11 / 78
11
Summary
The Role of Management Accountants within
the New Management Accounting and Control
of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
Under the stark influence of the New Public Management, manage-
ment accountants came to play a central role in the management
accounting and control practices of the Swedish Social Insurance
Agency (SIA). However, in 2012 the SIA initiated a programme of
change to curb the negative and unexpected consequences of earlier
management accounting and control practices.
To set the stage for an interview study carried out among controllers
at the operational level as well as other co-worker groups, this study
begins with a characterization of the SIA’s change programme and
describes chronologically the changes which have taken place. It
focuses on the working practices of the groups interviewed and how
these have been influenced by the process of change that is taking
place at the SIA. The research question is thus:
how have the role and
practice of controllers and other related groups at the SIA changed
in the context of the SIA’s change programme?
The emphasis on
controllers resulted from earlier studies at the SIA where the changes
of the controller role were particularly highlighted and characterized
as comprehensive.
The analysis shows that, because of reorganization involving a
renewed customer orientation and directives to curb detailed steering
as well as a focus on performance measurement, controllers have
largely lost their traditional authoritative role. Instead, it has turned
more into a consultative or coaching role towards managers as well
as self-managing teams, who are now ’customers’ of the controller.
Contrary to the expectations of many, measurements have increased.