Rafael Heinzelmann
Same but different:
Occupational identities of management accountants
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates occupational identities of management accountants in France, the UK and
Austria by the means of a qualitative case study. More specifically, it examines identity regulation,
identity work and self-identities of management accountants by drawing on Alvesson & Willmott
(2002) and Giddens (1991). Previous comparative literature illustrates on the one hand that the UK
context is intuitionally unique in having a strong propensity towards accounting in general, and on
the other hand that management accounting is enacted differently. The paper attempts to advance
the understanding of occupational identities by analysing the interplay between identity regulation,
identity work and self-identity in the field of management accounting. The results demonstrate that
management accounting and control systems, in this case SAP, are powerful means of identity
regulation providing a strong framework for management accounting practices. Nevertheless,
management accountants re-work their occupational identities in line with their own professional
biography to ensure biographical continuity (Giddens, 1991).
Rafael Heinzelmann
PhD student / Research assistant
University of Innsbruck
School of Management
Department of Accounting, Auditing & Taxation
Universitaetsstr. 15; 6020 Innsbruck/Austria
rafael.heinzelmann@uibk.ac.at
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Introduction
Research in accounting has shed light on how accountants compete with other professional groups
for power and prestige in organisations and society (cf. Armstrong, 1987; Ezzamel & Burns, 2005).
In explaining the power and status of accounting, emphasis is placed either on the organisational
level (Ezzamel & Burns, 2005) or on the respective society and their higher or lower propensity
towards accounting (Armstrong, 1985). Ahrens (1996; 1997; 1999) compares management
accounting practices in British and German organisations, finding in particular differences in how
accounting is mobilised and involved in organisational practices (Ahrens, 1999, p. 6). In this context,
the paper focuses on the occupational identities of management accountants and uses a case study
methodology. In Wood Plc. (pseudonym), a strong idiosyncratic Germanic understanding of
management accounting is used across its manufacturing units in Europe. This idiosyncratic
approach is supported by the use of SAP, an enterprise resource planning software package that
allows Wood Plc. to provide a strong framework for management accounting practices. At Wood, the
organisational roles of management accountants as conveyed via SAP, handbooks and reporting
templates do not always measure up to professional role expectations. Professional role
expectations are in particular inscribed via management accounting education. This might account
for any tensions between the professional and organisational socialisations of management
accountants. In extant research, such tensions have been problematised in studies of the
socialisation of accountants in the Big Four accounting firms and the accounting professions in
general (Cooper & Robson, 2006). Hanlon (1994), for instance, demonstrated an increasing
commercialisation of the accounting professions that led to a shift from professionalism to
commercialism and produced tensions that are a result of being a professional and an
organisational member at the same time. Recently, the literature on the accounting profession has
increasingly engaged in linking the socialisation of accountants to accountants’ identities.
Kornberger et al. (2011), for example, provide evidence that previous identities are destabilised
when accountants are promoted to managers. In management accounting research, the socialisation
of management accountants, accountants in industry and controllers has received scant attention. It
is assumed that these types of accounting professionals are socialised in specific organisations.
However, changes in the roles of management accountants in organisations are documented,
providing evidence of an increasing business orientation of the management accounting role (cf.
Burns & Baldvinsdottir, 2005; Granlund & Lukka, 1998). Comparative management accounting
studies have emphasised differences in the institutional contexts. More specifically, the unique UK
environment with its Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is compared with less
institutionalised management accounting environments such as the German-speaking countries or
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France (cf. Becker & Ellebring, 2007; Bourguignon, Malleret, & Norreklit, 2004). Moreover,
comparative accounting studies have presented differences between the UK and Germany in terms
of the understanding, role and organisational enactment of accounting (Ahrens, 1996, 1997, 1999),
the educational biographies of management accountants (Ahrens & Chapman, 2000), the role and
impact of professional institutions (Becker & Ellebring, 2007), and the social status and power of
accounting (Armstrong, 1985). Other studies noted differences between French and UK professional
accounting institutions (Bourguignon, Jones, Dugdale, & Luther, 2010), differences in the ways the
countries adapt management control systems (cf. Bourguignon et al., 2004, for the French context;
cf. Speckbacher, Bischof, & Pfeiffer, 2003, for the Germanic context), and the different status of
management accounting in those societies (Lebas, 1994). To date, comparative management
accounting research has established a body of knowledge comparing the UK with Germany or
France. This paper compares and investigates the occupational identities of management
accounting at Wood Plc. in France, the UK and Austria. It focuses on how these occupational
identities are governed by organisational means of identity regulation, how management
accountants mobilise identity work, and which occupational self-identities are the “outcome” of this
process. Additionally, it discusses the educational background of the interviewees. This seems to be
relevant because prior literature suggests that management accountants have different role
understandings and occupational ideals and that the accounting craft is therefore enacted in
different ways in different countries (Ahrens, 1999). Investigating occupational identities leads to
an understanding of why management accounting practices differ across countries by showing the
underlying rationales of the practices. The paper draws on Alvesson & Willmott’s (2002) framework
on identity regulation to investigate management accountants’ occupational identities. The authors
argue that identities are mutually influenced by identity regulation, identity work and self-identity
(ibid.). Identity regulation can be pursued for instance by means of the management accounting and
control systems, in our case SAP, and by limiting and defining what is part of management
accounting and what is not. Identity work, on the other hand, is the activity of actors making sense
of, changing, and revising their occupational identities. Self-identity is understood as the outcome of
the identity process that encompasses identity regulation and identity work (ibid.). Self-identities
are considered as being stable and fluctuating at the same time but exhibit some “biographical
continuity” (Giddens, 1991).
Moreover, the paper employs the notion of occupational identity since it is established in
management accounting (cf. Ahrens & Chapman, 2000; Järvinen, 2009). In doing so, it contributes to
the accounting literature in the following ways: First, it enhances the understanding of how
management accounting is regulated in an organisational context by shedding light on the different
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practices of identity regulation, for instance the management accounting and control systems SAP
and the use of an idiosyncratic management accounting understanding. Second, the paper focuses
on the identity of management accountants, which has been given little attention so far. Previous
accounting research has tended to focus on professional identities in order to explain socialisation
in big accounting firms (Gendron & Spira, 2010). Such contexts are different from management
accounting socialisation because they imply very structured training at chartered accounting bodies,
whereas the socialisation of accountants in industry appears more diverse. British management
accountants seem to receive training from professional accounting organisations, which play only a
minor role in the training of French and Germanic management accountants. Third, the paper
demonstrates the identity work management accountants do “to keep a particular narrative of self”
(Giddens, 1991, p. 54) going in order to achieve biographical continuity (ibid.). More recently,
management research, which has been quite productive in researching identities especially within
the critical management studies community, has claimed to investigate how identities are reworked (Alvesson, Ashcraft, & Thomas, 2008; Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). By focusing on
occupational identities of management accountants, the paper contributes to a more “contextualized
understanding of accounting” (Burchell, Clubb, & Hopwood, 1985) and sheds light on how
management accounting is standardised, re-worked and expressed at Wood Plc.
The paper is structured as follows: First, it describes the theoretical lens used to study management
accountants’ occupational identities (understanding identities). Second, it presents the research
methodology and methods (researching identities). Third, it introduces the case organisation and its
management accounting. Fourth, the empirical material subsequently demonstrates practices of
identity regulation and how management accountants re-work their occupational identities in order
to achieve biographical continuity. The outcome (self-identity) of the identity process is presented
with particular reference to the “good” management accountant. Finally, it discusses the results and
draws conclusions.
Understanding Identities
Identity is a concept used by various branches of social sciences, such as philosophy (cf. Foucault,
2006), sociology (cf. Giddens, 1991), anthropology (cf. Krieger, 1979, 1983; Lamont, 2000),
psychology (cf. Hogg, Terry, & White, 1995), cultural studies (cf. Barker, 2004), management studies
(cf. Alvesson et al., 2008) and accounting research (cf. Messner, Becker, Schäffer, & Binder, 2008). In
social sciences, a wide range of approaches are employed to investigate identities. This paper draws
primarily on Alvesson & Willmott (2002) and Giddens (1991) to investigate the professional
identities of management accountants.
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Whereas Alvesson & Willmott (2002) focus on identity regulation as well as organisational control
of identity, this paper focuses more on the actors’ perspective. In doing so, (professional) selfidentity gains centrality. Identities always include an active meaning production of the actors by
producing self-accounts (Giddens, 1991). In their empirical investigations, Lamont (2000) and
Krieger (1979, 1983) found that identities are primary self-accounts demarcating the self from
others. The term ‘identity’ is likewise used in this paper to mean an account or a description of self
in contrast to others. This notion of identity implies that the group of management accountants can
have similar or different identities across countries, supposing that there is no uniform
management accountant identity. Hence, the assumption here is that there is a certain degree of
both sameness and difference among this group in terms of occupational identities; the reason being
simultaneous same and different influences on these professional identities. Consequently, the focus
is on how management accountants articulate their profession by means of vocabulary, metaphors
of being a “good professional”, and demarcations, all part of the socialisation as a professional.
There is a difference between professional and organisational socialisation. Professional
socialisation draws on how professionals are socialised into a professional group, while
organisational socialisation is concerned with how professionals are socialised in a specific
organisation. The distinction between professional and organisational socialisation is crucial
because organisations and professions can act as conflicting sources of identity.
