“Controlling” as an academic discipline: the development of management accounting and management control research in German-speaking countries between 1970 and 2003

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the structures and the development of management accounting and management control research in German-speaking countries between 1970 and 2003 as well as to the literature on “Comparative International Accounting History". It is mainly set in the “archive", using published articles and an empirical survey to describe and explain the development of controlling as an academic discipline in German-speaking countries. Eight explorative research questions on the development of the discipline are answered. The analysis covers three perspectives that complement each other: relevant chairs at German-speaking universities (input), German-language publications (output) and citations (outcome) on the subject. The results indicate that controlling has become an established discipline of business administration (Betriebswirtschaftslehre ) in German-speaking countries and can be considered a comparatively young field that has traditionally been highly practice-oriented, but also self-referential and for the most part not integrated into the international community. While publishing and citation patterns have changed over time in German-speaking countries they remain at variance with international management accounting research.