Winning without scoring on the field - How management accounting shapes the modern elite football club

Abstract: Following an increasing commercialisation of sports in general and football in particular, modern sports organisations may need to challenge their current business model. Through a qualitative study of a Swedish elite football club, the aim of this paper has been to distinguish the roles of management accounting when reframing a sports organisation with a strong culture. We find that institutional logics succumb to business logics while tensions are mitigated through the deployment of a well-defined long-term strategy. By using a Foucauldian perspective, we studied the power dynamics employed and found that employees are mainly empowered by being increasingly measured, as opposed to what Foucault may suggest. We conclude that elite football clubs may use management accounting processes to achieve long-term stability, while decreasing short-term focus on sport performance.