Showing papers in "Journal of Management Accounting Research in 2001"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report evidence on the effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a strategy communication and management control device and provide a model of communication and control applicable to the BSC.
Abstract: This paper reports evidence on the effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a strategy communication and management‐control device. This study first reviews communication and management control literatures that identify attributes of effective communication and control of strategy. Second, the study offers a model of communication and control applicable to the BSC. The study then analyzes empirical interview and archival data to model the use and assess the communication and control effectiveness of the BSC. The study includes data from multiple divisions of a large, international manufacturing company. Data are from BSC designers, administrators, and North American managers whose divisions are objects of the BSC. The study accumulates evidence regarding the challenges of designing and implementing the BSC faced by even a large, well‐funded company. These findings may be general‐izable to other companies adopting or considering adopting the BSC as a strategic and management control device. Data in...
644 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that the choice of a management accounting system such as ABC may have a significant impact on firm value, and that firms adopting activity-based costing techniques outperform matched non-ABC firms by approximately 27 percent over the three years beginning on January 1 of the year in which the ABC techniques are first implemented.
Abstract: Given the debate in both the professional and scholarly literature on the effectiveness of management accounting systems in the contemporary business environment, there is a need to understand more about the impact of activity‐based costing (ABC). In this paper, we show that the choice of a management accounting system, such as ABC, may have a significant impact on firm value. Specifically, for a sample of U.K. firms, we show that firms adopting activity‐based costing techniques outperform matched non‐ABC firms by approximately 27 percent over the three years beginning on January 1 of the year in which the ABC techniques are first implemented. This result is robust to different matching criteria and for both accounting and market‐based measures of performance. Further analysis suggests that ABC adds to firm value through better cost controls and asset utilization, coupled with greater use of financial leverage.
262 citations
TL;DR: The findings from this study suggest that there are significant interdependencies between strategic choice, structure, and performance measurement system design and that when the separate elements of organization design complement each other, performance is enhanced.
Abstract: While there have been numerous empirical and theoretical contributions in both the accounting and management literatures examining independently the implications of strategy and structure on control system design, there has been little research examining the interdependencies among the various elements of organization design. Hospitals represent an empirical setting where a diversity of structural arrangements and strategic orientations are both readily observable and recognized as having implications for other elements of control systems. Using data collected from chief executive officers and medical directors in hospitals, this study examines how strategic choices influence adaptations in structure and performance measurement systems. The findings from this study suggest that there are significant interdependencies between strategic choice, structure, and performance measurement system design and that when the separate elements of organization design complement each other, performance is enhanced.
168 citations
TL;DR: Evidence indicates that managers who have activity‐based costing knowledge content and/or an activity knowledge structure debias the cost information to have relatively good judgment performance.
Abstract: This paper reports evidence on how managers' cost knowledge affects their cost‐based judgment performance when a volume‐based cost accounting system is used and products have diverse resource consumption. The evidence indicates that managers who have activity‐based costing (ABC) knowledge content and/or an activity knowledge structure debias the cost information to have relatively good judgment performance. In contrast, managers with only cost‐accounting knowledge content have relatively poor judgment performance. The judgment performance model (Libby and Luft 1993) provides the theoretical framework for this paper. Implications of this paper for future research are discussed.
94 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of fairness in budgeting on individual performance in a non-participative budgeting setting were examined in a production task, where subjects performed a production job.
Abstract: This study examines the effects of fairness in budgeting on individual performance in a nonparticipative budgeting setting. An experiment was conducted in which subjects performed a production task...
92 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the role of management accounting in the downsizing process and its outcomes is analyzed, and three ideal types for downsizing efforts are proposed, and common influences upon all three are developed.
Abstract: The restructuring of large corporations has become a regular part of business in the last two decades. Nonetheless, very little study of this phenomenon has been conducted. This paper reports on qualitative fieldwork conducted at three large corporations. Three ideal types for downsizing efforts are proposed. In addition, common influences upon all three are developed. The role of management accounting in the process and its outcomes is analyzed.
16 citations