Recent techniques and shifts in the environment are often viewed as leading management accountants to adopt a business orientation. However, empirical evidence pointing to clear shifts in the role played by management accountants remains relatively scarce. From in-depth qualitative research...

This paper studies the process by which a change in the institutional logic of an organisational field diffuses through the management control system of a firm. The theoretical framework proposed by Hasselbladh and Kallinikos (2000) enables us to describe the institutionalisation process of...

Purpose – Women in public accounting firms are still proportionally much fewer in number in the highest levels of the hierarchy than men, whereas recruitment at junior level tends to be increasingly gender‐balanced. This paper aims to analyse the relationships between the glass ceiling and...

Based on an ethnographic study, this paper analyzes hidden activities in management controllers’ practice. We show that, while they wish to appear as business partners, they do not “sell” themselves to managers. On the contrary, they adopt avoidance strategies, intending to delegate or...

Numerous critical studies argue that control of individuals is obtained through domination. In this article, we focus on the design and on the development of a panoptic organization and not on its implementation. By taking this point of view, we demonstrate the possibility of going beyond the...