This conceptual paper addresses Management Accounting and Control Systems (MACS) from a communication process perspective as opposed to a functionaldesign perspective. Its arguments originate from a social-constructionist perspective on the organization. Its line of argument is that building a social theoryof a social phenomenon such as MACS, demands that attention be paid to the characteristics of the communication process. An existing theoretical frameworkthat does the same is Giddens’ structuration theory, but it is only partly satisfactory because it refuses to consider (...) communication-as-interaction from a dynamiccontextual perspective, instead falling back on an argument related to the behavioural aspects of agency. An alternative is a semiotic-based communicationperspective that includes context as well as addresses the epistemological level of a MACS theory based on communication. The semiotic model of Jakobson is provided and developed as a specific alternative. (shrink)

This conceptual paper addresses Management Accounting and Control Systems from a communication process perspective as opposed to a functional design perspective. Its arguments originate from a social-constructionist perspective on the organization. Its line of argument is that building a social theory of a social phenomenon such as MACS, demands that attention be paid to the characteristics of the communication process. An existing theoretical framework that does the same is Giddens’ structuration theory, but it is only partly satisfactory because it refuses (...) to consider communication-as-interaction from a dynamic contextual perspective, instead falling back on an argument related to the behavioural aspects of agency. An alternative is a semiotic-based communication perspective that includes context as well as addresses the epistemological level of a MACS theory based on communication. The semiotic model of Jakobson is provided and developed as a specific alternative. (shrink)