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Purpose Drawing on recent research, which recognises the situated nature of accounting practices, the purpose of this paper is to extend the Burns and Scapens (B&S) framework and to illustrate its potential for studying the situated nature of management accounting practices. The extended framework distinguishes field-level institutions (which the authors term broader institutions) and institutions within the organisation (which the authors term local institutions). To extend the B&S framework the authors draw on recent debates in institutional theory, both new institutional sociology, where the focus is now on the institutional logics perspective, and old institutional economics, where there has been debate about the relationship between institutions and actions. Design/methodology/approach While the B&S framework focussed on institutions within the organisation, the extended framework explicitly recognises institutions which extend beyond the boundaries of the organisation. It also recognises the way in which rationality and deliberation are related to human agency, as well as the power of specific individuals and/or groups to impose new rules. To illustrate the usefulness of the extended framework the research note draws on a recent study of performance measurement in the Accounting and Finance Groups of the Universities of Groningen and Manchester. Findings It is argued that local institutions within the organisation combine with the broader institutions to shape the forms of situated rationality which are applied by individuals and groups within the organisation. Different groups within an organisation (e.g. engineers and accountants) can have different forms of situated rationality, and contradictions in these forms of rationality can be a source of institutional change or resistance to change within the organisation, and can explain why accounting changes can by implemented in different ways in different organisations and also in different parts of the same organisation. Originality/value The extended framework will be useful for studying: (1) how situated rationalities evolve within an organisation, more specifically how they are shaped by both local and broader institutions; and (2) how prevailing situated rationalities shape the responses to accounting change.

Based on survey research, a picture is given of the sources which were used by 262 aldermen of Dutch municipalities to obtain information about developments in and performances of their organizations and aldermen's opinions on the available performance information in output‐oriented planning and control documents. The aldermen, who were elected politicians, made much use of information which they obtained during verbal consultations with professional managers. Performance information in planning and control documents was not greatly used by aldermen. Their opinions on available performance information in planning and control documents and its use slightly differed, depending on the policy fields for which they are responsible. This might be related to differences between policy fields with respect to uncertainty, measurability of outputs, and knowledge of transformation processes, although this relationship is not unambiguous.

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How combinations of control elements create tensions and how these can be managed: An embedded case study.