Course Manual
Management Control for A&C
(EBB102B05)
Academic year 2022-2023, bloc 1b
Important: Please enrol in a tutorial group and team before November 14th, 24h00. Students not
enrolled in a group and team by that time cannot make the assignment, and students without
assignment grade cannot validate the course. If you already passed the assignment last year and
wish to keep your grade, you do not need to enrol.
Introduction
In Management Accounting, you have learned how to produce and interpret financial and non-financial
information to make value-creating decisions and evaluate performance. In large organizations, decisions
are made, and performance generated, by many dispersed persons who cannot easily interact and coordinate
with each other because of time constraints or geographic distance. In such conditions, ensuring that
employees use properly the resources entrusted to them becomes a great challenge. Therefore, it becomes
crucial to orient, influence, and check the decisions and actions they make to ensure an effective and
efficient use of scarce resources. This is fundamentally the purpose of management control systems.
The course Management Control discusses various instruments, mechanisms, and systems helping
managers achieve that purpose by improving both goal congruence and organizational learning. We rely on
case studies to train your ability to design, evaluate, and improve management control systems to influence
behaviours in desirable ways in realistic situations. A key emphasis is placed on your ability to use theories
properly and adapt your recommendations to the specificities of each situation.
Intended learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course you will be able to:
1. Critically discuss the most important concepts in the field of management control.
2. Identify purposes of management control instruments and techniques and how they can help to
control organizations.
3. Consult on the fit between management control practices and contingency factors for real world
organizations.
4. Analyze academic papers on management control critically.
5. Interpret and analyze cases about specific management control issues and present/discuss the
results to/with an audience of peers.
1
Textbook, papers, and supplementary materials
The textbook used in this course is:
 Anthony, R.N., V. Govindarajan, F.G.H. Hartmann, K. Kraus, G. Nilsson, Management Control
Systems, European Edition, McGraw-Hill, London, 2014, ISBN: 139780077133269 /
100077133269, about € 75.
In addition, you will have to read the following papers:
 Ouchi, W.G., 1979, A Conceptual Framework for the Design of Organizational Control
Mechanisms, Management Science, Vol. 25, No. 9, pp. 833-848. Get it following this link.
 Ferreira, A., D. Otley, 2009, The Design and Use of Performance Management Systems: An
Extended Framework for Analysis, Management Accounting Research, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 263282. Get it following this link.
 Simons, R., 2005, Designing High-Performance Jobs, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 83, No. 7-8,
pp. 54-62. Available without permanent link on EBSCO Business Source Premier.
 Bartlett, G. D., E.N. Johnson, P.M.J. Reckers, 2014, Accountability and Role Effects in Balanced
Scorecard Performance Evaluations When Strategy Timeline Is Specified, European Accounting
Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp.143–165. Get it following this link.
The supplementary materials for the course consist of:
 Slides used in lectures and tutorials.
 Recordings of case solutions.
 An old exam for practicing.
All supplementary materials are or will be available on the Student Portal (Brightspace).
Lectures and tutorials
The course is organized in on-site lectures, online Q&As and on-site tutorials. Each week has at least one
on-site class (either Lecture or Tutorial). See Appendix I for a detailed planning.



In lectures, key concepts and theoretical frameworks will be introduced and the literature scheduled
for that week (textbook and papers) will be discussed.
In Q&As, questions regarding pre-recorded case solutions will be addressed (or any other issues
related to the course).
In tutorials, students will present case studies. Suggested problem formulations and
recommendations will be discussed by other students as well as the lectures.
Attendance rules
Attendance of the two onsite tutorials is mandatory and attendance to other onsite classes is highly
recommended. If not attending one of the onsite tutorials you will not receive an assignment grade
and thus not be able to pass the course (except you did the assignment in the previous year). Issues
discussed in onsite classes (lecture or tutorial) may not be covered in the literature and may not appear in
the slides. Yet, everything discussed in onsite classes may be tested at the examination.
2
Case study assignment
Each team has to address one of the case studies and present the results in the tutorial (max. 12-minutes.
Your presentation will be stopped, whether you have finished your presentation or not, after 12 minutes).
