TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING THE FORMATION OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING HABITS AND ROUTINES: A CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT Considering that management accounting routines tend towards stability and that it is difficult to introduce new conceptual approaches into practice, this study aimed to identify the basic characteristics of management accounting habits and routines. We attempted to study not only existing habits and routines, but also new ones that emerged from the installation of a change process in the cost and pricing systems of a medium-sized family company. In view of the need to understand the company’s situation before and during the change process as well as after its implantation, the action research methodology was used. The institutional and contingency theories were used as a theoretical reference framework. The following factors stood out in the case study results: 1. the impact analysis of environmental problems that turn the existing management accounting habits and routines inefficient; 2. the difficulty to change old habits and institutionalized routines, which are used unconsciously; 3. the use of different strategies to institutionalize new management concepts.