Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of management accounting and control systems (MACS) on environmental innovation practices and operational performance. Specifically, this study relies on Simons’ levers of control (LOC) framework to investigate how managers implement environmental innovation practices. This paper hypothesizes that a forward-looking use of MACS (i.e. interactive use) triggers the implementation of environmental innovation practices, resulting in higher operational performance. Furthermore, the authors argue that the monitoring role of MACS (i.e. diagnostic use) combined with environmental training improves the effect of environmental innovation practices on operational performance.Design/methodology/approach: Hypotheses are examined through a questionnaire survey. The analyses are based on responses in an empirical study from 89 Brazilian hotels.Findings: Empirical findings from a hierarchical moderated regression analysis support the hypothesized links.Originality/value: This study contributes to the environmental management and management control literature by providing novel evidence on the roles MACS play in the field of sustainable development. Based on the LOC framework, the authors shed light on the understanding of how managers introduce and monitor environmental innovation practices, as well as also outlining the key effects of environmental training in enabling the novel abilities of managers and employees to better understand environmental data and identify novel potential environmentally friendly solutions in the case of deviations. This paper also adds to Wijethilakeet al.(2017), providing new empirical evidence on how firms design, implement and use MACS that capture institutional pressures for sustainability from multiple stakeholders.

This study analyzes how Management Accounting and Control Systems (MACS) facilitate the appropriation of the benefits of sustainable innovations in organizations. In particular, this paper examines the moderating role of different types of MACS in the relationships between sustainable innovation and international performance at an organizational level. We collected survey data from 123 Spanish and Portuguese organizations. Partial Least Square was used to analyze the data. Results show that the effect of sustainable innovations on international performance is enhanced by contemporary rather than traditional types of MACS. Overall our findings show that MACS can help managers to develop and monitor organizational activities (e.g., costumer services and distribution activities), which support the appropriation of the potential benefits from sustainable innovation. This paper responds to recent calls for in-depth studies about the organizational mechanism that may enhance the success of sustainable innovation.