The management control systems package has been the subject of recent studies but no study was found that examined the role of management control on service delivery in local government. The Victor Khanye Local Municipality in South Africa has experienced repeated service delivery protests attributed to a deficiency in the delivery of basic municipal services. An in-depth analysis was conducted on selected planning and budgeting aspects of the management control systems package and their role in the delivery of basic municipal services. This qualitative case study, carried out with semi-structured interviews, found that the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP) and the budget were used to improve the delivery of basic municipal services. Further research may be conducted on factors inhibiting 100% alignment between the IDP, the SDBIP and the budget, and to determine the role of a quarterly review system for low ranking employees on service delivery / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Management Accounting)

OCP est une grande entreprise marocaine spécialisée dans l’extraction de minerai de phosphate, cette entreprise a élargi ses activités vers la production de fertilisants phosphatés selon un processus de transformation chimique. Dans le cadre de notre recherche, nous nous intéressons au pilotage économique d’une chaine logistique hybride (la plateforme chimique Jorf). Cette chaine logistique est constituée d’un ensemble articulé de chaine logistique discrète et chaine logistique continue organisant les processus de transformation du fournisseur jusqu’au client final. Les chaînes logistiques hybrides combinent des processus discrets et continus. Dans un premier temps, nous nous sommes focalisé sur la représentation du fonctionnement physique. Donc, un modèle de simulation qui permet de reproduire ce fonctionnement a été réalisé à partir de la cartographie de processus que nous avons fait. La technique de Modélisation / Simulation mobilisable dans le cadre de la modélisation de ce type de chaîne logistique est la Simulation à Événements Discrets (SED) qui permet de reproduire le fonctionnement opérationnel de la CLH.En travaillant à la commande, ceci implique un contrôle de gestion spécifique avec une définition d’un référentiel dynamique qui va dépendre du modèle de simulation. Ce référentiel est utilisable par le système interactif d’aide à la décision (SIAD) du contrôle de gestion afin d’améliorer la prise de décision. Donc, il faut, ensuite, mesurer l’impact économique, évaluer les alternatives décisionnelles et analyser les écarts. Pour ce faire, il faut s’appuyer sur une comptabilité de gestion fondée sur une seconde modélisation / simulation afin de proposer un modèle de coût. Cette seconde simulation, repose sur une représentation plus fine des processus dans une perspective de reporting financier périodique et doit permettre de mieux apprécier les inducteurs de coûts. Dans ce contexte, nous avons choisi la méthode de valorisation Activity Based Costing (ABC). En outre, dans la cartographie des processus, chaque étape de production impliquant un changement de processus et contribuant à son discrétisation représente un événement déclencheur mettant en évidence un inducteur de coût. Nous avons ainsi traité chaque processus au niveau de la Business Unit (BU) "acide" et au niveau de la BU "engrais" afin de déterminer les inducteurs utilisés pour répartir les dépenses. Notre modèle ABC sert donc à mesurer la création de valeur pour chacun des BUs de la CLH et il est capable de prendre en compte toutes les sorties et entrées de chaque entité de traitement.Par la suite, notre but est d’explorer l’intégration de la notion de coût dans le modèle de simulation. La limite de la simulation à événements discrets se manifeste dans le niveau d'informations fourni sur les coûts. Pour évaluer les coûts de production, et l'influence de la diversité de scénario de production, les coûts variables doivent être inclus. Ceci peut être fourni par la combinaison de la simulation à événements discrets avec la méthode ABC. Donc, nous avons proposé une approche qui sera mise en œuvre dans le contexte de la CLH de l’OCP. Cette approche va prendre en compte le couplage entre ABC et SED avec toutes les règles de traduction pour pouvoir, à partir du système de contrôle de gestion existant qui est associé à des centres de coûts par entité fonctionnelle, passer à des BUs orientées processus industriels. Elle va également nous permettre de structurer les indicateurs de performance du flux physique et financier sous la forme d’un tableau de bord / OCP SA is Morocco’s largest company. It is widely considered as owning some 60% of phosphate world reserves and is engaged in a process of Supply Chain control. Initially specialized in phosphate ore extraction, OCP SA has expanded, few years ago, its activities to include production of phosphate fertilizers using chemical processing. Under our research project, we focus on economic management of OCP’s Hybrid Supply chain (HSC). A HSC comprises multiple interrelated discrete and continuous processes together forming an integrated process from the supplier down to the end customer. In such a system, the