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The objective of this article is to propose a clarification of the concept of matrix accounting while highlighting the elements that justify its wider use. It also reveals the factors behind the appearance of matrix accounting as an alternative to double-entry accounting, and describes its evolution over time in order to understand the reasons why it has not become widespread. To achieve this, we conducted a structured literature review in ten steps (M. Massaro and al., 2016). Our research is based on the twenty most-cited research journals of the past five years, specializing in accounting, identified using Google Scholar Metrics. We also referred to the top twenty-five journals in the Scimago ranking, which uses the h-index. By cross-referencing these two criteria, we obtained a list of twenty-eight journals. In addition to this selection of journals we used doctoral theses, research papers, conference proceedings, specialized works, and professional and educational articles on the subject. We find that matrix accounting did not develop at the time due to a lack of advanced computing and above all the difficulty of keeping the details of all the transactions carried out in a matrix, making this system hard to use. Despite the possibility of using matrix accounting to record transactions, prepare financial statements, and calculate costs, we find that this tool has not been able to establish itself in the market. Our research being limited in space and time (1846–2018), as well as by the number of journals selected, some sources may have been overlooked. Nevertheless, we believe that our sample is representative.