The presentation should cover the following 3 major points: (1) presentation of the situation, (2)
formulation of a problem from a management control perspective, and (3) recommendation to address this
problem. More detailed instructions will be provided in a separate document after the first lecture.
The presentation of each group will be graded. All students in a team will receive the same grade for the
case presentation. Moreover, each group will also act as discussant for other groups and the participation
will also be included in the grade.
Written examination
The written examination should be on Friday, January 27th, 2023, from 11:45 to 13:45 (2 hours). It is
expected to happen on-site (Exam Hall 3 D17 - L24, Blauwborgje 4). Note that this date and location are
provisional; please check the schedule generator shortly before the examination. Subject to examination
are:
 The issues discussed in lectures, Q&As and tutorials.
 The mandatory readings (textbook and papers).
 The additional materials published on the Student Portal (Brightspace).
The examination is closed book and composed of a multiple-choice questionnaire and open questions on
a specifically designed case study.
Assessment
The final grade for this course will be determined by two components:
 The collective grade on the case study assignment (20%).
 The individual grade on the written examination (80%).
To pass the course, you must have completed the case study assignment. Without an assignment grade, the
maximum final grade will be 5. Furthermore, your grade on the written examination must be at least 5, and
your final grade (examination and assignment) must be at least 5.5. If your grade on the written examination
is lower than 5, the maximum final grade will be 5.
If you do not pass the examination, you can do the resit in block 2.1 and your grade on the assignment will
remain valid. If you attempt the resit, the best grade of the final or resit will be kept. If neither the course
nor the weight of the assignment have changed, your grade on the assignment will remain valid for this
resit.
Contact
Please address any question regarding the course organization, exams, grading, etc. to the course
coordinator:
 Dr. Sebastian Firk (DUI-807, s.firk@rug.nl)
The teachers for the lectures and tutorials are:
 Dr. Sebastian Firk
 Dr. Ann Tank
The secretary of the Department of Accounting is:
 Drs. Jessica Bakker (tel. 050 - 363 3535, i.j.bakker@rug.nl);
3
Appendix I: General Planning
Organization
Self-studying (Homework)
Topics
Readings
(before classes)
Week
Teacher
1
Sebastian Firk
Introduction; Course
content, structure and
objectives
Course manual
2
Sebastian Firk
Designing management
control systems
 Textbook chapters 1, 2 & 3
 Case 2.2 (Textbook): Nucor
Videos to Watch
(before Q&A)
Nothing to watch
 Pre-recorded Case
Solution: Nucor
Classes
Lectures
(Room: Blauwe Zaal
Duisenberg)
Q&As
(Room: Online)
Monday, November
14th, 17:00-19:00
No Q&A
No tutorial
Monday, November
21th, 17:00-19:00
Thursday,
November 24th,
Starts at 9:00
No tutorial
Tutorials [Mandatory]
(Room: see next page)
1.
3
Sebastian Firk
The influence of contextual
factors on management
control systems
2.
 Textbook chapter 4
 Papers: Ouchi (1979);
Ferreira & Otley (2009)
 Case 4.6 (Textbook): Cisco
Systems (B)
3.
Monday, November
28th, 17:00-19:00
No Q&A
4.
5.
6.
4
Sebastian Firk
Strategy and performance
measurement; Balanced
Scorecard; Variance
analysis is excluded
 Textbook chapter 10
 Case 10.2 (Textbook):
Making Balanced Scorecard
Work: The Worldclass
Lighting
 Pre-recorded Case
Solution: Making
Balanced Scorecard
Work
 Textbook chapters 5, 6, & 7
 Case 7.5 (Textbook): Quality
Metal Service
 Textbook: chapters 8 & 12
 Paper: Simons (2005)
 Case 12.2 (Textbook):
Piedmont University
5
Ann Tank
Defining authority and
accountability; Financial
responsibility centres
6
Ann Tank
Mismatches between
authority and
accountability; Incentive
contracts
No lecture
Thursday,
December 8th,
Starts at 9:00
No tutorial
 Pre-recorded Case
Solution: Quality
Metal Service
Monday, December
12th, 17:00-19:00
Guest Lecture:
Belsimpel
Thursday,
December 15th,
Starts at 9:00
No tutorial
 Pre-recorded Case
Solution: Piedmont
University
Monday, December
19th, 17:00-19:00
Thursday,
December 22th,
Starts at 9:00
No tutorial
1.