In order to investigate identities, Alvesson & Willmott (2002) distinguish between identity
regulation, identity work and self-identity; each sphere is of equal importance in understanding
identity. Admittedly, the authors of the framework place heavy emphasis on identity regulation and
organisational control. Identity regulation prompts identity work, identity work re-works selfidentity, and self-identity is responsive or resistant to identity regulation. At the same time, identity
regulation influences self-identity, self-identity initiates identity work, and identity work informs
identity regulation. The figure below illustrates the relationship between identity regulation,
identity work and self-identity:
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Figure 1: The interplay between identity regulation, identity work and self-identity
(Alvesson & Willmott, 2002, p. 627).
Identities are affected by regulative attempts in societies, professions and organisations. In this
context, identity regulation can be understood as:
“(…) an activity which encompasses the more or less intentional effects of social practices upon processes
of identity construction and reconstruction” (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002, p. 625).
It is the medium and means of professional and organisational control at the same time (ibid.).
Alvesson & Willmott (ibid.) identified an increase in management’s interest in regulating employees’
insides; namely their feelings, self-images and identifications. Identity regulation offers ideals of
being a professional, and these ideals are translated into narratives of self-identity (ibid, p. 622).
Thus, people in organisations and in professions simultaneously influence and are governed by
identity regulation. They are the medium in terms of promoting or actively rejecting such identity
constructs, and they are also the outcome regarding the effects of such identity attempts. Identity
regulation is persuaded by the means of induction, training and corporate education via corporate
communications, etc. (p. 622). Regulating identity fosters the construction of ‘we’ in terms of
professional identity. Socio-ideological control is seen as part of identity regulation, whereby socioideological control is defined as “(…) efforts to persuade people to adapt to certain values, norms
and ideas about what is good, important, praiseworthy, etc. in terms of work and organisational life”
(Alvesson & Karreman, 2004, p. 426). In the case of occupational identity, organisations and
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professions exercise identity regulation in order to provide a kind of ideology of good professional
conduct. The impact of identity regulation is one source of sensemaking in identity work. Identity
work is pursued by people as subjects, professionals and members of organisations. It is important
because it has concomitant stabilising and weakening effects on self-identity. Sveningsson &
Alvesson present identity work in the following way:
“(...) identity work refers to people being engaged in forming, repairing, maintaining, strengthening or
revising the constructions that are productive of a sense of coherence and distinctiveness. Identity work
may either, in complex and fragmented contexts, be more or less continuously on-going or, in contexts high
on stability, be a theme of engagement during crises or transitions“ (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003, p.
1165).
In other words, identity work ‘re-works’ identities in order to achieve biographical continuity.
Subjects are not passive consumers of occupational self-identities defined by organisations or
professions (ibid.). On the contrary: identities are evaluated in “(…) specific events, encounters,
transitions, experiences, surprises (…)” (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002, p. 626). Identity work has also
been delineated as a struggle (Alvesson, 2010) to answer the question “Who am I?” (Sveningsson &
Alvesson, 2003, p. 1164). This is in line with Giddens (1991), who argues that identity presumes the
ability to distinguish I/me/you as well as to respond to this question. As regards OR In the context
of occupational identities, this researcher understands identity work as the active engagement in
making sense of the job, which is impacted by various societal, organisational and professional
influences that produce tensions and inconsistencies in the occupational identity construct. In order
to “(…) to keep a particular narrative going” (Giddens, 1991, p. 54) and enable biographical
continuity, identity work is conducted in a way that is contingent upon life history and filters out
major tensions and inconsistencies (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). In a nutshell, identity work can be
defined as interpretive activity working on self-identities. It is an important part of the accounts of
self because it re-works accounts of self and informs identity regulation. This constant process of
creating, forming, adapting, and changing with a certain contingency over time and space makes it
possible to achieve biographical continuity (Giddens, 1991) by means of relating identity to few
significant events which fit into the understanding of self. Self-identity is understood as “the
precarious outcome” (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002) of identity work or as the articulation of self
(Giddens, 1991): Self-identity assumes first and foremost the reflexive awareness of actors and is
constituted by continuity (ibid.). Consequently, self-identity aims to maintain a “protective cocoon”
(Giddens, 1991) across time and space. The protective cocoon is the construct of self “(….) which
‘filters out’, in the practical conduct of day-to-day life, many of the dangers which in principle
threaten the integrity of the self” (ibid., p. 54) enabling the achievement of biographical continuity
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across time and space. Hence, biographical continuity is accomplished through keeping “(…) a
particular narrative going” (ibid., p. 54).
A pertinent property of self-identity is that it is robust and fragile at the same time. On the one hand,
‘robust’ describes its ability to remain stable in spite of tensions arising from changes in time and
space (ibid.). One the other hand, self-identity is fragile because the particular description of the self
is one of several stories about the development as self (ibid., p. 55). Subsequently, tensions,
inconsistencies and changes can evoke adaptations of self-identities. Unlike passive constructs,
which are only an outcome of the environment, self-identity actively shapes its environment. In the
context of management accountants’ identities, self-identity is used in a specific way. The units of
analysis are occupational identities—the identities of professionals such as doctors or accountants.
This implies that self-identity is influenced by socialisation into a specific professional group.
According to Giddens (ibid.), self-identity is only one of several stories. The present research
attempts to investigate how management accountants from different accounting cultural
backgrounds achieve biographical continuity as management accountants. To be more specific, this
biographical continuity of occupational self-identity is influenced by various factors that stabilise
and weaken the professional self-identity at the same time. The objective is to stay in the protective
cocoon (ibid., p. 53) produced by biographical continuity. Identity work plays a crucial role in
achieving such continuity by actively engaging subjects in making sense of various influences on
self-identity. In doing so, identity work helps professionals take various influences, for instance role
models in handbooks, and interpret them in a way that ‘fits’ their professional biography. Similar to
accounting, critical management studies relate identity by tendency to organisations instead of
professions (Casey, 1995). This paper tries to take both spheres of identity into account. These
spheres influence identity by defining good professional conduct, induction, training, and promotion
procedures (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). As already stated, subjects do not act as passive objects;
they respond to identity regulation by adapting, changing, and resisting (ibid.). Prior studies, for
example those on managers’ identities, have shown that identities can be very dynamic, fluid and
fragile, and that they incorporate contrasting positions (Clarke, Brown, & Hailey, 2009). This is
concurrent with Kornberger et al. (2011), who examined the field of accounting and proved that
identities in a big accounting firm are destabilised and changed when professionals become
responsible for other functions.
This paper utilises Alvesson & Willmott’s framework, with its origins in the Foucauldian discourse
analysis that focuses on broader societal discourse level including a certain emphasis on power
aspects, to investigate identity practices on a more micro level. In doing so, it examines how
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management accountants achieve biographical continuity in an organisation where professionals
are confronted with an idiosyncratic Germanic understanding of management accounting.
Researching Identities
The paper draws on a qualitative case study methodology (cf. Yin, 2009). The empirical material
was collected from May to December 2010 in the case organisation (hereafter called Wood Plc.). It is
mainly based on interviews with management accountants, accountants, and managers ranging
from departmental managers to financial and technical directors in Austria, the UK and France.
Additionally, internal documents such as handbooks, presentations, and publicly available
information were analysed. The fieldwork consists of four visits to the headquarters of Wood Plc. in
Austria and two visits to the French and British subsidiaries. During the first visit to headquarters,
the accounting group gave an overview of management accounting at Wood Plc., followed by a tour
of the plant. The accounting group presented organisational charts, the systems, and some specific
reports. The two days that followed were intensive, encompassing interviews and informal
conversations with Wood Plc. employees during their lunch and coffee breaks. After transcribing
and analysing the interviews and other materials, the researcher travelled to the UK-based
subsidiary of Wood Plc. for three days to conduct valuable interviews, visit the plant, and attend
informal events such as lunches and dinners. Interviews at the French subsidiary were conducted
later. The interview material is in German, English and French. All in all, 19 interviews were
conducted, transcribed and analysed using the NVIVO Software Package. In order to analyse the
empirical material, codes based on theory, the empirical material as well as prior research were
developed.
The case organisation
The case organisation Wood Plc. is a manufacturing company that produces wood products for the
European market. It is family owned and not listed on the stock market. Headquartered in Austria,
Wood Plc. has approximately 6000 employees and comprises 17 production plants and 20 sales
offices throughout Europe. In terms of production and markets, Europe is the main focus of its
business activities. The company’s main product is the chipboard for the furniture industry. Over
the past five years, Wood Plc. has undergone sweeping changes in its governance structure,
financing, and the number of sites in different countries. Wood Plc. is currently run by three
management professional employees: a Chief Financial Officer who is also the speaker of the
executive board and responsible for human resources, a Chief Production and Technology Officer,
and a Chief Marketing and Sales Officer. The owner’s family is no longer represented on the
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executive board but still influences strategic developments and decisions via in the supervisory
board.
Wood Plc. was launched in the 1960s. In the last five years, it has seen accelerated growth through
acquisitions and the construction of new plants. Since the governance structure changed in terms of
the management board, there has been much more rapid growth with respect to the return on sales,
EBITDA, the number of employees, and investment volume as well as the company’s increased
presence in other European countries. Today, Wood Plc. is seen as one of the few dominant
European players in the wood manufacturing industry. Internationalisation, growth and changes in
governance structure have affected and are still affecting the company. The company’s
organisational design, organisational procedures, and language have changed. Wood Plc. is financing
part of its business activities with long-term bonds from the capital market, so it publishes more
detailed annual reports to fulfil capital markets requirements. One peculiarity of Wood Plc. is that all
its plants are located in rural areas where the main resource, wood, is readily available. Even
Wood’s headquarters, which consists of the administrative offices and the company’s first
production plant, is situated in a small city. . Historically, the case organisation owned plants in
Austria. Its growth strategy has been always either the acquisition of companies and plants or the
building of new manufacturing units. The UK plant was the first purchase outside of Austria,
followed by plants in Germany and France. The location of Wood’s production facilities in the
countryside close to forests shapes the company’s role in the region and is also crucial to its
corporate culture. On the one hand, in all three regions, the case organisation is the biggest
employer within a 20-kilometre radius. The company’s main competitors are not far away, though,
which makes each of these regions a kind of a “wood cluster”. On the other hand, Wood’s corporate
culture can be characterised as down to earth, and the location of the production units undoubtedly
affects the recruitment of new employees. Wood Plc. is a European player in the wood industry that
is located in and shaped by rural areas throughout Europe. The next chapter will will introduce how
management accounting is organised at Wood Plc.
