Data for our study were collected in the period from
September to November 2007 by means of a questionnairebased
survey. Our starting point was a database that
included contact details of German top 1500 companies
by sales volume from all industries except financial
institutions. The latter were excluded due to their specific
business models and accounting requirements. In the
course of data collection, another 231 companies had to be
excluded for various reasons (e.g., the lack of a controlling
department), so that finally 1269 companies remained in
our population.
To capture both the technical aspects of the controllers’
tasks in providing accounting information for decisionmaking
and control purposes as well as the managerial user
perspective, we decided to adopt a dyadic research design.
This means that in each company we addressed both a
controller and a general manger (i.e., a member of upper
management like the CEO, managing director or division
manager) to fill out a functionally customized questionnaire.
Whereas the variable integration level of accounting
systems was surveyed with the controllers, the other three
variables consistency of financial language, controllership
output quality, and controllership impact on management
decisions were assessed by the managers’ answers. Each
dyad, i.e., controller and manager from the same company,
thus forms a unit of observation. Compared to a research
setting in which only controllers’ ratings are surveyed,
this enables us to draw valid conclusions with respect to
the management perspective on controllership effectiveness.
Hence, a possible common method bias (Podsakoff
et al., 2003) is reduced as the respective key informants
are addressed. Additionally, the managers’ questionnaires
were separate from the controllers’ questionnaires and did
Data for our study were collected in the period fromSeptember to November 2007 by means of a questionnairebasedsurvey. Our starting point was a database thatincluded contact details of German top 1500 companiesby sales volume from all industries except financialinstitutions. The latter were excluded due to their specificbusiness models and accounting requirements. In thecourse of data collection, another 231 companies had to beexcluded for various reasons (e.g., the lack of a controllingdepartment), so that finally 1269 companies remained inour population.To capture both the technical aspects of the controllers’tasks in providing accounting information for decisionmakingand control purposes as well as the managerial userperspective, we decided to adopt a dyadic research design.This means that in each company we addressed both acontroller and a general manger (i.e., a member of uppermanagement like the CEO, managing director or divisionmanager) to fill out a functionally customized questionnaire.Whereas the variable integration level of accountingsystems was surveyed with the controllers, the other threevariables consistency of financial language, controllershipoutput quality, and controllership impact on managementdecisions were assessed by the managers’ answers. Eachdyad, i.e., controller and manager from the same company,thus forms a unit of observation. Compared to a researchsetting in which only controllers’ ratings are surveyed,this enables us to draw valid conclusions with respect tothe management perspective on controllership effectiveness.Hence, a possible common method bias (Podsakoffet al., 2003) is reduced as the respective key informantsare addressed. Additionally, the managers’ questionnaireswere separate from the controllers’ questionnaires and did
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