In recent years, the area of financial control of companies has developed substantially. Traditionally, companies were using budget and simple product calculation but today companies need complementary methods for control in a broad perspective. Among these methods, the Balanced Scorecard has developed as a tool to meet the needs for financial control and measurement systems. The aim of the Balanced Scorecard is to increase the efficiency of companies both in the long and short time-perspectives by controlling, measuring, and implementing the results of a specific strategy. Today, many companies suffer from internal problems associated with a lack of strategy in the integration of different departments. It is important for the business process to focus on obtaining favourable conditions for creation of new products and services, for increasing quality while reducing the costs by rationalization and simplification, and for reaching a faster delivery in terms of lead time. In order to become top of the line in the area of integration, Volvo IT has decided to perform an integration project incorporating a Balanced Scorecard. The main objective for this thesis is to develop a proposal for the Balanced Scorecard, and to identify the critical factors for success and the corresponding strategic measures. The Balanced Scorecard methodology can be used to monitor and balance the whole company, as well as individual divisions, both on the long- and short-term time perspectives. At Volvo IT the vision is to be regarded as the ideal IT supplier among its customers. For Volvo IT we found that the following four perspectives are suitable: the financial, customer, internal, and development perspectives. These perspectives can be applied to processes and activities at all divisions and levels of the company where it is judged to be useful. The idea is that everyone in the organization should know exactly what he or she should be working on for increasing the efficiency both at the level of the own division and for the company as a whole. To reach its vision, the strategy of Volvo IT is to develop a profound competence in the area of integration. Since introducing a Balanced Scorecard into an organization is a rather demanding project that normally takes one to two years, we have limited our work to create a proposal for Volvo IT. The design of the Balanced Scorecard also needs to be discussed in detail on the different levels at the company before the actual implementation. For the implementation phase, patience and flexibility is a prerequisite in order to obtain acceptance and understanding on all levels in the organization. Moreover, the use of a Balanced Scorecard is a dynamic process, where modifications are made regularly as internal and external conditions of the company are changing. We recommend Volvo IT to use the Balanced Scorecard, as described in this thesis, as a starting-point for the implementation phase. Based on the information obtained from our research interviews with key personnel, we have identified several critical factors for success and the corresponding strategic measures. We believe that introducing the Balanced Scorecard will be useful for the integration project at Volvo IT, strengthening the company with respect to future challenges.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur svenska storföretag ser på sitt arbete med budget som ekonomistyrningssystem. Tidigare forskning indikerar på att trots den omfattande kritik som finns mot budget så tenderar företag att inte instämma i den. Kritikerna hävdar, bland många saker, att budgeten skulle vara resurskrävande, inflexibel, inaktuell och ge upphov till manipulering. Alternativet, menar de mer radikala kritikerna, skulle vara att överge budget och arbeta fullständigt med alternativa lösningar. Empiriska studier visar att budget används av företagen men förbättras och omvärderas med tiden för att anpassas bättre till verksamheten. Tidigare forskning har visat att de alternativ som förespråkas i budgetlös styrning inte förutsätter att budgeten överges för att bli användbara. Tidigare studier om företags inställning till budgetering har gjorts i bland annat Nederländerna och Nordamerika. Det finns alltså ingen studie som mäter svenska företags inställning. Svenska företag utmärker sig dels genom kulturen men framförallt genom att annorlunda ledarskap. Komplexiteten i storföretag har för den här studien inneburit att urvalsgruppen att undersöka blev svenska storföretag. Urvalsgruppen undersöktes genom ett oberoende slumpmässigt urval. Det positivistiska synsättet har lett till ett kvantitativt tillvägagångssätt med enkät som verktyget för att nå populationen. Populationen svenska storföretag utgjordes 2013 av 1850 företag och vårt stickprov bestod av 250 företag. Genom att jämföra stickprovet i den här studien mot hela populationen kunde vi konstatera att omsättning och antal anställda inte avviker nämnvärt mellan grupperna. En bortfallsanalys utfördes mellan respondenterna som svarade innan och efter att en påminnelse skickats ut och resulterade i statistiskt säkerställda resultat där grupperna svarade homogent. Majoriteten av storföretagen arbetar med budgetering. Resultaten baserades på 41 respondenters svar och kan i en hög grad sägas vara statistiskt säkerställda. Det finns några påståenden där en alltför stor osäkerhet finns men slutsatsen blir utifrån de statistiskt säkerställda resultaten att budgeten är här för att stanna. Budgetens syfte är att skapa ekonomisk överblick och den förbättras och kompletteras med hjälp av de verktyg som budgetlös styrning förespråkar. Kritiken kunde i stor utsträckning förkastas. Vi tror att vidare forskning handlar om ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt för samma population eller ett byte av målgrupp men med liknande forskningsfråga för att se om mindre företag delar storföretagens åsikter om budget. / The purpose of this study was to examine large Swedish corporations approach on their budgets as management control systems. Recent research indicates that corporations tend to disagree with the widespread criticism against budgeting. Critics claims, among many other things, that the budget is costly, inflexible, outdated and give rise to manipulation. The more radical critics argue that the alternative would be to abandon the budget and work completely with alternative solutions. Resent research indicates that corporations are still working with budgeting but with an improved version that is re-evaluated over time to adapt better to the business. Another important aspect that previous research shows was that the preferred option in beyond budgeting does not require the budget to be totally abandoned to become useful. Previous studies on corporations attitude towards budget were made, inter alia, in the Netherlands and North America. Thus, there was no study that measured the Swedish corporate attitude towards budgeting. Swedish corporations distinguish themselves partly by culture but mostly by their leadership. The selection group in this study was based on the complexity of large corporations. We examine the population by an independent random sample with a positivistic view. That means a quantitative approach with survey as a tool to reach the population. In 2013 the population of large Swedish corporations consisted of 1850 corporations. By comparing the sample in this study to the entire population, we found that turnover and number of employees does not differ significantly between the groups. A non-response analysis was performed between respondents who answered before and after a reminder were sent out and resulted in statistically reliable results where groups responded homogeneously. The majority of large corporations are currently working with budgeting. This results includes answers from 41 respondents' and in a largely, it is to be said, statistically significant. There are some statements in which too much uncertainty exists but the conclusion was based on the statistically significant findings that the budget is here to stay. The budget aims to create economic overview and is improved and supplemented with the help of the tools beyond budgeting advocates. Largely the criticism could be rejected as false. We believe that further research examine budgeting through a qualitative approach to the same population or a change of the population but with similar research question to see if the smaller corporations share larger corporations' opinion about budgeting.