Anthony, Robert N — The management control function

Harvard business school press, Redelijke staat, harde kaft, met omslag, 1988, 216 blz., omslag heeft gebruikssporen, onderstrepingen in potlood, Samenvatting The Management Control Function Robert N. Anthony In this new book, Professor Robert N. Anthony continues his landmark contribu tions to management control by refining his framework for planning and control in organizations. In 1965, Anthony wrote Planning and Con- trol Systems: A Framework for Analysis. In it he set forth a useful conceptual framework that later appeared in a great many books, articles, and doctoral dissertations. At that time, management control was not recog- nized as a discrete activity; now it is. The Management Control Function goes into more detail and offers more specific statements on certain topics; it also adds other topics such as project control. Relationships among strategic planning, management control, and task control are outlined, but the primary focus is on the system that fa- cilitates management control. Anthony's goal is to provide the reader with some- thing useful; his updated framework does just that. Areas covered include: the influence of corporate structure and culture on management control systems; the process of controlling ongoing opera- tions: programming, budget preparation, reporting, and evaluation; the management control of projects; the design and installation of information systems; and .the distinctiveness of systems for service companies, nonprofit organizations, and entrepreneurial situations. Also of great interest is an appendix ex- plaining the use of the phrase "currently useful generalizations about the manage- ment control function." Here the author analyzes the evidence on which thesee generalizations are based. Managers will find Anthony's book thought-provoking and relevant. It provides the intellectual tools for the implementation of strategy. The author's framework is also useful to researchers, teachers, and stu- dents and to designers and users of man- agement control systems. Robert N. Anthony is Ross Graham Walker Professor of Management Control, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. He is also the author of Management Accounting, Accounting Principles, Management Control in Nonprofit Organizations, The New Corporate Directors, and Essentials of Accounting. Pro- fessor Anthony is a past president of the American Accounting Association and was elected to the Acounting Hall of Fame in 1986.