production rationale includes both batch and flow models. Each discrete or continuous process seeks to capture part of the value created by the organizational collaboration performed either in internal supply chains made up of business unit or in external ones made up of legally independent entities.At first, we focused on the representation of physical functioning. So a simulation model that allows us to reproduce this functioning has been done from the process mapping we have done. The modeling / Simulation technique mobilized in the modeling framework of this type of supply chain is the Discrete Event Simulation (DES) which allows reproducing the operational functioning of the HSCBy working on the command, this implies a specific management control with a definition of a dynamic repository that will depend on the simulation model. This repository can be used by the interactive decision support system of management control in order to improve decision-making. Therefore, we must measure the economic impact, evaluate the decision-making alternatives and analyze the gaps. To do this, it is necessary to rely on a management accounting based on a second modeling / simulation in order to propose a cost model. This second simulation relies on a finer representation of the processes in a perspective of periodic financial reporting and must allow better appreciate the cost drivers. In this context, we have chosen the Activity Based Costing (ABC) method. In addition, in process mapping, each production step involving a process change and contributing to its discretization represents a triggering event highlighting a cost driver. We have thus processed each process at the level of the "acid" BU and at the level of the "fertilizer" BU to determine the inductors used to allocate the expenses. Our ABC model is therefore used to measure the value creation for each BUs of the HSC and it is able to take into account all the outputs and inputs of each processing entity.Later, our aim is to explore the integration of the notion of cost in the simulation model. The limit of the discrete event simulation is manifested in the level of information provided on costs. To assess production costs, and the influence of the diversity of production scenario, variable costs must be included. This can be provided by the combination of the discrete event simulation with the ABC method. So we have proposed an approach that will be implemented in the context of the OCP HSC. This approach will take into account the coupling between ABC and SED with all the translation rules to can, from the existing management control system that is associated with a functional unit cost centers, go to the BUs oriented industrial processes. It will also enable us to structure the physical and financial flow performance indicators in the form of a scorecard

O estudo objetiva mapear e analisar a integração da sustentabilidade às práticas de controle gerencial (CG) das empresas no Brasil. A sustentabilidade foi considerada sob as dimensões econômica, ambiental e social da abordagem triple bottom line - TBL (ELKINGTON, 1997). A abordagem de controle gerencial, por sua vez, usou o modelo de alavancas de controle (SIMONS, 1995), acrescido de controles especializados, apropriados ao controle da sustentabilidade nas dimensões do TBL. A amostra deste estudo foi formada por 59 empresas que divulgaram os chamados relatórios de sustentabilidade no Brasil, ao menos uma vez entre os anos 2007 e 2009. Estas companhias foram submetidas a um levantamento do tipo survey, de forma a obter dados sobre a possível integração da sustentabilidade às suas práticas de controle gerencial, ou seja, testar a presença de tópicos sociais e ambientais e foco mais amplo em stakeholders em seus instrumentos de CG. Os dados foram submetidos a técnicas de estatística univariada descritiva e multivariada de modelagem de equações estruturais. Uma escala para classificar o estágio de divulgação dos relatórios de sustentabilidade foi proposta e os relatórios das empresas classificados de acordo com a mesma. As hipóteses foram construídas sob as suposições de que a divulgação dos relatórios de sustentabilidade se dá como resposta estratégica às demandas da sociedade, de forma a assegurar legitimidade (OLIVER, 1991; SUCHMAN, 1995) e visa demonstrar a conformidade da empresa com o tema da sustentabilidade (MEYER; ROWAN, 1977; DIMAGGIO; POWELL, 1983), que as empresas lidam com a sustentabilidade de maneira ceremonial, estando suas práticas de controle gerencial desvinculadas ou frouxamente vinculadas à sustentabilidade (MEYER; ROWAN, 1977). Além disso, a legitimidade adquirida pela divulgação do relatório de sustentabilidade permitiria às empresas levar adiante suas práticas de negócios com foco convencional, sem encarar o desafio da sustentabilidade de maneira mais engajada. Como conclusão geral, comprovou-se que a divulgação do relatório de sustentabilidade impacta as práticas de controle gerencial, principalmente no que se refere à presença da sustentabilidade nos artefatos, mas não necessariamente à intensidade do uso dos mesmos. Esse achado é relevante dado o estágio inicial do tema sustentabilidade nas empresas, que requer o desenvolvimento