The evolution of a management control package: a retrospective case study Terje Berg NTNU Business School, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, and Dag Øivind Madsen USN Business School, University of South-Eastern Norway, Hønefoss, Norway Abstract Purpose – This paper examines the evolution of a company’s management control package (MCP) over time. The overall aim is to gain a deeper understanding of internal and external factors shaping a company’s management control package. Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs a retrospective single-case methodology where a company is followed over a ten-year period (2005–2015). Theoretically, the paper builds on Malmi and Brown’s (2008) MCP framework while also utilizing Simons’ (1994) levers of control framework as well as Abrahamson’s (1991) management fashion theory. Findings – The company’s MCP evolved in several ways. First, there was a change from using an interactive to a diagnostic budget. Second, the Balanced Scorecard approach was replaced by a narrow, strong focus on shareholder value. Finally, the quality system was reduced from a system for continuous learning and improvement to a system for compliance purposes only. Research limitations/implications – This paper offers naturalistic generalization to enable a holistic understanding of the changes to a management control package over time. The findings suggest that history matters in the design and configuration of MCPs. The MCP has evolved from being balanced and interactive, resembling Beyond Budgeting, to a diagnostic approach resembling traditional budgetary control. In 2005, the different controls were complementary and used for different purposes, while in 2015 the controls solely support the creation of shareholder value. The findings also indicate that management accounting innovations such as The Balanced Scorecard and Beyond Budgeting in this specific context may be considered fashions or even fads. Practical implications – The findings of the paper could be useful for CFOs and other managers who are involved in the design and configuration of MCPs. The findings show that internal and external events shape how much leeway managers have in the design and configuration of MCPs. Originality/value – The paper answers a call for more empirical studies on MCPs. By adopting a retrospective approach, the paper can provide insight into the temporal evolution of a control package. Keywords Case study, Management control, Management accounting, CFO, Management control package Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction Over the years, there has been an extensive research on management control systems (e.g. Chenhall, 2003; Langfield-Smith, 1997; Simons, 1987). One strand of literature argues that management control systems should be studied as a ‘package’ (Malmi and Brown, 2008), meaning that the various parts of the management control system do not operate in isolation, but interact with each other (Bedford et al., 2016; Malmi and Brown, 2008). In general, the rationale for studying “management control packages” (MCP) is to understand how the complementarity of controls may, or may not, affect organizational outcomes (Akroyd et al., 2019; Gerdin et al., 2019). Fundamentally, the MCP should contribute to company performance either via supporting decision making (Labro, 2015) or by guiding the behaviour of subordinates with the aim of achieving organizational goal alignment (Zimmerman, 2001, 2014). However, as Goretzki (2013) shows, managers may apply different The evolution of a management control package The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0967-5426.htm Received 22 October 2019 Revised 16 January 2020 6 May 2020 Accepted 27 May 2020 Journal of Applied Accounting Research © Emerald Publishing Limited 0967-5426 DOI 10.1108/JAAR-10-2019-0148