The Role of Management Accounting and Control Systems as Information Networks and as Networks of Relationships on the Development of Organizational Knowledge

Abstract

Management accounting and control systems (MACS) may be defined as part of the global information system, through which it is collected, processed, analyzed and communicated information (financial and nonfinancial, internal and external) used for planning, monitoring and control of different organizational activities, to optimize the use of resources, to support the process of decision making and to the performance evaluation process. In this way, the concept of MACS in use in this article expands the notion of management accounting systems to embrace the entire array of control mechanisms used by organizations (See Machintosh & Quattrone, 2010).The design of MACS as elements of organizational structure that favor the development of intellectual capital has been highlighted in the literature (Cf. e. g. Prieto, 1999; Tayles, Bramley, Adshead, & Farr, 2002; Roberts, 2003; Widener, 2004; Wingren, 2004; Bjurström & Roberts, 2007; Cleary, Kennedy, O’Donnell, O’Reagan, & Bontis, 2007; Tayles, Pike, & Sofian, 2007; Cleary, 2009; Massaro, Bardy, & Pitts, 2012; Massaro, Bardy, & Zanin, 2013), mainly as a means of communication, dissemination and interpretation favoring the interaction mechanisms essential to the creation, transmission and integration of organizational knowledge. In this article, MACS will be described as elements of the managerial apparatus that managers may use to promote the activities that invoke organizational knowledge, i.e., the fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. Organizational knowledge often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, process, practices, and norms (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). The main objective of the article is to discuss the role of management accounting and control systems as information networks that collect, process and communicate information that influence the development of organizational knowledge, as well as networks of relationships that support the establishment of conditions for the creation and integration of organizational knowledge.