de novos artefatos que possam capturar mais adequadamente as componentes da sustentabilidade e, mais importante do que isso, sua integração aos modelos de gestão. / The study aims to map and analyse the integration of sustainability into the management control (MC) practices of companies in Brazil. Sustainability was represented by the economic, envinronmental and social dimensions of the triple bottom line approach (ELKINGTON, 1997), and management control was addressed by the \'levers of control\' management control model (SIMONS,1995), as well as specialized controls for sustainability. The sample is formed by 59 companies that issued the so-called sustainability reports at least once over the years 2007-2009. A survey was carried out to collect data on the possible embededness of the sustainability subject into the companies management control practices, that is, to test the presence of social and environmental topics as well as a broad focus on stakeholders in their MC artefacts. The data was analysed using univariated descriptive and multivariate structural equation modeling statistical techniques. A scale to measure the sustainability reports disclosure stage was proposed and the sustainability reports of the sample were classified accordingly. The hypotheses lie in assumptions that: the sustainability reports disclosure represents companies\' strategic responses to society\'s demands in order to ensure legitimacy (OLIVER, 1991; SUCHMAN, 1995) and aims to show conformity with sustainability (MEYER; ROWAN, 1977; DIMAGGIO; POWELL, 1983); companies deal with sustainability in a ceremonial way and their management control practices are decoupled or loosely coupled to sustainability (MEYER; ROWAN, 1977). Moreover, the legitimacy acquired by disclosing sustainability reports would permit companies to progress their \'business as usual\' practices without facing the sustainability challenge in a more engaged way. The findings show that the disclosure of sustainability reports impact the management control practices, specially regarding the presence of sustainability on the artefacts, but not necessarily the extent of their use. This is relevant due to the initial stage of sustainability in companies which requires both the development of new artefacts that can capture sustainability components more adequately and, more importantly, the embeddedness of sustainability into management models.

Inledning: Revisionsbranschen kan ses som en del av en profession med en tanke om att bidra till samhällsmässigt intresse genom att objektivt och oberoende förmedla ekonomisk information. En profession är beroende av kompetent och kvalificerad personal för att kunna upprätthålla god revisionskvalitet. För att utföra deras jobb ges stort utrymme för att själva bestämma över tillvägagångssättet för arbetet. Å andra sidan kan revisionsföretagens intressen ses som kommersiella med en tanke om att alla företag är vinstdrivna och styr för att uppnå affärsmässiga mål. Dessa två perspektiv kan ses som motstridiga och står i konflikt till varandra, men som båda måste tas hänsyn till och är viktiga för byråns överlevnad. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att få en förståelse för hur revisionsbyråer använder incitament för att hantera problematiken kring kommersialism och professionalism. Metod: En kvalitativ studie har genomförts på tre företag i revisionsbranschen. Empirin har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Studien visar att företagen fungerar som en hybrid och styr för både kommersialism och professionalism beroende på den givna situationen, genom både finansiella och icke-finansiella incitament. Vi kan även se att företagens starka socialiseringsprocess bidrar till ett community för att säkerställa att kommersialism och subjektiva intressen inte kan ta över. / Introduction: The auditing industry can be seen as part of a profession with the idea of contributing to societal interest by objectively and independently conveying financial information. A profession is dependent on competent and qualified employees in order to maintain good audit quality. In order to do their job, there is room for themselves to decide on the approach to the work. On the other hand, the interests of the audit firms can be seen as commercial, with the idea that all companies are profit-driven and govern to achieve business goals. These two perspectives can be seen as contrasts and in conflict with each other, but both must be taken into account and are important for the agency's survival. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of how audit firms use incentives to handle the problems of commercialism and professionalism. Method: A qualitative study has been conducted on three companies in the auditing profession. The empirical data has been collected through semi structured interviews. Conclusions: The study shows that the companies work as a hybrid and control both commercialism and professionalism depending on the given situation, through both financial and non-financial incentives. We can also see that the companies' strong socialization process contributes to a society to ensure that commercialism and subjective interests cannot take over.