2.
7
Ann Tank
Transfer prices; Informal
controls; Conclusion
Wednesday, November 30th,
9:00-11:00
Wednesday, November 30th,
11:00-13:00
Wednesday, November 30th,
15:00-17:00
Thursday, December 1th, 9:0011:00
Thursday, December 1th, 13:0015:00
Thursday, December 1th, 15:0017:00
3.
 Textbook chapter 11
 Paper: Bartlett et al. (2014)
 Case 11.2 (Textbook): Arck
Systems
Monday, January 9th,
17:00-19:00
No Q&A
4.
5.
6.
4
Wednesday, January 11th, 9:0011:00
Wednesday, January 11th, 11:0013:00
Wednesday, January 11th, 15:0017:00
Thursday, January 12th, 9:0011:00
Thursday, January 12th, 13:0015:00
Thursday, January 12th, 15:0017:00
Appendix II: Detailed Tutorial Planning
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
Tutorial
Groups
1.1, 1.2, 1.3 & 1.4
2.1, 2.2, 2.3 & 2.4
3.1, 3.2, 3.3 & 3.4
4.1, 4.2, 4.3 & 4.4
5.1, 5.2, 5.3 & 5.4
6.1, 6.2, 6.3 & 6.4
Date & Time
Nov. 30th, 9:00-11:00
Nov. 30th, 11:00-13:00
Nov. 30th, 15:00-17:00
Dec. 1st, 9:00-11:00
Dec. 1st, 13:00-15:00
Dec. 1st, 15:00-17:00
Week 3
Location
5416.0163
5416.0163
5416.0151
5412.0028
5419.0245
5419.0237
Week 7
Set-Up
 Group 1.1 & 1.2 present
solution for Case 4.6
 Group 1.3 & 1.5 acts as
the Cisco Board and
Group 1.4 as the Cisco
TMT
 Group 2.1 & 2.2 present
solution for Case 4.6
 Group 2.3 & 2.5 acts as
the Cisco Board and
Group 2.4 as the Cisco
TMT
 Group 3.1 & 3.2 present
solution for Case 4.6
 Group 3.3 acts as the
Cisco Board and Group
3.4 as the Cisco TMT
 Group 4.1 & 4.2 present
solution for Case 4.6
 Group 4.3 acts as the
Cisco Board and Group
4.4 as the Cisco TMT
 Group 5.1 & 5.2 present
solution for Case 4.6
 Group 5.3 & 5.5 acts as
the Cisco Board and
Group 5.4 as the Cisco
TMT
 Group 6.1 & 6.2 present
solution for Case 4.6
 Group 6.3 acts as the
Cisco Board and Group
6.4 as the Cisco TMT
5
Date & Time
Jan. 11th, 9:00-11:00
Jan. 11th, 11:00-13:00
Jan. 11th, 15:00-17:00
Jan. 12th, 9:00-11:00
Jan. 12th, 13:00-15:00
Jan. 12th, 15:00-17:00
Location
Set-Up
 Group 1.3, 1.4 &1.5
present solution for Case
11.2
5416.0163
 Group 1.1 acts as the
Arck Systems Board and
Group 1.2 as the Arck
Systems TMT
 Group 2.3, 2.4 & 2.5
present solution for Case
11.2
5416.0163
 Group 2.1 acts as the
Arck Systems Board and
Group 2.2 as the Arck
Systems TMT
 Group 3.3 & 3.4 present
solution for Case 11.2
 Group 3.1 acts as the
5416.0151
Arck Systems Board and
Group 3.2 as the Arck
Systems TMT
 Group 4.3 & 4.4 present
solution for Case 11.2
 Group 4.1 acts as the
5412.0028
Arck Systems Board and
Group 4.2 as the Arck
Systems TMT
 Group 5.3, 5.4 &5.5
present solution for Case
5414.0120
11.2
 Group 5.1 acts as the
(different room then the
Arck Systems Board and
week before)
Group 5.2 as the Arck
Systems TMT
 Group 6.3 & 6.4 present
solution for Case 11.2
 Group 6.1 acts as the
5419.0237
Arck Systems Board and
Group 6.2 as the Arck
Systems TMT