Dr Tommaso Palermo MAR 3.23

This course is available on the BSc in Accounting and Finance, BSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, BSc in Economics and Diploma in Accounting and Finance. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This course is not capped. Any student who applies for a place is likely to be offered a place, subject to evidence of interest and appropriate background.

Students must have completed Elements of Accounting and Finance (AC100) or Elements of Management Accounting, Financial Management and Financial Institutions (AC103) or equivalent introductory managerial accounting courses.

Accounting Theory and Practice (AC200) is recommended to complement either AC100 or AC103, but not required.

This course can be taken together with Results Accountability and Management Control for Strategy Implementation (AC311). While AC311 provides an in-depth overview of management control systems in decentralized organizations, AC312 focuses more specifically on one aspect of management control systems, namely performance measurement and the way in which performance measurement is evolving in contemporary organizations to deal with strategy formulation and decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.

This course examines practical problems that managers and employees are likely to confront in their work in a variety of organizational contexts. The fundamental issue is: how do you know when you have performed well? This question draws attention to the way in which performance is measured, visualised and assessed via performance measurement tools and frameworks, how performance measures and other sources of data are related to strategy formulation and decision-making, and the way in which strategy formulation and performance measurement can be adapted to confront increasingly volatile and uncertain business contexts.

The course addresses these themes in two parts. The first identifies key concepts and tools of performance measurement and how they can be used, through means including monitoring, reporting, and contracting, to influence behaviour. This part of the course includes practical exercises such as the design of an interactive performance dashboard and the development of a strategy and a balanced scorecard to be applied to a real-world case. The second part examines different approaches to deal with uncertainty as part of strategy formulation and performance measurement, including for example: the design and use of risk management processes; and how organisations can exploit large datasets to better understand and possibly predict key performance outcomes. As for the first part of the course, key concepts are put into practice via exercises and case discussions revolving around the use of data analytics, risk mapping and risk indicators design.

Aided by academic literature, examples taken from the financial and popular press, and case studies, AC312 provides students with valuable insights into how performance measurement approaches can vary across contexts, and how several situational factors, including business context, organisational structure, culture and behavioural variables influence them. Some cases will involve real-world data and the potential use of data analytics for strategy formulation, performance measurement and decision-making. Course activities will also include work on topical issues such as how environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues can be integrated into corporate strategies, how ESG results can be measured and disclosed to stakeholders, and how the risks associated with ESG strategies can be managed and mitigated.

30 hours of seminars in the WT.

Comprising 10 weeks of twice-weekly 1.5 hour sessions. There will be a reading week in Week 6. In person seminars are complemented by online recorded (asynchronous) videos.

The course makes extensive use of case studies. Students are expected to contribute to the case discussions in each session. Students are asked to work in group on one case analysis and present their output for formative assessment in week 5 and week 11.

No single book covers the entire course. Indicative readings include:

• Beasley, M.S., Branson, B.C., and Hancock, B.V (2010). Developing key risk indicators to strengthen Enterprise Risk Management, Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), 1-12.

• Kaplan, R. S. and McMillan, D. (2021). Reimagining the Balanced Scorecard for the ESG Era. Harvard Business Review, February, 1-10.

• Mikes, A. and Kaplan. R.S. (2015). When one size doesn’t fit all: Evolving directions in the research and practice of Enterprise Risk Management. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 27 (1), 27–30.

The following books provide an overview of key themes addressed in the course:

• Bhimani, A., Horngren, C.T., Datar, S.M. and Rajan, M. (2019) Management and cost accounting, 7th Edition, Pearson Publishing.

• Neely, A. (Ed.). (2007). Business performance measurement: Unifying theory and integrating practice, Cambridge University Press.

• Schildt, H. (2020). The data imperative: How digitalization is reshaping management, organizing, and work. Oxford University Press.

Take-home assessment (75%) and group project (25%).

Assessment consists of two components:  an individual take-home assessment (75%); and a group project involving an analysis of a case (25%). Further details of all aspects of assessment and coursework will be made available on Moodle nearer the scheduled start time of the course and will be updated as the course progresses with specific instructions, guidance, and feedback.