Abstract. This article reports the results of a study that hypothesized the influence of culture on six aspects of budget control practices in the United States and Japan. Data were collected through questionnaires from 70 manufacturing companies in the United States and 149 such companies in Japan. Results of data analyses indicate that the Individualism-Collectivism dimension would seem to explain why the U.S. companies, compared to the Japanese companies, tend to use communication and coordination more extensively, build budget slack to a greater extent, and use long term performance evaluations to a lesser extent. The implications of the results for further research and practice are discussed