Management Control and Management Control Systems

General information :
Teacher:
Web page:
E-mail:
Office hours:
Course language:
ECTS Credits:

Dr. Michael Burkert

http://www.hec.unil.ch/people/mburkert
Michael.Burkert@unil.ch
Individual appointments can be asked for by sending an
e-mail
English
3

Course description:
This course is supposed to provide students with an understanding of the
importance of management control and management control systems (MCS)
for companies. The course focuses on the formal aspects of MCSs and how
they are used to implement a companys strategy by aligning individual,
business unit and company goals. Furthermore, the behavioral aspects
associated with MCSs are highlighted and intensively discussed.
After having explored the nature of MCSs, students will be introduced to
important elements of control systems such as the balanced scorecard.
Different characteristics of organizations affecting the control process will be
described in detail, thereby dealing with the various types of responsibility
centers, the techniques that are important for their control and the metrics
required for the evaluation of the performance of managers in charge of these
centers. The course will be partly committed to the case method of teaching.
The educational value of the cases (and the fun!) comes from the practice the
students receive in analyzing management control problems and in discussing
and defending their standpoints.
Teaching method:
50% lectures
50% case studies
Evaluation:
Final exam (two hours, answers can be given in French and English): 70%
Group work: 30%
Students will be asked to form groups and to elaborate case solutions. These
solutions have to be presented in class. The presence of all group members the
day their presentation is scheduled for is thereby strictly required. The groups
will have to hand in their case solutions in written form (10 pages maximum) 3
days before the class meeting (midnight latest). If a retake exam session is to
be done, grading of the course is based on exam only (100% of the grade). A
dictionary and a calculator are allowed to be used for the exam.

Main Reference:
Anthony R. N. and Govindarajan V., Management Control Systems, McGraw Hill, 2007
(twelfth edition)

Two further references:

Merchant, K. A. and Van der Stede, W. A., Management Control Systems, FT Prentice Hall,
2007 (second edition)
Kaplan, S. K., Norton, N. P., The Balanced Scorecard Translating Strategy into Action,
Boston, 1996

SYLLABUS
Session

Topics

Introduction

Company Ys strategic challenges: An

example
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

4
5

6
7
8
9

Lectures
Ch. 1 and 3

Ch. 11, p.
460-471

Presentation and discussion of Balanced

Scorecard case
The nature of MCS / Behavior in
Organizations
The controller as a business strategist
Planning, budgeting and the role of
compensation systems
Responsibility centers
Transfer Pricing

10

Measuring and Controlling Assets

Employed

11

Management Compensation

12
13

Responsibility Centers : Revenue and

Expense Centers
Profit Centers

14

Transfer Pricing

Cases

Introduction to
BSC case by Dr.
Burkert

Case 1-1 (NUCOR

A) and 3-2
(NUCOR B)
Ch. 8, 9 and
12
Ch. 4 and 5
Ch. 6

Case 6-1 (Transfer

pricing problems)

Ch. 7: Guest
lecture by Dr.
Damisch from
BCG
Case 12-1 (Lincoln
Electric Company
(A))
Case 4-2 (New
Jersey)
Case 5-2 (North
country auto)
Case 6-2 (Birch
paper company)