During the first sixty years or so of the twentieth century, a number of accounting techniques were developed for use in the management of business. One of those new techniques was budgetary control. This paper examines the dissemination and diffusion of budgetary control in France and Britain between the 1920s and the 1960s, outlining the similarities and differences in the experiences of the two countries, and examining some of those factors that influenced them. The paper concludes with some proposals for a programme for future research in (international) accounting change.