Professionalization of management accounting in family firms: the impact of family members

Literature on the professionalization of management accounting in family firms has extensively focused on non-family experts, such as controllers or CFOs, as drivers of this process, a somewhat one-sided view. The present study therefore aims to explore how family managers may contribute to the professionalization of management accounting in family firms. For this purpose, we develop a framework that identifies the controlling family’s ability and willingness to professionalize as necessary conditions for professionalization. We apply this framework to a single case study of a family firm situated in the German-speaking area of Europe, followed from the business’ foundation in the 1980s until 2014. Our findings show that under certain conditions, members of the controlling family may indeed primarily promote the professionalization of management accounting. Consequently, further research should not only relate the level of family influence at a firm to measures of management accounting professionalization but also consider the controlling family’s ability and willingness to professionalize management accounting.