Of light and shadow: uncovering simultaneous opportunities and threats from business analytics for management control departments and avenues for future research

Abstract Innovative technologies such as business analytics (BA) offer significant opportunities for management control (MC) departments. Despite considerable hype in academia and practice, there are some MC aspects for which BA may also pose a threat to MC departments. This study examines whether there are certain aspects of MC for which BA can create both opportunities and threats for MC departments. Analyzing 64 publications from high-quality MC/accounting journals, four MC aspects and corresponding conditions are identified for which the simultaneous occurrence of opportunities and threats from an MC perspective applies. These MC aspects are: 1: information quality from BA for MC departments, 2: controller roles, 3: collaboration of MC departments with other departments, and 4: MC task performance (comprising decision support and managerial decision-making, performance measurement and management, and reporting). Gaining these insights, this study helps both MC scholars and practitioners to develop a new perspective on the effects of BA on MC, as it rearranges the existing knowledge in the complex area of simultaneous opportunities and threats of BA for MC departments. Furthermore, identifying the conditions that may favor opportunities and threats, it helps MC practitioners to foster those conditions that are related to opportunities, thus helping to realize potential opportunities. In addition, by deriving relevant research questions, it serves as a starting point for future research to gain more insights into the complex area of BA-related opportunities and threats.