Structural changes in the economy, such as new technological developments that create new conditions for the production and consumption of goods and services, have had a particularly strong impact on the popular music industry. This dissertation explores how musicians, record companies and publishers deal with the control dilemmas that the current environment poses for them. Music corporations face increasing financial pressures and struggle to find the right formulas for qualitative, yet commercial, music. Musicians try to create meaningful lives which involve writing and performing music. At the same time they try to make a decent living. Through an ethnographically inspired field study, the author finds that commercial sociability in the shape of phony friend-making practices emerges as an important control mechanism in music production, and an award-and-list culture operates as a classificatory control mechanism in music consumption. It is suggested that the popular music industry can be characterized by pseudo-Gemeinschaft. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2008

The need to focus and economize on scarce attention is increasingly being acknowledged within management accounting and control literature. The aim of this study is to investigate how practitioners go about creating new concepts and measurements to induce attention towards new issues and as-pects of strategic importance for the organization. In this case study, we follow a project group in a Swedish municipality, creating a management control model of employee health. A close-up view is provided through a narrative approach, based on filming and participant observation, illustrating the highly situated and contextual character of atten-tion in sensemaking processes. The naming of the concepts of management control was found to be associated with a science-framing, while references to local practices of management control induced practice-framing strongly de-emphasizing characteristic features of management control. Line-managers of the study accepted the framework without demands for indica-tors or predictive models. This outcome is in line with a practice notion of management control and a language-game understanding of human communication: management control systems are part of the practices defining meaning and directing at-tention towards different aspects of any situation. Rather than being a lan-guage, management control concepts and measurement may not provide much more than the phonetics of business. Consequently, it may be ques-tioned whether what gets measured automatically gets managed. In line with the attention-based view of the firm and a practice notion of management control, this study suggests that new attention is created through the naming and framing of management control ideals, and as a result of the expressions of managerial intent through practices.

This dissertation is composed of three research papers that deal with the topic of “accounting and innovation” and provide evidence for the area of innovation from two accounting perspectives, i.e., the external disclosure perspective and the internal management control system perspective. The disclosure perspective is addressed in the first paper. Using content analysis, it examines the innovation capital disclosure characteristics, i.e., disclosure quantity and quality, in intellectual capital statements of 51 European for-profit firms. Additionally, the relationship between innovation capital disclosure characteristics and industry, firm size, region of domicile, and disclosure guidelines adopted are analyzed. The second and third paper address the management control system perspective. The second paper contributes to the research on management control systems in product development by exploring the performance effects and the interplay of the levers of control, i.e., interactive, diagnostic, beliefs, and boundary control systems, based on data from a survey of 468 senior managers from the manufacturing industry. Therefore, I compare by structural equation modeling a base model of unrelated levers of control (additive model) with (a) a model of mutual association of levers of control (interdependence model), (b) a model of joint use of levers of control (interaction model), and (c) a combined model of mutual association and joint use of levers of control (combined interdependence/interaction model). The best fitting and most parsimonious model is analyzed in terms of the performance effects of the levers of control. Based on the sample of the second paper, the third paper contributes to the recent literature on the relationship between management control systems and innovation by considering how the four levers of control are used as “packages” in product development. I employ cluster analysis to determine how the levers of control are combined, depending on the type of strategy formation (i.e., intended or emergent) and the degree of innovativeness of the firm. Furthermore, I explore which of these combinations are equifinal in terms of product development and organizational performance.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the viability and sustainability of preferential procurement in the metals and engineering sector. Preferential procurement is one of the seven elements of Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and seeks to encourage companies to procure goods and services from black empowered suppliers. The Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment Act was legislated in 2004 as an improvement on the previous Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). The objective of these legislations was to increase participation of previously disadvantaged groups in the mainstream economy. BEE was deemed to be narrow because it focused exclusively on ownership and management control. BBBEE was enacted to broaden the number of beneficiaries and included five other elements, namely: Employment Equity, Skills Development, Preferential Procurement, Enterprise Development and Socio–economic Development. The two companies that engage in preferential procurement should benefit from the relationship and value should be created in the process. Companies should not procure from black suppliers for accumulating points on the generic scorecard. Black–owned suppliers should provide service and products of the highest quality standards that meet customer requirements. The questionnaire that reflects on the objectives of this study was drafted and circulated to black–owned suppliers for completion. The suppliers were asked to comment on statements that reflect on capacity, profitability, working relationship and continuity. The results show that the SMMEs have capacity to perform according to specification of customers. The area of concern was the difficulty for SMMEs to maintain the current preferential status. This is a risk that needs urgent attention. This needs further in–depth study and analysis. