A package of controls for traditional budgeting replacement and organizational alignment

: a case study of Corticeira Amorim

Abstract

Over the last few years, budgeting has been under great criticism, and the number of cases that have challenged the use of this traditional system is increasing. The present master thesis studies the case of Corticeira Amorim, a large Portuguese company that has abandoned the traditional budgeting process.
The main objectives of this study are to identify the alternative adopted by the company in order to address to the management requirements that were previously ensured by the budget, and to determine the degree of internal alignment with the implemented model. In order to answer these research questions, 18 interviews were conducted with top-level managers and an online questionnaire was sent to 30 other members of the organization.
The present study allowed concluding that, over the last years, the company has been developing, a set of norms and procedures that are adequate to its internal and external contingencies, in order to address the management requirements formerly assured by the traditional budget. This study also allowed concluding that the definition and dissemination of policies and procedures by the management control department is not a sufficient condition for their complete internal recognition. The main contribution of this work is to study management control systems as a "package" of controls, as well as to evaluate the perception and internalization of new management practices in employees.

Date of Award	3 Apr 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luís Marques (Supervisor) & Miguel Alberto Reis Soares (Co-Supervisor)