The effects of financial controls on data manipulation and management Myopia

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a field and survey study aimed at discovering the incidence and causes of two potentially important, often dysfunctional, control system side effects: manipulation of short-term performance measures and encouragement of a myopic, short-term orientation. Data collected from interviews and questionnaires show that these side effects were evident and that their incidence was positively related to the felt pressure to meet financial targets. Tests of possible moderating effects of environmental uncertainty, supervisor consideration, and profit center strategy were consistent with expectations only for the environmental uncertainty variable, however; managers operating in relatively uncertain environments were significantly more likely to react to budget pressure by pulling profits from the subsequent year into the current year than were those operating in relatively certain environments.