Management accounting at Wood Plc.
On a group level, management accounting is part of the accounting group. The accounting group
consists of no more than six employees divided into the consolidation group and the controlling
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group1 (Gruppencontrolling). The head of accounting is responsible for the whole area of accounting
and reports directly to the CFO. The figure below shows the organisational chart of Wood Plc.:
WOOD
GROUP
Executive Board
Group
Functions
Cf. Accounting Group
WOOD Plc.
UK
WOOD Plc.
France
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
Comptabilité & Contrôle de Gestion
Wood Plc.
Austria
Rechnungswesen
Figure 2: WOOD GROUP
The consolidation group is in charge of the consolidated financial statements of the group. The
controlling group (Gruppencontrolling) is the main authority within Wood Plc. regarding reporting
standards and the implementation of new reporting techniques and systems as well as the
supervision of the whole management accounting system and its practices. It can be seen as the
centralised gatekeeper for ‘good’ controlling at Wood Plc. Most of the routinised activities are
delegated to Admin/Finance in each country. At the Austrian Plc., the accounting department
includes cost accounting; it employs two accountants and eight cost accountants. Additionally, the
Austrian Plc. partly fulfils the functions of the group accounting. The British Plc. has a department
called financial accounting with the sub-divisions financial accounting, controlling and treasury. In
France, two departments handle accounting issues: Comptabilité générale (financial accounting) and
Contrôle de Gestion (management accounting). In every country subsidiary, accounting as well as
management accounting departments report to the financial directors (FD), who are also
responsible for general administrative services and human resources. In short, the governance
structure of the Wood Plc. is organised around three main chief executive officers. In each country,
one director is responsible for production and technology, one for marketing and sales, and one for
general services and finance. The responsibilities of the FDs are general administrative services,
finance/accounting and human resources. On a group level, one part of the accounting group is
responsible for consolidation and the other part for controlling. Furthermore, it is evident that the
organisational structure reflects both some national traditions in accounting and a tendency toward
standardisation within the group at the same time.
1Controlling
is the German term/concept used across the group.
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Practices of identity regulation
Accounting plays a pivotal role in standardising accounting in the whole group. In terms of
management accounting, the Gruppencontrolling has been set up to provide standards of systems
and practices in management accounting. It was established due to increasing complexity within
management accounting that resulted from accelerating growth. Consequently, Gruppencontrolling
is trying to establish the construction of a “we” in the field of management accounting. The
controlling manual, which is a handbook for controllers written by the Gruppencontrolling, defines
the “we” in the following way:
“It should help to achieve the principle strategic statement by the group management that everything must be
comparable between all members of the group – at an understandable level. In order to satisfy this aim, all
members of the group are required to speak the same ‘language.’ ” (controlling manual).
For this reason Wood Plc. aims to ensure that each management accountant “speaks the same
language”, which is one of the intended effects of standardising management accounting and
thereby regulating management accountants’ professional identities. The controlling manual,
management accounting, and control systems are central factors in regulating management
accounting at Wood Plc. They are supplemented by highly standardised reports and calculation
templates as well as the use of the concept of controlling within the whole group.
The role of SAP in shaping the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries
The implementation of SAP, an enterprise resource planning software, is seen as major incident for
Woods’ management accounting. In this context, the British financial director states:
“The balance between central and decentral is certainly an issue. But there are the usual conflicts, and that is
normal. Approximately 10 years ago we started our SAP initiative in terms of integrating all systems. At that
time one, of the aims was to bring the countries (subsidiaries) back into the fold. But it was also necessary
because we started to have consolidated accounts and the same reporting. Some people at Wood thought
differently at the time, but in general the implementation has been seen as positive. Besides that it is always a
question of culture. In France (the French subsidiary), for instance, Wood purchased both plants from
international groups. That means they have been always centralised – they were used to report to the
headquarters. In the UK this was a bit different. The UK subsidiary has always been on a ‘long leash’ with a
strong decentralised and thus independent management. This is often not culturally-driven; indeed it is
dependent on the structure. If you build something (a plant) on a greenfield, it is much easier to teach people
the Wood philosophy in our mission statement. Having an influence is certainly easier…” (FD, UK).
According to the British financial director, SAP enables Wood Plc. to, as he puts it, “bring the
countries back into the fold”. He describes SAP in terms of the relationship between headquarters
and subsidiaries. SAP enables the headquarters to exercise control from a distance. SAP was
intentionally introduced to increase control over the subsidiaries. It is a powerful device for defining
and communicating standards at Wood. It especially shapes the relationship between headquarters
and the subsidiaries. According to the above quotation from the British FD, the history of the
manufacturing unit is meaningful in the acceptance of centralised controls. In this regard, the UK
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subsidiary is described as a unit accustomed to being ‘on a long leash’. In the financial directors’
view, the acceptance of centralised controls is not a cultural issue but rather a question of structure
illustrated by the example of the construction of plants on the greenfield. Comparing greenfield
plants with existing production plants has putted increasing pressure on the established
manufacturing units in Western Europe that result from the new manufacturing units in Eastern
Europe. Since there is a benchmarking of all production plants in terms of production costs, there is
internal competition for the allocation of resources. The comparison of production plants seems to
be an important issue for the British financial director:
“…it is a reasonable argument that the chipboard plant x (‘the headquarters plant’) in Austria is the same as
the chipboard plant z in Austria. Partly that is true, because the processes are similar. But still there are
always peculiarities (…). The chipboard plant x in Austria is a good example but a very complex
manufacturing unit. It was not a greenfield construction (…). From a logistics point of view it is a nightmare!”
(FD, UK)
This quotation demonstrates that in principle the production of chipboards is the same in all
countries. However, there are differences even in the production processes due to the different
designs of the plants. SAP produces comparability between the manufacturing units within the
group. Prior literature suggests that the implementation of an enterprise resource planning system
can have different effects. Quattrone & Hopper (2005) use a comparative setting to show the
different effects the introduction of SAP can have. In one organisation they investigate
disintegration between time and space in the headquarters-subsidiary relationship (ibid.). In
another organisation, the established relationships are reproduced. In the case of Wood Plc., SAP
established closer links between the headquarters and the subsidiaries and changed management
accounting by requiring all management accountants to work with the same system, SAP. The
management accounting and control system SAP regulates professionals’ identities of management
accountants by providing a clear frame of reference which is the same throughout the group. As
shown later, SAP is a strong means of influencing identity work. In contrast to these intentional
regulative effects of SAP, social relations between members of the subsidiary and the headquarters
seem to shape this relationship. On the one hand, the British FD and the Austrian FD are closely
connected to the headquarters. Both had been in charge of group projects before becoming financial
directors. On the other hand and in contrast to his British and Austrian counterparts, the French
directeur financier had not had a group function or controller’s role before becoming FD:
“At the time (when Wood purchased the plant) I was the assistant financial director in the former company
and then I became financial director” (FD, France).
Hence, the French directeur financier has been always in the French subsidiary, but he now
complains in particular about also being in charge of human resources. Since Wood Plc. usually has
only three directors (production, sales and financial) for each country’s subsidiary, human
resources (HR) falls under the financial director’s scope of duties. This is very uncommon in France,
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and the French FD argues that in terms of time, this responsibility is difficult to manage because it is
especially time consuming to be responsible for HR in France:
“One third of the FD job is finance, treasury, and banking stuff. Another third of the time is accounting, and
one third is completely taken up by human resource issues. Did you see the demonstrations against the new
retirement law? Everybody was on the street…For us, that means we have to really explain the new laws to
our employees. The time that takes me is not comparable with other Wood Plcs. In France we have really
specialised HR departments. This is very important compared to other countries, also because the law
changes all the time. At the moment we are not worried about further protests, but at Wood nobody will
understand new demonstrations. We have to spend a lot of time negotiating and convincing the labour
unions. Well, I have to touch wood (he knocks on the table)…up to now it has not been too bad! (…) I prefer
controlling, the analysis of deviations, etc…” (FD, France).
Companies in France usually have a top executive (president directeur générale or PDG) and a board
of directors. Wood Plc. France is managed without a PDG. The French FD sees his responsibility for
HR as unique in the group because of constant changes in French labour law, strong unions, and a
tradition of strikes. Informally, the French Wood employees express their feeling that their
subsidiary is “always the last in the chain” regarding resources, information, etc. The two French
plants have always been part of larger organisations, and the headquarters is perceived as a
negative control agent—a noticeable contrast to the British or the Austrian subsidiary. Indeed, the
head of the accounting group draws on a very personal account to discuss the relationship to
subsidiaries using the French as an example:
“When I took over the accounting group, I quickly established good rapport with the French because I speak
their language. They really were happy that somebody came to the manufacturing units and spoke French
instead of English and didn’t need a translator! That was challenging for me (…). I think my personal
relationship with France (the French subsidiary) is very good. I always realise that during meetings—I try to
make the French part of the group. For instance in the Rumanian manufacturing unit, which is one of our
newest, we tried to establish a strong relationship with the controllers early on by coaching and mentoring.
