natural Systems 160 7.3 Typologies of Controls: Uncertainty, Means, and Ends 162 7.4 Styles of Controls 167 7.5 The Teleologies of MACS: From Ideals to Practice 177 7.6 Control as Camoufl age 182 7.7. Relating Models to Empirical Observations 188 7.8 Summary and Conclusions 200 PART III MACS in Action: Issues of Change and Information Technology 205 8 MACS and Change 207 8.1 Introduction 207 8.2 What is Change? A Commonsensical Defi nition 209 8.3 Perspectives on MACS Change: The Power of Individuals and Institutions 210 8.4 A Structuration Perspective: Change as Interplay between Structures and Actions 215 8.5 A Relational Perspective on Change: Insights from the Think Pink Case 238 8.6 A-centered Organizations and the Power of Relations 252 8.7 Summary and Conclusions 254 9 MACS and Information Technology 259 9.1 Introduction 259 9.2 MACS and the Distance Making Controllers and Controlled 260 9.3 MACS, IT, and Minimalist Controls: Further Insights from the Think Pink Case 266 9.4 Summary and Conclusions 274 PART IV MACS as Practices: Issues of Accountability, Governance, and Ethics 277 10 Making Sense of MACS Practices 279 10.1 Introduction 279 10.2 MACS, Governable Persons, and Power-Knowledge Relationships 282 10.3 The Logic of MACS Practice 289 10.4 Praising Numbers as Sacred Figures: MACS Training Regimes 299 10.5 Summary and Conclusions 307 11 MACS, Accountability, and Governance 311 11.1 Introduction 311 11.2 Governance, Accountability, and Trust: From Societies to "Socie-ties" 313 11.3 A Tale of Two Scandals: The Failure of Internal, Institutional, and Social Controls 315 11.4 In Praise of Doubt: From the Tyranny of Transparency to a Search for Ethical Knowledge in Accounting, Accountability, and Governance 328 11.5 Summary and Conclusions 333 Further Readings 335 References 337 Index 357