Management Accounting Change through Pilots: A case study on Accelerated Change and Trojan Horse Mechanisms

Abstract: This paper explores evolutionary management accounting change (MAC) and is aligned with the previous perception of MAC being an evolutionary phenomenon. However, we also share recent criticism that evolutionary MAC has not been described in its entirety, implying that the definition of evolutionary MAC has to be extended beyond being seen as merely gradual and slow. In order to analyze how traditional evolutionary MAC theory can be expanded, we draw theoretically on three dynamics of pilots in facilitating organizational change: Trigger, Momentum and Quick Results. Empirically, a case study of a technology implementation through the mechanism of pilots has been used to show how technology pilots can simultaneously accelerate MAC processes. This is interesting, since the concept of pilots has not been investigated in literature on management accounting change. We contribute to existing research by identifying a new evolutionary MAC pattern going beyond the traditional evolutionary MAC definition and refer to this new pattern as the accelerated management accounting change process. We further add to the insufficiently investigated discussion of informal MAC as we have observed the use of pilots in provoking current management accounting structures. We refer to this as the Trojan Horse mechanism, because just as Odysseus and his troops secretly infiltrated Troy with their wooden gift, we claim that pilots can inherently drive change of management accounting processes undercover.