2. Performance management systems
Anthony (1956: 27), writing nearly 50 years ago, described performance management, what was then exclusively termed
“management control,” as “the process by which managers assure that resources are obtained and used effectively and
efficiently in the accomplishment of the organization’s objectives.” This definition would appear to encompass much more
than what Horngren, Foster, and Datar (1994) proposed when they wrote, “A management control system is a means of
gathering data to aid and coordinate the process of making planning and control decisions throughout the organization.” In
fact, most accounting scholars would argue that the definition of management control/performance management extends
well beyond Horngren, Foster, and Datar’s rather static and highly mechanistic definition. As Hopwood (1976) long ago
pointed out, “The purposes, processes, and techniques of accounting, its human, organizational, and social roles, and the way
in which the resulting information is used have never been static.”