Contingency factors contributing to the decision of changing the costing system: a case study in a milling company

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the contingent factors that were present and that may have influenced the decision to change the costing system in a wheat milling company. The Case Study is operationalized through documents research and structured and unstructured interviews. For data interpretation it was employed analysis techniques using the content software Atlas TI. The results show that the variables contingency as environment, competition, market, technology and Management Control System influenced the decision to change the costing system. Technology seems to have affected the company intensively with the emergence of new materials and processes that allowed breaking the paradigm of a single product manufacturer, resulting in improved performance. The results, although they cannot be generalized, contribute to the literature related to changes in Management Control Systems to provide empirical evidences that the deregulation affects the type of management information required and hence the Costing System.