Introduction

This book examines the conceptual development of control in the literature of both management and accounting disciplines, from 1900 to 1980. In order to portray the development of control concepts over time, the chapters are organized into sections relating to the schools of thought from which they emanated and a model of control is constructed to represent each group of concepts and their hypothesised inter-relationships.

Analysis and Findings

Having traced the development of control models a comparative analysis of historical development in the two streams of management and accounting literature is undertaken. This analysis reveals a pronounced lag of accounting development behind that of management literature. The reasons for this are then discussed.