Purpose – This paper aims to investigate reasons for going Beyond Budgeting and the practical issues organizations face when they change their management accounting system based on inspiration from the Beyond Budgeting model. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply a case study approach. The primary data source is interviews. The case company is a global company in the agri-food industry that is organized as a cooperative. Findings – The authors propose that many organizations that change their management accounting system on the basis of inspiration from Beyond Budgeting will maintain fixed budget targets. Furthermore, the authors propose that even when the use of budgets at the corporate level focuses on few line items, the diagnostic use of budgeting at lower levels in the organization may focus on a larger number of line items. Research limitations/implications – The study is subject to the usual limitations of case-based research. The propositions made in the paper should be further investigated in other organizations attempting to change their management accounting system with inspiration from Beyond Budgeting. Practical implications – This study shows that the lack of internal benchmarks and the need to deliver the expected results to the company’s owners might hinder the implementation of the Beyond Budgeting model as described in the practitioner-based Beyond Budgeting literature. Originality/value – The paper is one of the few case studies in the academic literature to analyze the practical issues organizations face when changing their way of budgeting on the basis of inspiration from Beyond Budgeting.

In this paper, DeLone and McLean's information systems success model is empirically tested on 12 public hospitals in Denmark. The study aims to investigate the factors that contribute to business intelligence (BI) success. 1,352 BI endusers answered the questionnaire. A partial least square structural equation model was used to empirically test the model. We find that system quality is positively and significantly associated with use and user satisfaction, and that information quality is positively and significantly associated with user satisfaction. User satisfaction is positively and significantly related to individual impact. The other paths in the model are insignificant. Our findings also provide empirical support for the role of user satisfaction as a mechanism that mediates the relationship between information quality or system quality and individual impact. User satisfaction is not only a critical construct in the information systems success model but it also serves as a mediator. Generally, the model finds empirical support, as it has a good fit and predictive value.

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to report the findings of a study of the relation between perceived environmental uncertainty and the abandonment of traditional annual budgets.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the use of data from a survey among the largest Danish companies. The hypothesized relationships are tested by the use of logistic regression.FindingsThe results show no sign of a relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and the abandonment of traditional annual budgets. Instead, the results show a positive relationship between competition in the environment and the adoption of rolling forecasts.Research limitations/implicationsInstead of focusing on the budgeting system in isolation, future research should, to a larger extent, focus on management control systems as a package.Practical implicationsThe results indicate that a competitive environment could be handled by retaining budgets but supplementing them with rolling forecasts.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first to investigate the relationship between environmental uncertainty and the abandonment of traditional annual budgets.

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Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study of how dispositional factors of motivation rooted in personality interact with participative budgeting to affect budget goal commitment. Design/methodology/approach-The study is based on a survey among bank managers from a Scandinavian regional bank. To assess the motivational disposition of the bank managers, the short version of the multi-motive grid test (MMG-S) is used. The management accounting variables are measured by traditional and well-tested instruments. Findings-The results indicate that the effect of increased budgetary participation on budget goal commitment is largest for subordinates with a high need for power or a low need for affiliation. For subordinates with a low need for power or a high need for affiliation the effect of budgetary participation is small. Research limitations/implications-The study confirms that the interaction between personal-level psychological variables, e.g. motives, and situational variables, e.g. budget participation, determine action, e.g. budget commitment. Taking personal-level variables into consideration in research on management accounting systems are thus important in studies which include individual level factors. Practical implications-The practical implications are that a general management concept, as budget participation, should be applied with knowledge of how situational factors will interact with the personal characteristics of the involved employees. Originality/value-Most management accounting research that uses psychological theory, focuses on the effects of management accounting on the minds and behaviour of individuals and not on the effect of individual's minds on management accounting as this paper does. The paper is the first to use the MMG-S in a management accounting study.