89 Management Accounting Change: A Case Study of Balanced Scorecard Implementation in a Portuguese Service Company Luís Pimentel ISCTE Business School, Lisbon Maria João Major ISCTE Business School, Lisbon Av. das Forças Armadas, Cacifo 105-A, 1649-026 Lisboa; Tel: +351/217903495; Fax: +351/21217903904; maria.joao.major@iscte.pt (Recebido a 20 de Fevereiro de 2009; Aceite a 5 de Novembro de 2009) Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions of João Ribeiro, Aldónio Ferreira, the two anonymous re- viewers and the Editor on earlier versions of the paper. Likewise the authors would like to thank all the interviewees in Alpha, particularly the PMCD manager. Moreover, the paper has benefited from the feedback received at the European Accounting Congress 2006 (Dublin), the European Accoun- ting Congress 2007 (Lisbon) and the European Accounting Congress 2008 (Rotterdam). Abstract This paper presents a longitudinal case study of management accounting (MA) change in a Portuguese service company operating within the infor- mation technology (IT) business which has implemented the Balanced Sco- recard (BSC). BSC implementation turned out to be problematic. It took too long and faced several difficulties and obstacles. Drawing upon Kasurinen’s (2002) revised model of accounting change, the factors that created a po- tential for change (motivators, facilitators and catalysts) and the events that seek to explain how the process of change evolved (momentum and leader- ship) are identified. Furthermore, Kasurinen’s barriers to change (confusers, frustrators and delayers) have been recognised in the study. This investiga- tion demonstrates how Kasurinen’s (2002) framework can help researchers to understand the reasons and explanations as to why change occurs in organizations and the process by which MA changes.