Change of Management Control from the Balanced Scorecard to Budgeting: Case-Study Evidence from a Commercial Bank

Althoughthe balanced scorecard (BSC) is claimed to be conceptually superior to budgeting,not all BSC implementations get sustained, and some organizations even move back to budgetary control systems.Using the qualitative case study approach,this study investigates the reasons for the change of management controlfrom BSC to budgeting in a Sri Lankan commercial bank.To capture thesereasons, a revised Accounting Change Model of Cobb, Helliar, and Inns (1995) was used. This study contributes to literature by further developing Cobb et al.’s (1995) Model, by sub-categorizing the momentum for change into three elements: people, processes and external triggers, based on the case study evidence. profits in order to achieve long-term profits if you are focusing on the the CEO of that era considered BSC as the most suitable PMS for the bank. But when the management and the CEO changed, the BSC was out. The CEO who was the implementer of the BSC at Bank Alpha is the CEO of Bank Beta (another private commercial bank in Sri Lanka) at present. And the latest information shows that now they are implementing the BSC at Bank Beta. So that shows how the leader’s thinking affects an organization’s selection of MCS. them the consequences and results of implementing particular decisions. The top management has a highly positive attitude towards change. So we are motivated to keep on changing. We have very good relationships with professional accountancy bodies such as CIMA, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) et cetera. We have several chartered accountants in this department, there are some finalists and some CIMA qualified accountants. Normally for the Finance Department we recruit degree holders specialized in accounting, CIMA qualified people and Chartered Accountants. Their knowledge is highly applied to further develop our MCS.