This work aims to characterize, in a theoretical perspective, the contributions of organizational life cycle theories in managerial accounting research. Besides it surveys the main authors, institutions and countries linked to the organizational life cycle research. It is developed a bibliometric analysis from the ProQuest®'database. From a total of 22 papers about life cycle, six utilize the organizational life cycle as theoretical basis and present contributions to the research in managerial accounting. It is concluded that the management accounting system undergoes changes as internal and external company configuration factors modify along the different organizational life stages. It was evidenced a concentration of works about life cycle theories in universities in Canada. Mainly due to the high number of citations of the work developed by Danny Miller (École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) and Peter Friesen (Faculty of Management, MacGill University).
Organizational life cycle theories; Managerial accounting research; Bibliometric analysis; Structural configuration; Management control system
