Management accounting systems and the economics of internal organization

The role, function and design of management accounting and control systems (MACS) are subjects that are being given considerable attention in the accounting literature. The theme of this paper is that recent developments in the economics of internal organization provide a useful framework for bringing economic choice problems associated with MACS into clearer focus. General themes already present in the managerial accounting literature (e.g. performance evaluation and control, participation, responsibility accounting and transfer pricing) gain in vitality when rooted in a more substancial theoretical base than is presently the case.