The objective of this work is to expand the understanding of how Management Accounting develops over time in an organization, taking as a foundation the Miller and Friesen (1984) life-cycle stage model for organizations in general, and the work of Greenwood and Hinings (1993, 1996) which deals with the transition dynamics between organizational stages, both based on Configuration Theory. The research strategy was a single case study, justified by the complexity of the theme and by the longitudinal retrospective approach to the study. The subject of this work was a more than 40 year-old manufacturing company. In a 15 year analysis time frame, it was possible to find how life-cycle stage evolution impacts Management Accounting development: within the same stages, deepening the characteristics of existing solutions, and in transition between distinct stages, altering solutions and introducing new characteristics. This work concludes with suggestions for future studies in the hope that knowledge about Management Accounting development continues to expand.
Management accounting; Life-cycle; Configuration theory