Ownership of management control in state administrations: vocabulary without grammar[Appropriation du contrôle de gestion dans les administrations de l’État : vocabulaire sans grammaire]

The tools and vocabulary of management control (MC) have progressively penetrated the French state administration (SA) and administrative literature, first regulatory and then legislative. The days when the units (offices or departments) responsible for MCA in different ministries had to hide behind less visible names such as' management consultancy'or'decision support'seem to be over. There are many signs that this function has become established within the EA. However, the trans-formation experienced by public administrations as a result of the introduction of CDG tools is often the focus of criticism. Observers and analysts of management control instrumentation operations within the AEs in France agree in drawing up a mixed assessment of the effectiveness of the transformations introduced and their consequences, which are often perceived as being more negative than positive for organisations and individuals. The literature pointing to these effects is very abundant (eg Milot, 2000; Desrosières and Kott, 2005; Gogue, 2008; Bartoli and Blatrix, 2015; Bezès et al., 2016; Gibert and Thoenig, 20211). It shows that the changes brought about by a discourse of transparency, effectiveness and efficiency are translated in reality by an intensification of bureaucracy or even the emergence of a new form of bureaucratisation,