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This study aims to investigate the influences on the digitalization of management control and the effects of this digitalization on management control tasks performed, management control instruments used and the organization of management control.

This empirical analysis is based on a survey of 189 management accountants and managers responsible for management control in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the investigated effects.

This study finds that digital competencies, standardization of processes and data management contribute to the digitalization of management control. This study further finds that digitalization significantly increases the coverage of strategic and operational management control tasks and the use of operational management control instruments but not of strategic instruments.

This study investigates the influence of digitalization in management control on strategic and operational management control tasks, instruments and organizations. In contrast, prior research has focused on single aspects of management control or analyzed the impact on the entire company. This is also the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to systematically identify potential influences on the digitalization of management control and analyze them empirically.

This study aims to analyse the influence of digitalisation on the management control function of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, it aims to illuminate how digitalisation influences management control elements, organisation and roles/competencies and to identify obstacles to digitalisation of management control in SMEs and measures taken to overcome them.

The study is based on guideline-supported expert interviews conducted with 14 financial managers from SMEs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

This study reveals the influence of digitalisation on management control elements, organisation, and roles/competencies. The automation and standardisation of management control processes result in new elements for management control, such as strategic support for management. In addition, the increased availability and transparency of data enable the use of instruments within a company that allow for quick analyses of the company's development. Digitalisation leads to the integration of management control into the corporate network and, thus, a change in the organisation of management control. It also triggers the expansion of management control competencies, especially IT competencies. A shortage of internal digitalisation resources, unclear corporate roadmaps, and a lack of managerial experience loom as central challenges for digitalising the management control function. Measures derived from the interviews can help SMEs overcome the obstacles to the digitalisation of management control.

This research is the first interview-based study of the impact of digitalisation on management control in SMEs, potential obstacles to that digitalisation, and measures to overcome those obstacles. Thus, it contributes to the emerging debate on factors that may explain why SMEs lag in terms of the digitalisation of their internal processes.