AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching deals with the management control system in the enterprise and aims to provide all the tools needed to plan, detect and analyze business decisions and performance as effectively and efficiently as possible, referring to the structure of responsibility centers of the organization: revenue, cost, profit and investment centers.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

For each type of centre, the objective of the course is to learn about the different control systems and the criteria necessary to set objectives and measure performance, both of the centre and the manager, in relation to the peculiarities of the centre and in accordance with the principles of effective controllability of results by the managers in charge.

Next, budget planning and development, as a central process of managerial control alongside strategic planning, is addressed, with the aim of introducing the student to both the managerial and technical dimensions of the tool and the critical analysis of its advantages and the possible distortions it introduces.

Finally, the course offers an overview of noneconomic performance measurement tools with the goal of educating the student on the complexity of the topic and the possible corrections to be made to traditional evaluation tools to account for it.

In each area analyzed and for each type of tool and indicator used, the aim of the course is to make the student understand, through discussions and examples, one of the fundamental issues of management control, namely the link between measurement criteria, assigned responsibilities and induced behaviours.

As regards the learning outcomes, after the course students will be able to:

Understand and be able to apply economic and quantitative information as a tool to map profitability according to different perspectives of analysis

Understand and be able to apply economic and quantitative information as a means of defining responsibilities, influencing behaviours, and increasing motivation

Understand and be able to apply economic and quantitative information as a reference for product, process and business model innovation.

Understand and analyse the limitations of the traditional management control and performance measurement systems, based exclusively on economic and quantitative information

Understand and be able to apply performance measurement systems alternative to traditional shareholder value-based systems (tableau de bord, multistakeholder, balance scorecard, strategic alignment matrix)

TEACHING METHODS

Teaching consists of face-to-face lectures, totalling 56 hours.

Attendance at lectures is mandatory, as per the Teaching Regulations.

Readings, in-depth studies on specific topics of interest, case analyses and exercises will be offered during the course and will be archived on Aulaweb.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course program includes presentation and discussion of the following topics:

• Full costs and their use
• Brief excursus on traditional costing systems (already in the student's educational curriculum), job costing, process costing, operation costing, cost center accounting, with in-depth discussion of some aspects, such as:
  • Employment of flexible budgeting for overhead predetermined rate computation
  • Employment of practical capacity for the overhead predetermined rate computation
• Activity-based costing (ABC)
• Standard costs, variable cost systems, quality costs, and joint costs
• Analysis of cost variances
• The context of control: accounting by responsibility centers:
  • The revenue centers
  • The cost centers
  • The profit centers
  • The investment centers

• The process of directional control:
  • The stages of the process
  • The accounting information
  • The behavioral aspects
• Strategic planning and budget development
• Business performance evaluation systems
  • The principle of revenue maximization: its indicators and limitations
  • The multistakeholder perspective
  • The models for measuring performance (Tableau de bord, Balanced Scorecards, Strategic Alignment Matrix)
  • The organization's performance and that of its responsibility centers.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The reference text is:

Control Systems: economic analysis for business decisions, Anthony, R., Hawkins, D., Macrì, D.M., Merchant, K.A., McGrawHill, 16th ed

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

https://corsi.unige.it/en/corsi/8734/studenti-orario

Class schedule

MANAGEMENT CONTROL

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is oral

Students with learning disorders ("disturbi specifici di apprendimento", DSA) will be allowed to use specific modalities and supports that will be determined on a case-by-case basis in agreement with the delegate of the Engineering courses in the Committee for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral examination will cover the topics discussed during the lectures and will aim to assess not only whether the student has achieved an adequate level of knowledge, but whether he or she has acquired the ability to critically analyze management control problems that will be posed during the examination.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with COURSE PROFESSOR and with Professor Federico Scarpa (federico.scarpa@unige.it ), the School's disability liaison.