ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses an innovation project about the customisation of existing software for the billing and customer care activities of a mobile operator's telecommunication division. The management accounting literature has largely been interested in investigating the inter-organizational relationships between partners that operate along the value chain. The chapter explains the role that accounting and, more generally, management controls have in their management. It describes the innovation process and the controls used in the contracting phase and during the management and execution of the software development project. The chapter then provides some insights on the role of different control tools based on the analysis of the formal contract underlying the Customer Care and Billing System (CC&BS) project. The most important tools used in the contracting phase of the project are the project plan, the GANTT chart, and the Quotation Management Summary (QMS). The project plan defines the general framework for the project.