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Journal of Management
Accounting Research
2001, Volume 13
Contents
Cost Knowledge and Cost-Based Judgment Performance
David T. Dearman
Arkansas State University
Michael D. Shields
Michigan State University
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.
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The Impact of Activity-Based Costing Techniques on Firm Performance
Tom Kennedy
University of Limerick
John Affleck-Graves
University of Notre Dame
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.
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Communicating and Controlling Strategy: An Empirical Study of the Effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard
Mary A. Malina
Naval Postgraduate School
Frank H. Selto
University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Melbourne
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 generalizable to other companies adopting or considering adopting the BSC as a strategic and management control device.
Data indicate that this specific BSC as designed and implemented, is an effective device for controlling corporate strategy. Results also indicate disagreement and tension between top and middle management regarding the appropriateness of specific aspects of the BSC as a communication, control, and evaluation mechanism. Specific results include evidence as causal relations between effective management control, motivation, strategic alignment, and beneficial effects of the BSC. These beneficial effects include changes in processes and improvements in both the BSC and customer-oriented services. In contrast, ineffective communication and management control cause poor motivation and conflict over the use of the BSC as an evaluation device.
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Referent Cognitions and Budgetary Fairness: A Research Note
Theresa Libby
Wilfrid Laurier University
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 and were compensated under a budget-based incentive contract. Performance was lowest when an unfair budget target was assigned using an unfair budgeting process. When the budget target assigned was fair, the fairness or unfairness of the budgeting process had no effect on performance. When an unfair budget target was determined using a fair budgeting process, mean performance was not significantly different from mean performance of the subjects assigned fair budget targets. Implications of this result in assigning stretch targets are discussed.
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Interdependencies in Organization Design: A Test in Hospitals
Margaret A. Aberneth
Anne M. Lillis
University of Melbourne
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 form chief executive 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.
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Exploring Downsizing: A Case Study on the Use of Accounting Information
Vaughan S. Radcliffe
Case Western Reserve University
David R. Campbell
Ernst & Young International
Timothy J. Fogarty
Case Western Reserve University
Abstract: The restructuring of large corporations ahs 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.
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