He (the Rumanian plant controller) was there at the start of the greenfield and he has been was in Austria (at
the headquarters) for some time” (head of the accounting group).
It is interesting that on the one hand, French language skills are still important and that on the other
hand, the head of the accounting group tries to take the French perspective into account. Unlike the
British and Austrian financial directors, the French director does not have a strong relationship with
the group. The Rumanian subsidiary has had a close connection to headquarters since the early
stage, a result in particular from previous experiences in Russia:
“In Russia we learned a lot—especially to not appear as a Western European company. Don’t be dominant!
Instead, try to understanding the problems in Russia, starting with bribes in daily life (…). And we optimise
our work life balance (…)” (head of the accounting group).
The Russian subsidiary was the first greenfield plant outside Western Europe. Experiences and
lessons learned in Russia play a pivotal role in the headquarters’ perspective on the relationship
between headquarters and subsidiaries in terms of misunderstandings, serious problems and
tension, etc. The Gruppencontrolling attempts to regulate management accountants’ identities in
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order to avoid misunderstandings and to ensure the proper conduct of management. In addition to
the pivotal role of SAP in regulating management accounting, the physical presence of management
accountants at Wood’s headquarters is seen as vital. Since the experience in Russia, management
accountants in the Rumanian subsidiary have been trained at the Austrian headquarters. The
personal and direct relationship with headquarters and with Gruppencontrolling is important, and
the personal relationship between FDs and the group shows that. The British and Austrian financial
directors are close to the group, whereas the French CFO is not. During informal discussions, the
British and Austrian FDs appear to be part of the group management. One Austrian peculiarity is
that the plant controllers work in the same building as the Gruppencontrolling, so the Austrian plant
controllers are even physically closer to that group than their British and French colleagues are to
theirs. In addition, there is no language barrier between the Austrian plant controller and
Gruppencontrolling. In a nutshell, SAP enables Wood Plc. to regulate management accounting by the
means of the system. SAP intentionally shapes the relationship between headquarters and
subsidiaries. It stabilises management accountants’ identities by providing a frame of reference in
which to exercise management accounting—a system commonly used to regulate management
accounting. Both SAP and the concept of controlling in the whole group are strong regulative forces
within Wood Plc.
Socio-ideological control – the concept of controlling
Wood Plc. uses the concept of controlling throughout the company. Controlling is the German
term/concept for management accounting. In the Germanic literature, it is conceptualised as
something that goes beyond management accounting (Becker, 2003). In line with these
conceptualisations, Gruppencontrolling crafted the above-mentioned controlling manual in order to
provide a guideline for Wood’s management accountants.
The controlling manual normatively defines what controlling is and what the main duties and
responsibilities of controlling are. In this sense it produces a set of guidelines for management
accountants,2 common knowledge that helps them do their jobs. Controlling is defined in the
following way:
“Controlling provides the management with information that is necessary for their decision making. It
coordinates, monitors and optimises all operations within the company. For this purpose, the consumption of
production factors as well as the company’s activity performed is recorded. In addition to the documentation
of effective results, a second main function of the controlling is strategic planning. Discrepancies are detected
by comparing effective figures with planned figures. It is through these variance analyses that one can
interfere effectively with the company’s activities. Income statements, like the contribution margin
The terms used here are those commonly used in the countries. Even when they are translated from French or German, the original term used is retained.
For example, the Controlling Manual is really named Controlling Manual in English, and Management Accounting Manual.
2
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accounting, are needed to control the profitability of single divisions as well as of the entire profit centre”
(Controlling manual).
Controlling is described as the main source of information in managerial decision-making processes,
the one that allows management to investigate all the operations in the organisation. More exactly,
the emphasis is on input controls (called “the consumption of production factors” in the handbook),
strategic planning, and deviation analysis as well as on the appraisal of profitability on different
levels by means of contribution margin accounting. The first part of the definition can be
categorised as a broad and textbook-like definition. This stands in contrast to the second part, which
refers to Wood-specific understandings of controlling, as for instance the pivotal role of input
controls or contribution margin accounting as a way of examining profitability on different levels.
The use of the concept of controlling is understood as socio-ideological control in the field of Wood’s
management accounting because it provides an organisation-specific conceptualisation of
management accounting. It can be understood as Wood’s way of doing management accounting and
offering a kind of organisational norm. This becomes particularly evident in the process of identity
work of non-Germanic management accountants. In addition, the relationship between controlling
and financial accounting is delineated in a SAP-system-driven way:
“Controlling (CO) and Financial Accounting (FI) are represented within the SAP system as independent
application components. These two applications communicate regularly with each other, so all the data
relevant for cost calculation flows automatically from financial accounting to controlling, and costs and
revenues are allocated to different CO account assignment objects (e.g. cost centres or orders). The relevant
accounts of the financial accounting are handled as cost elements within controlling. Through this the values
obtained by controlling and by financial accounting can be compared and adjusted” (Controlling manual).
SAP separates and bridges CO and FI. It translates FI objects into CO cost elements. In the following,
the different ‘circles’ of controlling and accounting are presented. In the German handbook, these
are denoted as controlling areas or Kostenrechnungskreise (cost accounting circles) as well as
accounting areas or Buchungskreise (financial accounting circles). Interestingly, the controlling
circles are more aggregated in terms of possibilities of allocating overheads. The separation logic is
visible in the controlling manual, the organisation design, the design of the management accounting
and control system and its IT solution (SAP) as well as the communication of Gruppencontrolling.
This is exemplified by a quotation from the head of the accounting group:
“The transformation from FI to CO (SAP process) is the most important. That means if there are differences,
the controller has to talk to the financial accountant, and they have to discuss the differences. They have to
agree and talk to each other...” (head of the accounting group).
Such a separation is in line with conceptualisations of accounting. Admittedly, the literature has not
documented such a technical, system-driven form of this relationship. In general, a distinction is
made between Germanic countries having traditionally two separated areas of accounting
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(Zweikreissystem) which sharply differentiate between management accounting (Controlling) and
financial accounting (Zirkler, 2002) and those in the UK, which have only one circle (ibid.). As
mentioned above, this separation is also part of the SAP package, which differentiates between the
separate modules FI for financial accounting and CO for controlling/ management accounting. At
Wood Plc. the relationship between financial accounting and management accounting is
characterised by the separation logic. Nevertheless, there is some debate about this relationship. A
senior controller stresses the specificity of the organisation’s strong focus on controlling, which
creates a very special relationship:
“If you have such highly sophisticated controlling, the risk is that the numbers are usually taken from
controlling (…),. It is analysed from time to time, but what is really important for decisions and the control of
the business is the controlling.”
Is this relationship difficult sometimes?
“For the financial accountants, that wasn’t always fun. The focus has always been on controlling, controlling
controlling. And the controllers are involved in everything. The financial accountant is only involved once a
month, to craft the monthly income statement (…)” (senior controller, Austria).
A former controller who is now financial director of the Austrian subsidiary problematises this
separateness in a critical way:
“I think it is problematic to differentiate in accounting. I’m not a fan of this idea. We have that at Wood Plc.:
we separate the financial accounting and the management/cost accounting side. I really wish that both sides
were more interlinked, meaning that financial accountants really understood controlling…” (FD, Austria).
The division into one and two spheres systems of accounting (Zirkler, 2002) develops distinct
regimes of accounting (Jones & Dugdale, 2001). There was evidence of this during fieldwork in the
UK. The British FD reflects on the relationship between financial accounting and management
accounting by pointing out differences in the accounting organisations in the UK and
Austria/Germany:
“In Austria and in Germany you have a head of accounting (Rechnungswesenleiter). And there is a strict
separation in financial accounting, and then there is a controller. The head of accounting has a background in
either controlling or financial accounting” (FD, UK).
On the basis of this distinction, he outlines the difference between Wood’s UK accounting and the
German controller:
“We (in the UK) also have a head of accounting, called the financial controller. But we didn’t divide controlling
and financial accounting (...). The general ledger is also crafted by our management accountants (...). This is
the main difference compared for instance to Austria/Germany, where the controller has nothing to do with
financial accounting terms of the income statement“(FD, UK).
This issue of intertwining as opposed to separation was never mentioned by French interviewees.
They refer to different tasks as well as the metaphor of the “inside picture” in terms of the contrôle
de gestion and the “outside picture” regarding comptabilité générale (financial accounting). This is
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not an issue for the French accountants, whereas accountants in the UK discuss the issue by relating
it to differences between British and German accounting. The following dialogue illustrates how the
British management accountants frame it:
When you think of your daily work – what do you do?
Depends on what day it is. We are going through a lot of changes at the moment because as you probably
know, we do financial and controlling together in the UK, so it is quite broad. But we are streamlining now, so
I am finding that I spend a lot more time on COPA (Controlling Profitability Analysis). Have you heard of
COPA? I am spending a lot more time on that, profitability analyses, and deviation analyses. I am streamlining
more into stuff like that.
From your point of view, what is the difference between management accounting and controlling?
Wood’s controlling?
Yes…
It is far more in depth and detailed—we focus a lot on CM2 (Contribution margin) margins—and we spend a
lot of time really looking at profitability and cost deviations. I think it is really intense at Wood in that respect,
which is not a bad thing (…). In the past it has been a bit of everything, so we have been quite short staffed,
and it has been a lot of reactive work rather than being able to do something we need to do, like project work
or controlling. It has been more doing what needs to be done on a daily basis.
