Digitalization and Management Control in the Public Sector: What is Next?

Digitalization has become increasingly important over the years because of the potential opportunities and advantages it offers, both in terms of organizations’ management and performances and various stakeholder relationships. If integrated with management accounting systems, these benefits—derived from the implementation and use of digital tools—can increase. However, it is argued that there is still a long way to go, especially in the public sector. There is no clarity about the degree of digitalization and whether public sector organizations are prepared to implement digital tools in their management control systems (MCS). Therefore, this chapter, through a systematic literature review, aims to clarify how the implementation of digital tools influences the MCS of public sector organizations. The literature review reveals few studies on such topics for the public sector, which has a greater need of quantitative and qualitative studies. Furthermore, although the internal and external benefits associated with the use of digital tools in MCS are recognized, such tools seem to have an unexpressed potential in the public context. This chapter also adds to the knowledge of both practitioners and academics as it unveils a lack of innovative technical solutions that can support MCS and its integration with digitalization, which should be strengthened to improve decision-making processes.