ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to develop a critical structuralist framework for the analysis of the processes of rationalization and the significance of accounting in voluntary organizations. It focuses on the work of Armstrong to set out the major elements of a critical structuralist analysis of management control in the context of business organizations. The chapter summarizes the more limited literature on the nature of management control issues in voluntary organizations. It also aims to develop the specific arguments adapting the critical structuralist approach to the case of churches. The problems with the market failures argument are well known and have come from both within its own camp and from external commentators. Armstrong set out to explain the apparent dominance of accountants and the significant use of accounting and financial controls in the management of modern British capitalist enterprises. The key feature of all voluntary organizations must be the voluntary participation of its membership.