(management accountant, UK)
In particular, the comparison with other management accountants appears to play a role for the
British management accountants:
“Well in the department we are in sort of a transition. Things are changing. For the last few years…that’s
slightly different from the Wood plants in Austria or France, where controlling and finance are clearly
separated functions. Here it is more combined. X and I have really played much broader roles than perhaps
the other Wood employees. So for the end-of-month work, for instance, we produced our monthly profit and
loss, and we carried out financial functions in that part of SAP but also controlling functions—management
accounting functions, as they are termed in the UK—in a separate SAP module. So we are now moving more
toward the separation that they [Wood] have in their plants. And [new colleague] just started yesterday and
fits into this new arrangement as well” (management accountant, UK).
Wood Plc. UK attempts to turn away from its British accounting orientation and towards a clear
separation of accounting and controlling in terms of responsibilities and people. To do this, they
hired a new management accountant who is exclusively responsible for controlling. Another change
is the reorganisation of the current accounting staff, separating them into financial accounting and
controlling. Theoretically, this can be understood as adapting certain norms and ideas about
accounting. The British accounting organisation has adapted to Wood company-wide standards.
This can be seen as an effect of socio-ideological control by Gruppencontrolling. Consequently, the
reorganisation of the British accounting department can be described in light of various forms of
identity regulation.
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Norming activities/requirement of the management accounting role
On the basis of these long discussions within Wood in Austria as well as in the subsidiaries in
various European countries, the controlling group has compiled a written file defining the tasks (see
Appendix: Figure 3) and requirements in management accounting (see Appendix: Figure 4). In
accordance with the definition of controlling decision support, planning as well as reporting
activities are the main activities of management accounting. In general, the map encompasses all
activities in controlling without any demarcation between for instance plant controllers and sales
controllers. The ”picture” of the duties reflects two distinct spheres of Wood’s controlling, relying on
the one hand on the notion of profitability and an operations orientation (the right side) and on the
other hand on more strategic, management-orientated activities such as planning, issues of
controlling standards, and projects. Although it does not specify which activities are related to
specific controller roles, it includes a good description of the general tasks of the management
accounting role. It normalises management accountants’ tasks within the group by determining
which tasks are part of the management accounting role and which tasks are not included. In the
course of establishing a common standard of management accounting, Gruppencontrolling has
developed a set of requirements for the role of management accountants. First, it distinguishes
between basic knowledge in economics, IT and controlling, communications, analytical thinking,
and the ability to adjust different subsystems of the SAP system. The requirements include personal
skills such as being a team player as well as technical skills such as adjusting to different SAP
subsystems. Moreover, knowledge is subdivided into “learned knowledge” gained from education,
practical knowledge that is part of working experience, and knowledge related to analytical
capacities and the ability to deal with numbers intelligently. According to the requirements defined
by Gruppencontrolling, controlling at Wood Plc. requires an abstract, practical, system as well as
analytical knowledge. In linking duties and requirements, the requirement can be seen as the
condition for performing the controlling duties.
The example of the reorganisation of the British subsidiary demonstrates that these means of
identity regulation produce effects which Wood more or less intended. SAP, the controlling manual,
and documentation on activities and requirements within management accounting intentionally
impact management accounting. The implementation of the management accounting and control
systems is the most powerful force in regulating management accounting and the management
accounting practitioners’ identities. The next chapter outlines how actors at Wood Plc. re-work
identities on the basis of identity regulation and existing professional self-identities
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Re-working identities
Identity work is the activity where professionals form, repair, maintain, strengthen and revise
professional identities (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002, p. 626). In other words, identity work is the
activity where identities are “re-worked” in order to achieve biographical continuity (Giddens,
1991). Firstly, the definition of the importance of management accounting at Wood can be taken as
starting point of identity work because it helps to position the profession in the company. Prior
literature has demonstrated such challenges of different professional groups in organisations (cf.
2005). Secondly, the role of SAP has formed, maintained, strengthened, repaired and revised
management accountants’ identities, as will be demonstrated. Thirdly, it will be shown how nonGerman/Austrian management accountants understand the concept of controlling and ‘integrate it
into their existing professional identity to stay in the ‘protective cocoon’” (ibid., p. 54) characterised
by biographical continuity.
The importance of management accounting
Basically, management accounting plays an important role at Wood Plc. As one management
accountant puts it, “Really important. I think there is a massive emphasis on it” (management
accountant, UK). Although the organisation is strongly driven by the production of chipboard
and the natural resource wood, one technical director identifies a shift towards “numbers”:
“When I think back to when I started at Wood Plc. 12 years ago, production was the most important thing.
The moulding press had to run and everything else was secondary. This has changed significantly in recent
years. The trend is more towards numbers….controlling. Numbers explain where we are, how we are
positioned, where we make money, and where we don’t. This has certainly been a radical change. Nowadays
controlling is more important than production. This is my personal opinion, but perhaps this is in line with
changes in our executive board over the last few years. Now, finance is much more central, and probably
rightly so” (technical director, UK).
The technical director reflects on the changes over time. He relates the stronger emphasis on
controlling, especially through changes in the executive boards. Today, the CFO, who also heads
the executive board, is perceived as a very dynamic and powerful leader on Wood’s
management team. One senior controller has a different view:
“Wood Plc. has always prioritised cost accounting. When I started, the founder always told me, ‘Pay attention
to the numbers. There will come a time when we will need them, and then the numbers will determine
whether or not we continue to exist.’ And that’s what happened last year during the economic downturn.
During that phase, it was really obvious which of our competitors had cost accounting and controlling that
worked (….). There are competitors who offer products at prices that tell us that they don’t know how high
their production costs are” (senior controller).
In his view, the company founder was always keen on having a well-functioning cost accounting that
enables the organisation to display and know the costs of products in great detail. Likewise, the
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economic downturn provides evidence as to which of the competitors know their production costs.
Another controller highlights a strong reliance on operative performance measurement together
with financial indicators:
“From my personal experience I know that it is quite huge. Wood Plc. is very performance-measurement
driven and relies heavily on operational measures but also on cash flows and EBITA. But still we are very
much plant-driven (…). Moreover, we focus on assigning responsibility (for costs) in order to really keep an
eye on the decision making on this level” (head of the group accounting).
Management accounting plays a pivotal role at Wood Plc. The firm has traditionally focused on input
controls, called consumption of production factors, as well as very detailed analyses of contribution
margins, right down to five different margins. Whereas the controls on consumption of production
factors permit the firm to increase efficiency in production, analysing contribution margins helps
them track fixed costs in detail. Additionally, the owners themselves applied financial controls. For a
long time, all financial issues were centralised and handled by the owner’s family. Since the time
when an executive board was installed and Wood Plc. started to finance part of their expansion
strategy with capital-market based bonds, there has been an increasing need for financial measures
both on the group level and on the level of each country subsidiary. Benchmarking has been
implemented in order to analyse the profitability of each plant in the group in relation to the others.
The importance of management accounting is mainly derived from a very detailed analysis of
operational measures in production and sales. In terms of management accountants’ practices, SAP
plays a central role.
Providing a frame of management accounting practice – SAP
What relevance would you say IT has for Wood?
(…)
“It is massive because we are so… because everything is so centrally focused around one system, and
everything is linked together. I think SAP is incredibly important for us – everything impacts everything else,
and it all comes back to one place. It is a huge system.”
I guess it is everywhere?
“It is a really good system, though—you can get so much out of it, which is really helpful for us.”
And it probably also affects your work in controlling…
“COPA [controlling profitability analysis] especially was a really difficult thing. I have been trying to use it for
years, but it is really difficult. But once you understand it, it is the best tool that you could ever have. I love it
now, but I hated it when I first started using it.”
(management accountant, UK)
This quotation illustrates the massive emphasis on the system in management accounting. It both
facilitates and complicates management accountants’ work. Management accounting practices are
simplified because all the practitioners in the group work with the same integrated system and the
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data are linked together. Indeed, this management accounting and control system allows Wood Plc.
to standardise management accounting practices in the group by the means of SAP, guidelines,
templates, etc. Thus, for instance, COPA, which is a sort of very detailed analysis of costs including
all main value creation processes, was introduced to all manufacturing units in the group. In turn,
this makes it more complex for management accountants. The quotation above illustrates how the
introduction of SAP revised management accounting practices and therefore re-worked
professional identity. It has helped the management accountants to understand COPA, which is now
part of their professional identity. In contrast to this direct effect on management accountants’
professional self-identity, one senior Austrian controller emphasises the importance of SAP in
making people responsible for deviations in production costs:
“Now we have an integrated system. In the past we had always to verify, especially when it came to
production deviations…what is part of the deviation and so on. Now everybody can do that himself. The
production guy presses the button and then he has the deviation. The deviation is no longer produced in the
controlling department; it is his responsibility. So the production guy has to explain the deviation himself. To
what extent he does it is another issue” (senior controller, Austria)
SAP is a very powerful device for communication management accounting numbers. Hence, it has
strengthened management accountants’ identity as the truthful producers of numbers which are
incorporated in the system, SAP. One British management accountant even prioritises SAP
knowledge over management accounting knowledge in Wood’s management accounting:
“Maybe if you are an SAP expert, you can work without any accounting background” (management
accountant, UK).
