Management Accounting Research 18 (2007) 125–149 Management Accounting Issues in interpreting its nature and change Cristiano Busco a,* , Paolo Quattrone b , Angelo Riccaboni a a Universit` a di Siena, Faculty of Economics, Piazza S. Francesco 7, Siena, Italy b Sa¨ ıd Business School and Christ Church, University of Oxford, Park End Street, OX1 1HP Oxford, UK Abstract Studies in the area of management accounting change have proliferated in the past few years. It seems then time for systematizing the analysis of management accounting change along some key dimensions which can prompt some further reflection. This paper proposes to organize such reflection along these dimensions: the agents and object of change; the forms and ratio of change; the space and time of change; and the interplay between change and stability. This systematization, the paper argues, will help us to relate a reflection on the process of change with the nature of management accounting itself. Studying change entails a reflection on what changes and studying what changes implies a reflection on the nature of management accounting and its ability to become what is not, i.e. its change. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Management accounting; Change and stability; Nature of management accounting; Heteromogeneity 1. Introduction “I definitely agree we need to improve our processes of integration within [MEGOC], we shall communicate better and engage more effectively in day-to-day operations ... at present, despite the six common strategic imperatives, each business line is a kingdom on its own, we know that ... However, I have heard we are introducing a new system called Balanced Scorecard that run within the SAP’s platform [MEGOC’s Enterprise Resource Planning system] and allows us to monitor the achievement of our strategic imperatives along four different perspectives of analysis. Let’s see what it is like, and its impact on the job as I wouldn’t like to change my existing working practices * Corresponding author. E-mail address: busco@unisi.it (C. Busco). 1044-5005/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mar.2007.04.003