Edizioni FrancoAngeli - Last issue of MANAGEMENT CONTROL (3/2011)

New Perspectives for Management Control: integrating internal and external measurements, reporting and governance

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Luciano Marchi
Management Control is traditionally defined as an internal process, internally managed, for internal purposes. However, this process is evolving toward three external, distinct, but complementary, perspectives. The first one is the information perspective: integrating internal and external data, i.e. combining internal with external measurements, for strategic control purposes. The other perspectives are related to the new management control external issues. The second perspective deals with: monitoring relationships, integrating objectives and measuring shared value for the network. The third perspective refers to managing external reporting, together with external roles and responsibilities, for an extended model of governance.

Business Performance Analytics: emerging value for management accounting

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Riccardo Silvi, Monica Bartolini, Anna Raffoni, Franco Visani
Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) implementations are often considered unsatisfactory. The reasons for this situation can be related to PMS design and focus, cultural and technological issues, as well as to the specific contexts of implementation. This article introduces Business Performance Analytics (BPA) as an important framework for successful PMS design and adoption. Specifically, it defines BPA as the use of data and analytical methods to understand and control business dynamics and performance. This article is based on an exploratory survey involving a sample of global companies. The empirical evidence highlights the importance of measurement and an extended dissatisfaction with current PMS. As for the implementation of BPA in practice, the results show a low level of adoption, both for strategic and operational decisions. At the same time, companies adopting BPA declare a higher perception of relevance of statistical and mathematical tools for supporting the decision-making process. The results also show two clusters of companies with very different approaches to performance measurement. Only the "advanced" are characterized by the implementation of tools of Business Intelligence, together with advanced management accounting and PMS approaches. This "advanced" approach also results in a higher perception of BPA effectiveness in supporting the decision-making process.

The adoption of Balanced Scorecard: empirlical evidence

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Lorenzo Lucianetti
This paper provides exploratory empirical evidence on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) implementation experiences of 103 organizations. It describes the way in which the BSC is currently interpreted and adopted in Italian organisations highlighting some important limitations. Using multiple regression analysis, the paper confirms not only that the manner of BSC use is a relevant matter but also that its technical design may seriously limit its effectiveness.

Performance measures and disclosure policies: what indicators should companies communicate to the market?

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Francesco Dainelli, Laura Bini, Francesco Giunta
The signalling theory posits that the most profitable companies provide the market with more and better information in order to be fairly evaluated. Empirical evidence that relates companies’ profitability to their disclosure habits, however, reveals disaccording results. To better circumscribe the signalling mechanism, our paper centres on a focal point of the signals that companies send to the financial market: profitability indicators. We have scrutinized the 2008 Management Commentaries of a sample of Italian and UK companies. After controlling for size, risk, industry, and country, our analysis supports the presence of signalling mechanisms. These results corroborate the literature which considers the market capable of autonomously controlling the production and use of information. The main practical implication of our results relates to the communication policies of the information included in the internal control system and, as a consequence, also to the regulation of narrative information in annual reporting.

Information Technology and Internal Controls over Financial Reporting: the audit cycle

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Stefano Azzali, Tatiana Mazza
The Information Technology Controls (ITC) have a great influence on the reliability of financial reporting. They are part of Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR) but the area of Information Technology is often not well integrated and coordinated with the traditional Internal Controls, in absence of a compulsory Framework. A survey was conducted on a sample of companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. The results of this research offer an improvement of the Internal Control over Financial Reporting framework that consider the Information Technology peculiarities and specifies some conditions for their utility in relation to the main phases the audit cycle (scoping, planning, risk assessment, documentation, evaluation, reporting).

The Scientific Production of Italian Scholars of Economia Aziendale. An Exploratory Analysis over the Period 2008-2010

Fri, 15 Mar 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Francesco Avallone, Alberto Quagli, Paola Ramassa
The Italian university system is undergoing signicant changes, especially in terms of research evaluation. This evolution is even more significant for disciplines where the systematic analysis of research activity has only recently been introduced (such as Economia Aziendale). In the light of these considerations, the present paper aims at carrying out a first exploratory analysis of research published by Italian scholars of Economia Aziendale over the period 2008-2010. More specifically, the study focuses on research topics, methodology, international perspective and co-authorships with regard to both articles published in national and international journals (Journal Rating AIDEA), and books.