Vingt ans de chantiers de comptabilité de gestion

Ever since the publication in 1982 of the Plan comptable général (and especially its third part), Management Accounting in France has been under reconstruction. Three successive phases are identified in the evolution of the content and definition of Management Accounting. From 1980 until 1986, the field absorbed the innovations introduced by the Plan, and especially the emphasis on decision making support. A second phase saw the development of a questioning of the relevance of the models of the firm underlying cost analysis systems. The key revolution that took place at that time was a complete reversal in the approach: a cost is the result of actions, instead of being a component of an algorithm of calculation to find a product cost. The third and most recent phase carries the causality logic one step further and poses the question of the reason of existence of the product that is seen as the source of costs. The authors conclude with the suggestion that French Management Accounting is approaching the next millennium with a view of Management Accounting, a view that separates performance management from cost calculations.