Layering of Controls: MCS Transformation in a Hybrid Public Accounting Firm

Abstract

Background: This study introduces layering of controls as a longitudinal and cumulative pattern in the transformation of Management Control Systems (MCS) within professional service firms. Objective: Unlike redesign or archetype-change perspectives, which treat MCS transformation as substitutive, this research demonstrates how new controls accumulate without replacing existing ones. The study draws on a single-case, longitudinal investigation of a non-Big Four Indonesian public accounting firm affiliated with a global network, observed across nearly four decades of organizational growth. Methods: Methodologically, the research combines eight years of participant observation by an insider partner-researcher (2017–2025), semi-structured interviews with six purposively selected informants reflecting maximum variation across hierarchy and background, and analysis of organizational documents, with reflexivity and triangulation employed to mitigate insider bias. Results: The findings reveal four sequential layers: founder-based personal and cultural controls, action controls through global audit methodology, formal governance, and integrated audit technology. Each layer reinforces rather than supplants the preceding layers. Conclusion: The study contributes by extending the MCS-as-package framework with a temporal dimension, explaining how intrinsic motivation sustains cultural control in professional firms, and showing that global affiliation in a hybrid model strengthens, rather than erodes, local strategic authority in emerging-market audit firms.