En analyse af Activity Based Costing og driftsøkonomi som ex ante og ex post information Del 2.

I en tidligere artikel (Israelsen & Rohde, 2008) har vi under ex ante analyseret forskellene mellem ABC og driftsøkonomi under forudsætning om ledig henholdsvis knap kapacitet. I den pågældende artikel forudsatte vi, at alle ressourcerne var særbestemte pr. aktivitet. Denne forudsætning ophæves her, hvilket fører til, at man ikke længere kan opgøre uudnyttet kapacitet entydigt på aktivitetsniveau. Herefter koncentrerer artiklen sig om ex post, hvor der argumenteres for, at ABC risikerer at forvride relevant opdatering af forkalkuler og forringe den organisatoriske læring. Endvidere vises det, at selv om ABC’s hierarkiske lønsomhedsanalyser ikke følger et strikt princip om logisk korrekthed, er der rum for større fleksibilitet i opbygningen af disse analyser som inspirationsgrundlag for ledelsesmæssige tiltag med henblik på forbedret lønsomhed i fremtiden.In a previous article (Israelsen and Rohde, 2008), we analysed, under ex ante, the differences between ABC and managerial economics based on assumptions of idle as well as scarce capacity. We assumed that all resources had been specified for each activity. Here, this assumption is deviated from with the result that untapped capacity can no longer be calculated unambiguously at activity level. After that, the article goes on to discuss ex post where it is argued that ABC risks distorting the relevant updating of pre-calculations and impairing organisational learning. It is demonstrated that although ABC’s hierarchical cost-benefit analyses do not adhere strictly to the principle of logical correctness, they still leave room for greater flexibility in the design of these analyses as an inspirational basis for managerial actions with a view to future improved profitability

En analyse af Activity Based Costing og driftsøkonomi som ex ante og ex post information. Del 1.

Artiklen identificerer forskelle mellem ex ante behandlingen af omkostninger i en Activity Based Costing model og en model, der baserer sig på driftsøkonomi. Under ex ante opererer ABC med både en omkostningsforbrugsmodel og en udgiftsmodel i aktivitetsbaseret budgettering. Ved hjælp af et numerisk eksempel fremdrages væsentlige forskelle mellem disse modeller og driftsøkonomiens behandlingsform under både ledig og knap kapacitet i tilfælde, hvor omkostningerne er ikke-lineære, og hvor man i praksis må gå på kompromis med den ideale driftsøkonomiske model.The article identifies differences between the ex ante treatment of costs in an Activity Based Costing (ABC) model and a model based on managerial economics. Under the ex ante model, ABC operates with both a consumption model and a spending model in activity-based budgeting. A numerical example is used to examine the significant differences between the models during periods of idle as well as scarce capacity in cases where costs are non-linear and, in practice, a compromise on the “ideal managerial economics” model is warranted

Senior Management Use of Management Control Systems in Large Companies

The use of management control systems in large companies remains relatively unexplored. Indeed, only a few studies of senior managers’ use of management control systems consider multiple controls in companies. This paper explores data from a comprehensive survey of the use of management control systems in 120 strategic business units at some of the largest companies in Denmark. The paper identifies how senior management guides and controls their subordinates to meet their companies’ objectives. The presentation and discussion of the results, including citations from executive managers, use Ferreira and Otley’s (2009) conceptual and holistic framework for performance management systems, supplemented by elements of contextual factors and organisational culture. Further, selected researchers’ perceptions of the purpose of using management control systems are related to practitioners’ ideas of the purpose of using such systems. Finally, the paper discusses the usability of the 12 questions in Ferreira and Otley’s framework for exploring empirical survey data.</jats:p

The impact of society on management control systems

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The aim of this study is to investigate whether certain configurations of management controls dominate in certain societies (socio-cultural contexts) and whether the effectiveness of a given archetype of management control systems (MCSs) varies depending on the socio-cultural setting—the society—in which it operates. The study focuses on three socio-cultural groups and the corresponding institutional contexts (an Anglo-Saxon group, a Central European group, and a Northern European group) and three MCS archetypes (delegated bureaucratic control, delegated output control, and programmable output control). We use unique data from a cross-national, interview-based survey encompassing 610 strategic business units from nine countries (seven European countries plus Canada and Australia). The idea that firms tend to adapt MCSs to the socio-cultural context does not gain empirical support in this study. No significant differences in the distribution of MCSs between the three socio-cultural groups are noted. However, we do find that programmable output control has a more positive impact on effectiveness in Anglo-Saxon cultures, while delegated output control has a more positive impact on effectiveness in Northern Europe. Taken together these findings indicate that distinct differences between societies make a particular MCS design more appropriate in a given society, but where such differences are not dramatic (as in the present case), multiple MCS designs can be found in the same society