This article examines the process of institutionalizing management accounting in Spanish universities by analyzing the main drivers and actors as well as the challenges and the benefits that it can have in practice. The article shows that the implementation of cost accounting is a result of coercive isomorphism consistent with the external pressures of central government. However, there is no evidence of the successful use of the information for management purposes, and the universities do not report benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. The results show that, in practice, the main role assigned to cost accounting is accountability.