The mastering of “the system” is a crucial part of the management accountants’ identity. Its
introduction has created a demand for SAP knowledge and re-worked the management accountants’
identities. One controller is more critical of the use of SAP in management accounting:
“Today we are more dependent on IT, especially due to all these programs (...) and possibilities of analysis
(...). This became daily work for us. But we are dependent, because this is our toolbox. We used to just use
Excel sheets, and at the time we were less dependent in a way (...). And I think that the information in the past
wasn’t wrong ...You can’t say that with SAP everything is more correct or better.” (plant controller, Austria)
The MACS SAP took away the independence of Wood’s management accountants’ work, which was
deeply rooted in their identity, and replaced it with system dependence, standards and templates. In
direct opposition to this critical view, another plant controller who formerly worked for the
Austrian subsidiary of a large US manufacturing conglomerate compares the Wood SAP with the
systems used by the US firm:
“I used to work for a company that was not very well equipped with IT. We had over 100 databases and a
huge interface problem. Really a problem—nothing fit together. SAP is a really good standard. The best
example is always when I am on cost unit (in the system) and want to know which bookings have been made.
At my old company I always had to call the financial accounting department, but at Wood I just double click
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on the symbol and I have every single booking entry document, including the scanned invoice. That’s
fantastic. The second best example for me is always the standard price calculation: I tell you (…) with just the
push of the button you can calculate contribution margins over all different product finishing processes,
including different plants, but you still know the fixed and variable manufacturing costs. This is fantastic!”
(plant controller, Austria).
Working with SAP is described as “fantastic”. Against the backdrop of using with other systems and
databases, the fact that SAP is an integrated system that allows users to access almost any number
on the booking entry documents simplifies management accountants’ work by enabling them to
exercise control from a distance. These possibilities have revisited management accounting
activities related to cost follow-ups. It moved the following up of costs away from the messy
paperwork that was formerly part of the controllers’ identity to a more system-orientated activity
characterised by the mastering of the systems. Even financial directors seem proud to still be
knowledgeable about the SAP system:
“I have no problems analysing data (from SAP) on my own. This is becoming more and more difficult, because
you have to stay on the ball, and nowadays my role is completely different” (FD, UK).
The Austrian FD even states that he still uses the SAP Analyzer extensively:
“Why does IT play an important role? Well because I come from the SAP side. Well and today I’m getting the
reports… But I still work a lot with the SAP Analyzer myself. I go even farther, which is perhaps due to my
personal professional history: I even analyse cost units in SAP on my own” (FD, Austria).
Both FDs were involved in the SAP implementation. They were members of the implementation
team for CO, the controlling solution, as well as the FI, the financial accounting solution. Both FDs
explain that they still use SAP, linking it to their professional biography. The fact that the FDs in
Austria and the UK are still using the SAP Analyzer, which is not part of their role, can be interpreted
as a strategy for staying in the protective cocoon of the controller role and producing biographical
continuity. Moreover, the UK FD reflects on the implementation process of SAP in a way that is
comparable to that of the former project leader of the SAP implementation process:
“SAP was a great help, although we missed some changes. It hasn’t all been positive (…), and we certainly
made a mistake when we adapted SAP to Wood a little bit. This was a very costly and difficult undertaking.
Often it’s better to question your own organisation and just adapt to SAP standards. Otherwise,
customisations have to be done after every update. This is resource intensive, particularly in accounting.
Within accounting, the critical phase of such projects is to ‘sell’ the usefulness to the users in the different
subsidiaries so that they understand the benefit of it. But then the standard has to be implemented in the
countries without any special adaptations. Take for example of the standard chart of accounts, which is a
basis for accounting. This is a must, and we didn’t have a standard chart of accounts in the group” (FD, UK).
The financial director in the British subsidiary is particularly critical of the customisation of SAP,
which makes it expensive and difficult to change things. Moreover, SAP did not bring about a
standard chart of accounts for the whole group. Both financial directors present a very headquarter-
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centred view. From the headquarters’ point of view, it is quite interesting that in standardising
management accounting by the means of SAP, such things as a standard chart of accounts were left
out. Concerning identity work, it is fascinating to see the dominant role SAP plays in the comments
of the Austrian and UK FDs. Moreover, these accounts shed light on how they understand and enact
the change to the role of the FD. In contrast to this, the following three dialogues show how nonGerman/Austrian management accountants “deal” with the concept of controlling.
Dialogue 1 (with a French contrôleur de gestion)
I’m a bit confused because at Wood Plc., the terms ‘controlling’ and’ contrôle de gestion’ are used. So, what is the
difference for you? And which concept are you using?
It’s the same thing….
The same thing?
Yes. It’s the same thing. Controlling is the term which we use on a group level, and contrôle de gestion is the
French.
Dialogue 2 (with a British management accountant)
What relevance do you think management accounting has at Wood?
It is extremely relevant. Yeah. And I think the concept of controlling for me…I never ever came across it.
Never! I audited all kinds of companies in the UK—a variety of companies including manufacturing
companies—but I never ever came across the term controlling. And when I came here I was like, “If you just
mean management accounting …” I think it’s extremely relevant at Wood and I think it has a lot to do with the
IT system SAP. You know that allows a very, very detailed analysis by customers, all the material
breakdown…
OK…
And controlling again I only really connect to SAP. But it probably encompasses management accounting and
a bit more. Maybe it goes into more detail …
Dialogue 3 (with a British management accountant)
You talk about controlling and being a controller… If someone asks you what your job is, what do you say?
Yeah…If I am asked what my job is, I was say management accounting because that’s UK terminology, and
controlling to me really only means the controlling module within SAP rather than a job. In the UK we
wouldn’t say controller or see a job advert for a controller. It would be management accountant.
Fundamentally the two functions would involve the same tasks.
These three dialogues show the different strategies of management accountants interpreting the
concept of controlling. In first dialogue, the French contrôleur shows a complexity-reducing
understanding by dividing his job into two ‘worlds’: the French world of contrôle de gestion on the
one hand and the Germanic group world of controlling on the other. In seeing it merely as a
language issue, the French contrôleur de gestion keeps the two worlds separate without confusing
his own professional identity. The British management accountant in the second dialogue
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demonstrates a quite different way of dealing with the issue: he draws on prior experience to
develop an understanding of controlling, something that seems to be very detailed and specific to
Wood Plc. In sum, controlling is expressed as something that is unique, system-driven, and allows a
very detailed level of analysis. The distinctiveness of controlling is related to the system SAP and the
level of analysis. All three dialogues include a certain amount of continuity, allowing the actors to
maintain their professional understanding. The dialogues are in line with the explanations provided
by the controlling manual. In the Austrian subsidiary, an additional distinction is made between cost
accounting and controlling. Interestingly, even in Austria some controllers use the term cost
accounting in lieu of controlling:
What does controlling mean at Wood Plc.?
I differentiate between cost accounting, consisting of all recurring processes... You have a system that creates
the cost accounts either automatically or semi-automatically. The cost accounting is the “messy” work. The
cost accountants are the drones, and the controller is hierarchically above using them.
Was that always like that?
Well, controlling used to be conducted at the owner’s level, meaning that the owner exercised the idea of
controlling. And we were the cost accounting...
(senior controller, Austria)
In this quotation a distinction is made between the production of numbers and the use of numbers.
The Austrian department formerly responsible for cost controls as well as strategic planning issues
was called the cost accounting department and managed by the senior controller quoted above. In
his understanding, cost accounting is responsible for the ‘messy’ production of numbers, whereas
controlling is the strategic, decision-making counterpart. Wood Plc. tended to train management
accountants at the headquarters and the Austrian subsidiary before sending them into strategically
important positions in other country subsidiaries. For example, the financial directors in the UK and
Austria were trained as controllers at the Austrian headquarters. Both were also actively involved in
the implementation of SAP. Such controllers are active in translating the idea of controlling to the
subsidiaries, implying an ideal type of a ‘good’ practitioner. Even from an Austrian accounting
perspective, the terminology is problematic. As mentioned above, some actors in the field of
controlling describe themselves as cost accountants. The head of accounting group interprets the
relationship between cost accounting and controlling as follows:
On the group level you call it department of controlling and on the level of the Austrian Plc. it is called the
department of cost accounting....
(He interrupts…)
That is deliberate. I just went to the Austrian controlling/cost accounting offices and well…Perhaps a bit of
the background. There has been a lot of discussion on this issue within the controlling / cost accounting
section – whether there is a difference between cost accounting and controlling. And if you ask me, yes, there
is a difference.
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Rafael Heinzelmann
And what is that difference?
I understand classical cost accounting in terms of the work with cost issues. Processing cost issues such as
transfer from expenditures (financial accounting) to costs, the account assignments of standard calculations,
this are really processing jobs (….). But to me, controlling is a lot more. The idea of controlling… the
controlling and management circle goes far beyond cost accounting. I see cost accounting as the toolbox and
the techniques. Controlling processes are the basis for management—planning, defining targets, assessing
actual values, doing deviation analysis, and developing sanction mechanisms. In a nutshell, this is what
controlling is and what I say during the introductory events at Wood…
(head of the accounting group)
Thus terminology seems to be interwoven with notion of the “good” controller described in the next
chapter. Since Wood Plc. is very much based on input controls and the manufacturing of wooden
products, cost accounting is an important part of the controllers’ tasks. In the case of the senior
controller quoted above, the retention of the distinction enables him to take his own professional
history into account. At the same time, such a differentiation enables him to “be close to operations”.
