The Challenges of Moving Beyond Traditional Budgets

Recent literature on management control systems has recognised the tension for managers between predictable goal achievement and the flexibility and innovativeness required to succeed in a dynamic, competitive, global market.  Budgeting has presented challenges for managers over the ages.  However, relatively little research has been published which gives good insight into the experiences of companies who have either abandoned or significantly modified their budgetary systems.  This seminar reports the findings of an in-depth case study on the French chemical giant Rhodia who replaced their annual budgeting process with a new control system known as ‘Spring’.  Rhodia is a member of the Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT) and is one of the example companies in Hope & Fraser’s (2003) seminal text on Beyond Budgeting.  But the implementation of ‘Spring’ was far from plain sailing. The seminar will examine the challenges experienced and the intended, and unintended, consequences of implementation.

Seminar organised by the Performance Management Cluster at the Whitaker Institute and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.