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Denna studie handlar om molnbaserad ekonomistyrning i små och medelstora företag och hur en existerande ekonomistyrningsmodul kan utvecklas i ett molnbaserat redovisningssystem. Fallföretaget i studien är Fortnox AB som vid uppsatsens början hade en ekonomistyrningsmodul som ansågs bristfällig. Prototyping kommer vara en stor del av studiens ansats och den efterliknas med en utvecklingsstudie inom systemutveckling. Den prototyp som utformas och förädlas genom studiens gång ska bidra med att Fortnox får ett bättre redovisningsprogram att erbjuda samt att revisionsbyråer och slutanvändare kan utvinna en bättre ekonomistyrning ur deras redovisningssystem. En sådan här systemutveckling förutspås också få ett par effekter hos små och medelstora företag vilka studien även ska kartlägga.Resultat: En ekonomistyrningsmodul anses enligt denna studie behöva erbjuda anpassningsbarhet, användarvänlighet, enkelhet, överskådlighet, vitalitet, grafisk och designmässig attraktivitet samt interaktion för att få genomslagskraft. Enligt användarna av Fortnoxs redovisningssystem kan inte detta erbjudas fullt ut i nuläget. I händelse av att en ekonomistyrningsmodul utvecklas till att bli mer anpassad efter ovanstående punkter så kan både användaren, dennes verksamhet eller organisation påverkas samt att ett par övergripande effekter kan förekomma. Effekter som kan uppstå är förbättrade processer och informationsflöden, tidseffektivitet, större förståelse, intresse och trygghet för användaren, ”rätt” informationsanvändning samt att hela ekonomier och företagsklimat kan gynnas av mer framgångsrika SMF. / This study is about cloud-based management accounting systems in small and mid-sized companies, and how an existing management accounting module can be developed within a cloud-based accounting system. The case study company is a Swedish provider of accounting systems, Fortnox AB, which had a deficient management accounting module at the beginning of this report. The scientific prospect of this study will mainly be prototyping, which is the usual way to improve a system within system development. The prototype, refined and developed through this study, shall combine Fortnox with better software as well as accounting firms and users of the system shall be able to obtain more useful information in their management accounting processes. It is predicted that system developments will provide with positive effects and this study will also examine how these appear in small and mid-sized companies.Result: The cornerstones of a successful management accounting module are considered to be adaptability, user friendliness, simplicity, lucidity, vitality, interaction and attractiveness through graphical design. This module was, according to the users of Fortnox’s accounting system, deficient as this report took place. However, if the management accounting module is developed to become more adaptable based on the above stated improvements the users, their organisations and the entire economy can benefit from it. The effects could be improved processes and information flows, time efficiency, a wider understanding, interest and comfortability for the user, “right” information usage and that the entire economy can benefit from successful SMEs.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the viability and sustainability of preferential procurement in the metals and engineering sector. Preferential procurement is one of the seven elements of Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and seeks to encourage companies to procure goods and services from black empowered suppliers. The Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment Act was legislated in 2004 as an improvement on the previous Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). The objective of these legislations was to increase participation of previously disadvantaged groups in the mainstream economy. BEE was deemed to be narrow because it focused exclusively on ownership and management control. BBBEE was enacted to broaden the number of beneficiaries and included five other elements, namely: Employment Equity, Skills Development, Preferential Procurement, Enterprise Development and Socio–economic Development. The two companies that engage in preferential procurement should benefit from the relationship and value should be created in the process. Companies should not procure from black suppliers for accumulating points on the generic scorecard. Black–owned suppliers should provide service and products of the highest quality standards that meet customer requirements. The questionnaire that reflects on the objectives of this study was drafted and circulated to black–owned suppliers for completion. The suppliers were asked to comment on statements that reflect on capacity, profitability, working relationship and continuity. The results show that the SMMEs have capacity to perform according to specification of customers. The area of concern was the difficulty for SMMEs to maintain the current preferential status. This is a risk that needs urgent attention. This needs further in–depth study and analysis. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.