Professional self-identities of management accountants
Background of the management accounting interviewees
The interviewees at Wood Plc. have a great variety of backgrounds. From prior literature it is known
that institutions (Becker & Ellebring, 2007) as well as management accountants’ occupational
identities vary in the UK and German-speaking countries (Ahrens & Chapman, 2000). In addition,
Bourguignon et al. (2010) provide evidence for the institutions of the French accounting regime. In
general, the institutional environment of Germanic management accounting can be described as
university-led. In the UK it is professions-led, and in France it is state-led. However, the educational
backgrounds of the Wood interviewees are more diverse, as illustrated below:
Financial director
Head of management
accounting
Plant controller (1)
Plant controller (2)
Plant controller (3)
UK
Studies in law / business
administration
Professional certificate in
accounting (ICAEW), studies
in business administration
Professional certificate in
accounting (CIMA)
Professional certificate in
accounting (ACCA student)
France
Professional certificate in
accounting
Professional certificate in
accounting (Masters level**)
Austria
Professional certificate
in accounting (ÖCI*)
Professional certificate
in accounting (ÖCI)
Professional certificate in
accounting (Masters level**)
Professional certificate in
accounting (BTS***)
Studies in business
administration
Studies in business
administration
Professional certificate
in accounting
(WIFI****)
26
Rafael Heinzelmann
The accounting group
Head of the group accounting
Studies in business administration
Head of the group management accounting
Studies in business administration
Head of the group financial accounting
Studies in business administration
*ÖCI – Österreichisches Controller-Institut (Austrian Controller Institute) providing primarily continuing education with a degree program
for the Controller’s Diploma.
** All advanced professional certificates are categorised under master’s level with the exception of the expert comptable (chartered
accountant).
*** BTS – Brevet de technicien supérieur is a national diploma which is comparable to the Accounting Technician Diploma in the UK.
**** WIFI – Wirtschaftsförderungsinstitut provides continuing education in a wide range of fields and is owned by the chamber of commerce.
Wood’s financial directors have a relative broadly defined role that includes general administrative
services. None of the directors has a high professional accountancy degree such as that of the
chartered (management) accountant in the UK, the expert comptable in France or the
Wirtschaftsprüfer/Steuerberater3 in Austria. In addition, the Austrian FD is ‘only’ a graduate of the
ÖCI, which is the professional institute offering a ‘Controller’s Diploma’. The ÖCI and the German
Controller Akademie offer this diploma primarily as continuing education program for controllers.
The staff function—the accounting group—is managed by three employees who have degrees in
business administration. The head of the accounting group started as the plant controller, whereas
the heads of the management accounting and financial accounting groups previously also held staff
functions. In the subsidiaries, all the heads of management accounting hold professional degrees.
The British financial controller who is responsible for both areas is the graduate of both a business
school and the ICAEW. Before being hired by Wood Plc. she worked as an auditor in a large
accounting firm. During this time she earned an associate chartered accountant degree at the
Institute of Accountants of England and Wales. Unlike her British counterpart, the French head of
contrôle de gestion is solely responsible for the field of management accounting, graduated from
BTS, and later earned a master’s degree in accountancy. Both degrees are professional
qualifications. Moreover, she has always worked in industry. Prior to Wood Plc. she worked for a
large Japanese organisation in the area of management accounting. Her Austrian counterpart,
named head of cost accounting, has been at Wood Plc. in various cost accounting related functions
for a long time. For a certain time he was head of the group accounting as well. He graduated from
ÖCI. On a plant controller level, professional degrees are dominant. Only in Austria do graduates
from business administration play a role. The French plant controllers were hired directly after
finishing their professional degree. In contrast to British professional certificates and Germanic
continuing education, the French BTS and the professional degrees on a master’s level are usually
fulltime programs. The UK plant controllers were hired without any formal qualification in
In the German-speaking countries, there is no equivalent to the chartered accountant. The chartered auditor and tax advisor are the highest-ranked
professional degrees in the field of accountancy.
3
27
Rafael Heinzelmann
accountancy and started earning their qualification during their time at Wood. Both British
management accountants have worked for Wood in the area of accounting for a long time. The
Austrian plant controllers have very diverse backgrounds. Whereas one plant controller was hired
right after finishing university, a second plant controller had previously worked for another
company while enrolled in an extra-occupational programme in business administration at a
polytechnic institution. Another plant controller worked as a cost clerk at Wood Plc. for years and
took a basic programme in accountancy. So why is this important? It is relevant because different
backgrounds build different bases for organisational socialisation. First, as one British plant
controller states, it is mandatory for chartered accountants in the UK to participate in continuous
development programmes:
“Well, as part of CIMA, mainly as part of my membership, I have to do continuous development, so I have to…
but I think it is important. In the UK you have obviously got the UK standards in FI (financial accounting),
which you really need to follow. In controlling maybe not so much because it is more internally focused, but
certainly in FI” (plant controller, UK).
The obligation to do continuous development is a crucial part of the membership in British
professional accountancy associations such as the ACCA, ICAEW and CIMA. Neither French nor
Germanic management accountants have such obligations. The plant controller quoted above
distinguishes between financial accounting and management accounting in terms of the need for
continuing education. The British financial controller and the French head of management
accounting both see a need for education in the field of software; more specifically in SAP. In
Austria, soft skills are required:
“I just said last week at the annual appraisal interview that I would like to develop my skills more in the
direction of soft skills—communications and coaching (...)” (plant controller, Austria).
This demand for soft skills is in line with views of the Germanic professional organisations. In
particular, the Germanic Controller Akademie firmly believes that communication plays a pivotal
role for a controller. In opposition to this view, another Austrian plant controller stresses the
importance of a better understanding of financial accounting:
“For my job I would like to delve deeper into financial issues—get a degree in certified accounting. That
would help me to understand the annual statement and the financial processes better (...)” (plant controller,
Austria).
To sum up, French and UK practitioners tend to connect continuing education with the issue of SAP,
whereas Austrian controllers see a need to develop soft skills as well as capacities in the field of
financial accounting. Wood’s accounting staff was largely educated at professional institutions. It is
astonishing that none of the financial directors is a chartered accountant or something comparable.
Against the backdrop of Ahrens (2000), it is notable that the every single member of the Austrian
Gruppencontrolling staff is university educated. However, plant controllers have diverse
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Rafael Heinzelmann
backgrounds. Besides this, membership in a professional association was only mentioned by British
management accountants.
The “good” management accountant
At Wood Plc., management accounting plays an important role. Management accounting is related to
input controls and a very detailed analysis of costs, in particular by means of contribution margins.
In recent times financial indicators have become more and more important for management
accounting. The mobilisation controlling across language borders creates an interpretative space for
management accountants to re-work the required professional role, which can differ from roles
provided by professional/educational socialisation. The definitions of controlling and the role
models provided for controllers are very much based on tasks and technical explanations that
establish close links between management accounting and the system SAP. It should be noted that
all Austrian manufacturing/plant controllers are based at the headquarters. One senior controller
describes a “good” controller by comparing a controller to a parent raising a child:
“A good controller has to treat his area of responsibility as his baby. This baby has to develop into an adult, so
he must pay attention to every aspect of that development. And our manufacturing controllers are responsible
for a whole plant, which means for all processes, procedures, results, and so on and so forth. Thus, he naturally
knows all the processes and procedures. His task is to identify and establish as well as implement optimisation
arrangements” (senior controller, Austria).
In this quotation, an understanding of the business is essential for a good management accountant.
Knowledge of the relevant of the product, its processes, and the procedures is seen as central for
acting as a good management accounting. In the same vein, an Austrian plant controller expresses
his ideal of a good controller:
“I had a good teacher who said a good controller has to reek of oil once a week, and I always tried to do that.
Admittedly, that has not been possible anymore lately. It’s question of time. When there is something to
discuss, I usually try to have a face-to-face meeting with the person in charge. Either I go out (to the
manufacturing unit) or we meet at my office. When I’m out I get always new input. By just chatting over coffee,
you see and hear something new” (Plant controller, Austria).
The idea that “a good controller has to reek of oil once a week” demonstrates the importance of both
understanding the business and being involved in the processes, but the communicative aspect of
the job is also seen as crucial. Two plant controllers stated that a good management accountant is
first and foremost a good communicator:
“(…) you have to be active as a good controller. You can also be just a reporter, but that is a not very good
controller” (Plant controller, Austria).
“A good controller, from my perspective, has a good education and communications skills but also the technical
understanding of the products and processes that it takes to deal with the production department on their
level” (plant controller, Austria).
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Rafael Heinzelmann
When talking about what makes a good professional, all the manufacturing controllers put a strong
emphasis on an understanding of the business, the procedures and processes. The plant controllers
in particular stress the importance of communication skills. As opposed to this closeness to the
business, a senior financial controller in the UK is very critical of the understanding of the business
in the accounting departments:
“(…) It is just more important to a management accountant to have a better understanding of the business and
the processes you are working in. And I know that some of our staff in accounts [accounting department] here
don’t actually know the products that we produce because they work on service sales ledgers and gather the
money and deal with the customers. They don’t know anything about the types of products we produce and
about the process goes into that. That is obviously the management accounting side” (financial controller, UK).
