Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors related to the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) by private companies. Specifically, the authors examine how foreign ownership, focus on a global market beyond the local company’s geographic region and other sophisticated management accounting practices (MAPs) (activity-based costing, just-in-time and total quality management) are related to the use of the BSC.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes a contingency theoretic perspective. The data in this study is based on responses to a survey questionnaire that was mailed to 300 non-listed private companies in Singapore. A total of 135 responses were received, but 23 were incomplete, and thus, rendered unusable. Therefore, the final sample for the study is 112 private companies yielding a 37.3 per cent response rate that is considered high for survey research.

Findings

The authors find significant associations between the use of BSC and foreign ownership, focus on a global market and other sophisticated MAPs. The authors find that foreign ownership and a global market focus are significantly and consistently related to the extent to which the BSC is used across seven different management control purposes. The authors also find some evidence of associations between other sophisticated MAPs and the extent to which the BSC is used for management control purposes.

Practical implications

Private companies can use the BSC to better manage risks and use it for purposes such as communicating strategy and objectives, setting targets, evaluating performance, rewarding employees and managers, motivating employees and managers, controlling performance and coordinating across activities, departments and/or functional areas. The study has limitations such as the model is limited and excludes the effects of other significant contingency factors such as organisational culture. It may be appropriate to interview organisational participants to learn more about how their national and organisational culture affects the decision to use the BSC.

Originality/value

The findings fill a critical void in the literature by providing new evidence on the determinants of the use of the BSC by private companies.

中文翻译：

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私营公司平衡计分卡使用情况分析

目的

本文的目的是研究与私营公司使用平衡计分卡（BSC）有关的因素。具体来说，作者研究了外国所有权，着眼于本地公司地理区域以外的全球市场以及其他复杂的管理会计惯例（MAP）（基于活动的成本核算，及时和全面质量管理）如何与使用相关联BSC的。

设计/方法/方法

本文采用权变理论视角。本研究中的数据基于对调查问卷的答复，该调查问卷已邮寄给新加坡的300家非上市私人公司。总共收到了135个回复，但是23个回复不完整，因此无法使用。因此，该研究的最终样本是112家私营公司，其回应率达到37.3％，在调查研究中被认为是很高的。

发现

作者发现BSC的使用与外国所有权之间有显着的联系，着眼于全球市场和其他复杂的MAP。作者发现，外国所有权和全球市场关注与在七个不同的管理控制目的中使用平衡计分卡的程度密切相关。作者还发现其他一些复杂的MAP与BSC用于管理控制目的的程度之间存在关联的证据。

实际影响

私营公司可以使用BSC更好地管理风险，并将其用于诸如沟通战略和目标，设定目标，评估绩效，奖励员工和管理人员，激励员工和管理人员，控制绩效以及跨活动，部门和/或职能进行协调等目的地区。该研究有局限性，例如模型有限，并且排除了其他重大或有因素的影响，例如组织文化。可能需要采访组织参与者以了解有关其国家和组织文化如何影响使用BSC的决定的更多信息。

创意/价值

通过提供有关私营公司使用BSC的决定因素的新证据，这些发现填补了文献中的关键空白。