The Balanced Scorecard converts a company’s strategy into executable actions that
are deployed throughout the organization. The Balanced Scorecard approach has spread
rapidly in the United States. One study estimated that about 40 percent of the Fortune
1000 companies had implemented the Balanced Scorecard by the end of 2000.2 Because
of its widespread use and popularity, we will focus our discussion of performance
management on the Balanced Scorecard. A general overview of the Balanced Scorecard
will first be provided by comparing the specific responsibility elements of activity-based
responsibility accounting with those of the Balanced Scorecard. In the remainder of the
chapter, more specific details of the Balanced Scorecard will be provided