Along with the emphasis on understanding the business, UK management accountants rely on the
ideal picture of a Germanic controller, whom they see as very much into detail. One management
accountant accentuates that a good Wood management accountant has “…to develop quite an eye
for detail” (British management accountant). From the British perspective, a Germanic controller is
somebody who has
“(…) really, really in-depth knowledge of what they do…and they tend to be really, really knowledgeable in
their area. And we are kind of all broad because we don’t get the time to be as in depth.” (management
accountant responsible for a plant, UK)
This quotation draws attention to the dichotomy between ‘them’ and ‘we’: ‘we’ describes the UK
accounting department and ‘them’ refers to the Germanic controllers. The financial controller, who
is also head of accounting, draws a very different picture:
“(…) You are dealing with a broad picture. Obviously we are internal in the UK, but you have also got to deal
with language barriers and stuff like that. I think you have to deal with the workload, and it can become quite a
lot [….].” (Financial controller, UK)
She uses the recent hiring of a management accountant to describe her understanding of what a
‘good management accountant’ is:
“the key thing […] is an analytical mind—strong analytical skills and attention to detail, like very diligent and
accurate—and at the same time somebody who can also see the bigger picture. So you need somebody who is
very detail-oriented but also has a good overview…you know, who looks at things from a higher level and
doesn’t just always focus on the details. It’s quite hard to be both. And strong communication skills are
essential, especially at Wood (...). We are in manufacturing. It is really important that management accountants
talk to people from all the departments because that’s really the only way you can understand business and
then understand the results and the information we are looking at. So we needed somebody who was confident
and willing to go talk to people in other departments. And I was also looking for someone with a certain level of
enthusiasm, not a stereotypical accountant—somebody who just sits in the office, happy in the world of Excel.
That’s exactly what I didn’t want. I wanted somebody who also has the social skills to communicate well with
the people, including all the academics…” (financial controller, UK)
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Rafael Heinzelmann
At Wood, a good management accountant understands the business, its processes and its problems,
but also gets involved with the clients. That is demonstrated by the ‘reeking of oil’ metaphor as well
as a certain emphasis on the soft side of the job, including primarily communication skills. In
addition, UK practitioners built on the type of Germanic controller to describe a good Wood
management accounting and are keen to keep having an eye for the bigger picture. The UK financial
controller cites a recent appointment to stress the importance of being good at details but also a
good communicator who sees the bigger picture. This is not the case in Austria and France. French
contrôleurs de gestion focus on the image of contrôle de gestion in the company. They see themselves
as the guys who “are always asking questions” (Contrôleur de gestion, France) and believe that a
good practitioner must be able to deal with rejection. The interviewees’ description of the good
management accountant as somebody who is heavily involved in the business, processes and
procedures stands in some contrast to the reality of daily business in which management
accountants cannot fulfil that role due to too many obligations and physical distance from the
business.
Discussion of the results
The paper studies occupational identities of management accountants in France, the UK and Austria
by drawing on Alvesson & Willmott (2002) and Giddens (1991). The paper shows how identities are
regulated at Wood Plc. which is governed by an idiosyncratic Germanic understanding of
management accounting. The Gruppencontrolling and MACS SAP are central actors in regulating
management accountants’ identities. Within Wood Plc. various standards and templates are used to
regulate management accounting practices. In particular the handbook of controlling and its
additional documents provide the Gruppencontrolling with powerful means to influence
management accountants’ identities. The use of the concept of controlling can be interpreted as a
means of socio-ideological control (Alvesson & Karreman, 2004) of identities. It provides an
occupational ideology for management accountants by defining a specific set of values and norms
for good conduct. The combination between the concept of controlling and SAP appears to influence
management accountants identities at Wood Plc. Notably, SAP is omnipresent in the field of
management accounting impacting the management accounting practices by a large extent. The
architecture of the SAP package includes a strong differentiation in financial and management
accounting which is one characteristic of the Germanic Zweikreissystem (two circle system). Wood
Plc. sharply differentiates between these two spheres of accounting in a very system-driven way
including the delineation of controlling as a ‘unique’ concept. This is concurrent with Messner et al.
(2008) who show in the academic context how Germanic controlling scholars established
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Rafael Heinzelmann
controlling as a separate discipline within the field of business administration. The paper illustrates
how the concept of controlling is enacted on an organizational level and how closely it is linked to
SAP CO providing a strong framework for management accounting practices. In the literature the
linkage between SAP and the use of the notion of controlling gained scant attention. In the case
study of Dechow & Mouritsen (2005) the SAP CO module was not implemented. However, Sedgley &
Jackiw (2001) state that the implementation of ABC to SAP is a very difficult undertake because
originally cost center based standard costing (‘Grenzplankostenrechnung’) is part of SAP CO module
which has another accounting logic. In the same vein, Quattrone & Hopper (2005) stress that the
SAP system has an ideal of German company in mind. I argue in this paper that this strong
idiosyncratic Germanic understanding of management accounting is manifested in the use of the
concept of controlling across the group together with the SAP system. SAP enforces this orientation
and acts as a very strong force for identity regulation. So far the literature has shown that ERP have
relatively little impact on the management accounting techniques and procedures (cf. Granlund &
Malmi, 2002), respectively ERPs drive role changes towards a process and business partner role and
a hybridization of professionals (cf. Caglio, 2003; Hyvönen, Järvinen, Pellinen, & Rahko, 2009;
Scapens & Jazayeri, 2003). The paper finds a different role of SAP. It is a very powerful regulating
instrument to pre-define and inscribe practices. In combination with the concept of controlling it
enables organizations to regulate management accountants’ identities. In contrast to Armstrong
(1985), the case illustrates both a strong production and management accounting orientation. This
is in line with Lambert & Pezet (2011) who demonstrated an unusual strong management
accounting orientation in a French manufacturing context. This contrasts with prior literature
stressing French and Germanic companies as engineering driven (cf. Armstrong, 1985; Lebas,
1996). Management accounting practitioners pursue identity work at Wood Plc. by making sense of
identity regulation. In particular, the ways in which non-Germanic management accountants
interpret and express the concept of controlling seem to be important. According to the empirical
material, non-Germanic controllers had never come across the concept of controlling before
working for Wood Plc. They make sense of the concept of controlling by relating it to first and
foremost to the ERP system SAP and then to attention to the detail as well as to a matter of language.
For instance, on the one hand, one French contrôlleur de gestion divides his job into the French
world, the world of contrôle de gestion and the group world, the world of controlling. Additionally,
even in German-speaking countries, some management accountants distinguish between controlling
and cost accounting. Cost accounting is seen as the messy, detailed daily job and controlling are the
strategic-orientated activities. The outcome of the identity process, the occupational self-identity is
shown by drawing on the “good management accountant” as a professional ideal. On the one hand, it
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Rafael Heinzelmann
demonstrates how management accountants achieve the possibility “to keep a particular narrative
going” (Giddens, 1991, p. 54) in order to ensure biographical continuity. On the other hand, different
aspects of identity regulation are included or neglected in these self-accounts. The understanding of
the business and its processes and procedures seem to be crucial for good management
accountants. In this vein, one plant controller express how he achieves such a business orientation
without being that ‘close’ to the business by referring to the example of having a coffee with people
which is kind of informal meeting. This is contrasted with another quotation of a plant controller
dichotomizing between an active, good controller and a reporter, seeing the latter as a ‘sufficient’
enactment of the controller role. In addition, one British management accountant emphasizes in
particular the importance of “seeing the bigger picture”. She is very critical about the business and
process knowledge of the accountancy staff in general. At the same time, a good management
accountant is somebody who is accurate and good at details. It is often referred to the ideal-type
Germanic controller who is characterized in particular by his in-depth knowledge. In light of the
Ahrens (1997, 1999), this seems to be an interesting finding because the good management
accountant implying a ‘British’ business orientation and a German attention to the detail. As the
paper shows, the three spheres of the identity process are closely connected. By the means of a
standardizing and regulating management accounting with SAP and the concept of controlling,
management accountants ‘receive’ a new roles (the sphere of identity regulation). This calls for
interpretation of management accountants (the sphere of identity work). In doing so, management
accounting practitioners made sense of it and linked controlling closely to SAP. In turn, the outcome
is defined taking into consideration aspects of biographical continuity leading to the expression of a
certain business and process orientation informing again the identity process. Against the backdrop
of prior literature these findings seem to be interesting: Firstly, e SAP is a clear reference point for
practitioners. This is in line with Dechow & Mouritsen (2005) who highlight that it is impossible to
study management accounting without looking at the technology employed to carry out
management accounting work. Moreover, SAP is in particular central for their occupational identity
for non-Germanic management accountants, it enables to make sense of the concept of controlling
and the idiosyncratic Germanic management accounting understanding. Secondly, in comparative
management accounting the role of SAP as ERP system having German organization in mind
(Quattrone & Hopper, 2005) hasn’t been addressed in detail. The interplay between the identity
process and the role of SAP is from crucial relevance in this case especially from a comparative
perspective. Finally, the analysis of the backgrounds of the management accounting interviewees
provides a very fragmented picture and a dominance of professional certificates. With reference to
Ahrens & Chapman (2000), Germanic controllers are more frequently trained at universities.
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Rafael Heinzelmann
Conclusions
The paper shows that occupational identities of management accountants are exposed to various
means of identity regulation which call for identity work of management accountants. This
undertaking is accomplished in light of biographical continuity which enables management
accountants to “(…) to keep a particular narrative going” (Giddens, 1991, p. 54). The combination
between governing the framework of management accounting practices and the occupational
ideology acts as powerful means of identity regulation. The pivotal role of the ERP system for
management accounting is astonishing in this case. With respect to this finding, it would be
worthwhile to further analyse the impact of ERP systems on management accounting practices as
well as the underlying logics of such systems. We know little about the enactment of ERP systems
and management accounting practices. In particular which modules are used for which
management accounting purposes as well as if there are differences in implementing and use of the
modules among different countries could be insightful for future research. This would shed light in
how such a global technology is enacted in organizations. After all, the paper demonstrates that
occupational identities of management accountants cannot be studied without taking the
technology employed into account (Dechow & Mouritsen, 2005).
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Appendix
Figure 3: Controlling Duties (Source: Internal documents, Gruppencontrolling)
Figure 4: Controlling Requirements (Source: Internal documents, Gruppencontrolling)
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