IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dij/revfcs/v12y2009iq2p5-34..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Les pratiques occultes des contrôleurs de gestion:une étude ethnographique du «sale boulot»

Author

Listed:
  • Caroline Lambert

    (HEC paris)

  • Jérémy Morales

    (Université de Paris 9 Dauphine)

Abstract

(VF)À partir d’une étude ethnographique, nous analysons les pratiques occultées de contrôleurs de gestion. Nous montrons que,souhaitant s’identifier à des consultants internes, ils ne vont pas chercher à « se vendre » auprès des managers. Au contraire, ils adoptent une stratégie d’évitement, tentent de déléguer, ou de dissimuler, les tâches qu’ils considèrent comme impures et qui constituent leur sale boulot. Le rapport des contrôleurs à leur travail, leur choix d’orienter l’attention vers certains phénomènes plutôt que d’autres, influencent les pratiques de contrôle dans l’organisation.(VA)Based on an ethnographic study, this paper analyzes hidden activities in management controllers’ practice. We show that, while they wish to appear as business partners, they do not “sell” themselves to managers. On the contrary, they adopt avoidance strategies, intending to delegate or dissimulate the tasks they consider as impure, that is to say those that constitute their “dirty work”. We argue that management accountants’ feelings about their job shape control processes within the organisation.

Suggested Citation

  • Caroline Lambert & Jérémy Morales, 2009. "Les pratiques occultes des contrôleurs de gestion:une étude ethnographique du «sale boulot»," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 12(2), pages 5-34, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:dij:revfcs:v:12:y:2009:i:q2:p:5-34.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec-crego.u-bourgogne.fr/images/stories/rev/122034.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahrens, Thomas, 1996. "Styles of accountability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 139-173.
    2. Dent, Jeremy F., 1991. "Accounting and organizational cultures: A field study of the emergence of a new organizational reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 705-732.
    3. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2007. "Management accounting as practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 1-27.
    4. Christel Lane, 1995. "Industry and Society in Europe," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 272.
    5. Covaleski, Mark A. & Dirsmith, Mark W., 1990. "Dialectic tension, double reflexivity and the everyday accounting researcher: On using qualitative methods," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 543-573.
    6. Henri Bouquin & Yvon Pesqueux, 1999. "Vingt ans de contrôle de gestion ou le passage d'une technique à une discipline," Comptabilité - Contrôle - Audit, Association francophone de comptabilité, vol. 5(3), pages 93-105.
    7. Thomas Ahrens & Christopher Chapman, 2000. "Occupational identity of management accountants in Britain and Germany," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 477-498.
    8. Gendron, Yves & Cooper, David J. & Townley, Barbara, 2007. "The construction of auditing expertise in measuring government performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 101-129.
    9. Annick Bourguignon, 2003. "« Il faut bien que quelque chose change pour que l'essentiel demeure » : la dimension idéologique du « nouveau » contrôle de gestion," ACCRA, Association francophone de comptabilité, vol. 9(3), pages 27-53.
    10. Ahrens, Thomas, 1997. "Talking Accounting: An Ethnography Of Management Knowledge In British And German Brewers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 617-637, October.
    11. Ahrens, T., 1996. "Styles of Accountability," Papers 96-119, University of Southampton - Department of Accounting and Management Science.
    12. Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Willmott, Hugh & Worthington, Frank, 2004. "Accounting and management-labour relations: the politics of production in the 'factory with a problem'," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(3-4), pages 269-302.
    13. Isabelle Huault & V. Perret & S. Charreire-Petit, 2007. "Management," Post-Print halshs-00337676, HAL.
    14. Dent, Jeremy F., 1990. "Strategy, organization and control: Some possibilities for accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 3-25.
    15. Roberts, John, 1991. "The possibilities of accountability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 355-368.
    16. Hopper, Trevor M., 1980. "Role conflicts of management accountants and their position within organisation structures," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 401-411, October.
    17. Dechow, Niels & Mouritsen, Jan, 2005. "Enterprise resource planning systems, management control and the quest for integration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 691-733.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anne Pezet & Jérémy Morales, 2010. "Les contrôleurs de gestion, « médiateurs » de la financiarisation," Post-Print halshs-00498673, HAL.
    2. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2006. "Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 819-841, November.
    3. Morales, Jérémy & Lambert, Caroline, 2013. "Dirty work and the construction of identity. An ethnographic study of management accounting practices," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 228-244.
    4. Anne-Laure Farjaudon & Jérémy Morales, 2011. "Mesurer et définir la valeur des marques - un enjeu dans la concurrence entre groupes professionnels," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 14(3), pages 63-90, September.
    5. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    6. Jørgensen, Brian & Messner, Martin, 2010. "Accounting and strategising: A case study from new product development," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 184-204, February.
    7. Ahrens, Thomas & Mollona, Massimiliano, 2007. "Organisational control as cultural practice--A shop floor ethnography of a Sheffield steel mill," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 305-331.
    8. Christoph Endenich & Michael Brandau & Andreas Hoffjan, 2011. "Two Decades of Research on Comparative Management Accounting – Achievements and Future Directions," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 21(4), pages 365-382, December.
    9. Bhimani, Alnoor, 1999. "Mapping methodological frontiers in cross-national management control research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(5-6), pages 413-440, July.
    10. Andrea Whittle & Frank Mueller, 2010. "Strategy, enrolment and accounting: the politics of strategic ideas," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 626-646, June.
    11. Vassili Joannides & N. Berland, 2008. "Grounded theory: quels usages dans les recherches en contrôle de gestion?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00676580, HAL.
    12. Cristiano Busco & Ariela Caglio & Robert Scapens, 2015. "Management and accounting innovations: reflecting on what they are and why they are adopted," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(3), pages 495-524, August.
    13. Cooper, Christine, 2015. "Entrepreneurs of the self: The development of management control since 1976," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 14-24.
    14. Kakkuri-Knuuttila, Marja-Liisa & Lukka, Kari & Kuorikoski, Jaakko, 2008. "Straddling between paradigms: A naturalistic philosophical case study on interpretive research in management accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 267-291.
    15. Ahrens, Thomas, 1997. "Talking Accounting: An Ethnography Of Management Knowledge In British And German Brewers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 617-637, October.
    16. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1375 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Lambert, Caroline & Pezet, Eric, 2011. "The making of the management accountant - Becoming the producer of truthful knowledge," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 10-30, January.
    18. Lukas Goretzki, 2013. "Management accounting and the construction of the legitimate manager," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 319-344, February.
    19. Utz Schäffer, 2013. "Management accounting research in Germany: from splendid isolation to being part of the international community," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 291-309, February.
    20. Hall, Matthew, 2010. "Accounting information and managerial work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28539, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    21. Sèna John-Ahyee, 2012. "La stabilité des activités des contrôleurs de gestion est-elle paradoxale?," Post-Print hal-00690976, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    contrôleurs de gestion; ethnographie; sale boulot; management controllers; ethnography; dirty work.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M49 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dij:revfcs:v:12:y:2009:i:q2:p:5-34.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Informatique Technique MSH Dijon (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.revues.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.