This particular perspective is used in the accurate identification of infrastructure that a given company must acquire so as to compete in the future dynamic and highly competitive global market place.
The Balanced Scorecard has not just been praised for its theoretical soundness but has actually produced real results. Prickett (2003) noted that in 2003, a study that involved 35 firms in the UK proved that the best performance measurement strategies were implemented by firms that employed the Balance Scorecard approach of measurement. This study further indicated that companies that had been successful in their measurements because the Balanced Scorecard approach successfully identified certain critical indicators after a thorough consultation with all sectors of the firm's business team (including the lower level and the front line employees).
Extant literature on the Balanced Scorecard approach have shown a constant praise of the model. This is because as noted by Hagood and Friedman (2002), the model among other things promotes a good level of an organization's strategic health.
Gadenne (2002) also noted that the model has been indicated to have proper flexibility that can allow for the relative importance of each and every area to be given by the respective companies. The balanced Scorecard is also noted to offer as positive feedback since it allows for the measurement of corporate performance on the basis of internal as well as external analysis through the Customer perspective as noted by Arora (2002).
How the balanced scorecard can be related to cost accounting
Managerial cost account is a term which refer to the process involving the accumulation, measurement, analysis, interpretation as well as reporting of cost information that is deemed useful to both the internal and external groups concerning the manner in which an organization employs, accounts for, controls as well as safeguards its resources for the purpose of meeting its objectives and responsibility to its shareholders (Oracle,2010). The concept of Balanced scorecard is closely related to the concept of managerial cost accounting in an intricate fashion.
Intangible...
These intangible assets are noted to create the value of companies while the traditional tangible ones are rapidly becoming less important. In such a scenario, the balanced scorecard can help in the measurement of the performance of these intangible assets like product innovation, unique business designs as well as brands.
Conclusion
The Balanced Scorecard is a unique performance management tool which enables companies to successfully translate their strategy and vision into tangible set of performance measures. The Balanced Score is noted to provide an elaborate enterprise view of a given company's overall performance through the integration of financial measures with a wide range of performance indicators that are tied to customer perspectives, organizational growth, internal business processes as well as learning and innovation. The balanced scorecard is therefore an integral tool for managers to carry out managerial cost accounting functions.
References
Arora, R. (2002) "Implementing KM -- a balanced score card approach." Journal of Knowledge Management, 6 (3) 240-9.
Drury, C (2007).management and Cost Accounting. Cengage Learning EMEA
Gadenne, D. (2000) "Brave new world: how can business meet new challenges in the 21st century?" Inaugural professorial lecture delivered on September 6, Central Queensland
Hagood, W.O. And Friedman, L. (2002) "Using the balanced scorecard to measure the performance of your HR information system." Public Personnel
Management, 31 (4) 543-57.
Kaplan, R.S., Norton, D.P. (2001) "Transforming the balanced scorecard from performance measurement to strategic management: Part 1." Accounting Horizons 15 (1) 87-104.
Oracle (2012).Federal Government Managerial Cost Accounting. An Oracle White Paper. Available online at http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/business-intelligence/fed-gov-managerial-cost-accounting-254758.pdf
Prickett, R. (2003) "Balanced scorecard provides ROI: a study has found the key to performance management. " Financial Management (UK): 4.
