Control,organisation and accounting

Organisation control is a subject of fundamental importance to the designer of accounting control systems. Yet discussions of accounting control tend to take place against a back-cloth of incomplete and outmoded theories of organisation and simplistic and authoritarian concepts of control. In this paper, the applicability of a cybernetic model of control to the control of human organisations is explored, with particular reference to the role of accounting information systems. The analysis uncovers a number of issues that require resolution before the model can be applied to accounting information system design. Some directions for research on accounting controls are discussed.