L’impatto della crisi pandemica sui sistemi di controllo di gestione: un’analisi empirica.

The general objective of the paper is to examine the relationship between Covid-19 pandemic and management control systems. Specifically, the objectives are twofold: to verify if and how management control systems supported firms’ choices during the health crisis; and how pandemic crisis affected firms’ management control systems. We used a multiple case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews to 7 controllers of Italian companies and we interpreted our results in the light of Institutional Theory and Contingency Theory. The pandemic was a sui generis contingency factor that had not yet been concretely taken into consideration in the research field of design and change of management control systems. In the case studies examined, management control systems have responded to the ongoing regulations by promptly adapting to them. Furthermore, some of the companies examined used their management control system as a tool to legitimize their decisions during Covid-19 crisis with respect to employees and the context, as a tool to instil security and closeness. Finally, based on the evidence of the case studies examined, we proposed a matrix to interpret the trajectories of changes of firms’ management control systems.