Management Control Systems, Step by Step for 2027

Shows managers how to keep an organisation on course without smothering it, by treating budgets, scorecards, reviews and incentives as one control system.

Who it's for

Directors, finance and operations leaders, heads of department and management accountants who need their organisation to stay on course without smothering it. Use it to repair a control system that has grown out of shape or to build one from scratch.

What you'll learn

• Balance freedom and control with Robert Simons' four levers of control
• Match results, action, personnel and cultural controls to the work, drawing on William Ouchi and on Merchant and Van der Stede
• Map responsibility centres and use budgets to control without inviting slack and gaming
• Flex budgets and split variances into volume, mix, price and spending
• Judge divisions fairly with ROI and residual income, and decide whether economic value added is worth the effort
• Build a strategy map and balanced scorecard (after Kaplan and Norton), and separate signal from noise with XmR control charts
• Run monthly reviews that end in decisions, design incentives that do not backfire and audit the whole control system

What's inside

• 79 pages, 11 chapters
• Every chapter follows the same pattern: key concepts, a step-by-step method, an illustrative example from a fictional UK organisation, a ready-to-use tool, common mistakes, a key-steps recap and a "Try it" exercise to apply the chapter to your own work
• Tools to copy and use, including the Levers of Control Audit, Variance Analysis Table, XmR Chart Worksheet and Incentive Design Canvas
• A six-month action plan with a monthly rhythm checklist, plus a glossary
• PDF in A4 format — read on screen or print
• Instant download after purchase

Contents

1. Designing Controls with the Four Levers
2. Matching Control Types to the Work
3. Mapping Responsibility Centres
4. Using Budgets to Control, Not Just to Plan
5. Flexing Budgets and Analysing Variances
6. Judging Divisions with ROI and Residual Income
7. Building a Balanced Scorecard
8. Reading Performance Data with Control Charts
9. Running Monthly Performance Reviews
10. Designing Incentives That Do Not Backfire
11. Auditing Your Control System

Part of The Business Library

This title is one of the 55 ebooks in The Business Library, available together for £109 (worth £1,437 if bought separately: the total of the individual prices of the included titles in our store). It is also included in The Ultimate Business Bundle, which adds 8 checklists and toolkits and 10 workbooks — all 73 products for £147.