Digitalization in management accounting and control: an editorial

Abstract

Digitalization has the potential to disrupt the management accounting domain. It may not only affect the digital landscape of the organization and the associated business models, but also management accounting and control practices as well as the role of the controller. This editorial discusses these developments by introducing the concept of digitalization and describing its impact on the field of management accounting and control.

Data analytics by management accountants

“…In addressing this deficit, the Journal of Management Control devoted a recent issue (April 2020) to DA and management accounting. In that issue, Möller et al (2020) editorial noted a lack of empirical papers discussing the effects of DA on MA.…”

Exploring the programmability of management accounting work for increasing automation: an interventionist case study

“…The effects of digitalization on management accounting have not yet been thoroughly understood (Möller et al , 2020). To address this gap, this study analyzes the programmability of management accounting work to better understand management accounting automation.…”

“…Disaster could occur if human labor is prematurely replaced with automation without a thorough understanding of the automized tasks and without the recognition that human and computer intelligence are profoundly different. Thus, humans must also determine the purposeful division of labor between humans and machines and how the change toward this division takes place (Bolander, 2019a, b; Möller et al , 2020). Indeed, further research is needed on the aspects in which human accountants are specifically relevant when compared to technologies that accompany, supplement or invade their workspaces (Sutton et al , 2018).…”

“…More research is needed to answer whether and how management accounting processes are “clearly defined and understood” for automation (Möller et al , 2020, p. 3), i.e. to decide whether management accounting tasks are adequately programmed or routine (cf.…”

“…We therefore need more knowledge on the specific types of digital expertise when deciding how accounting tasks should be executed in a purposeful manner (e.g. Viale et al , 2017; Moll and Yigitbasioglu, 2019; Oesterreich et al , 2019; Möller et al , 2020). Can we trust the digital systems to provide us with purposeful decision-making support and replace expert work in difficult, nonroutine decision-making situations as they could in a situation in which the task is clearly defined and programmable (Carter et al , 2015; Quattrone, 2016)?…”