Rôles assignés à la comptabilité de gestion par les managers et changement comptable : question d'adéquation ou simple désillusion ?

The non-satisfaction stemming from mainstream perspectives on the use of management accounting by managers is bound to that they suffer from a lack of alignment with the specificities of the managerial work and to that they have produced diffuse and non-integrated knowledge. By adopting a managerial perspective, this paper informs on the roles assigned to management accounting by managers within a context of major accounting change. Based upon a case study of a large organization in the manufacturing sector, the findings shed light on the coexistence of four roles of management accounting. Notwithstanding this, it was highlighted that information and relation roles dominate decision-making and cognitive roles. We emphasize the inadequateness of the accounting change with managers? expectations in terms of roles assigned to management accounting. A large cognitive gap between managers and designers of the new accounting device is outlined. This gap is partly due to a lack of appropriate measures to assist managers in accomplishing their organizational roles.