ACC73001 Advanced Management Accounting Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : ACC73001
• University : Southern Cross University My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Accounting and Finance

Implementation of Balanced Scorecard

Balanced Scorecard 

Balance Scorecard is considered as the management tool which helps the organization in achieving better understanding of its vision and the purpose of its existence. It clarifies the various objectives and the strategies that are to be implemented to guide the future actions of the organization (Quesado et al., 2018). CPA Australia is the leading accounting body that provides services including training, education, advocacy and technical support. The objective of the organization is to prepare the members for today as well as for future in this globally connected world. The main purpose of developing a balance scorecard is concerned with combining the performance of organization’s business with its different strategies by estimating the results in 4 areas, namely, internal business processes, financial performance, learning and growth and increment in the knowledge of customers (Hasan & Chyi, 2017).

It allows in accomplishing better control over the current performance of the organization and also grabs the relevant information regarding the position of organization in the coming future. It helps in integrating several corporate programs like follow up of accounting standards, efficient membership plans, etc. The major goal of CPA Australia is to attract and produce CPAs for the next generation and provide its members with the best experiences. Connecting with various local and international bodies will help in increasing the members and thus will raise its profitability (Integrated report, 2019). It is significant to generate support from government, industries, regulators and the general public for the betterment of the organization.

Implementation of effective and efficient promotional strategies helps in creating awareness among the public and generate adequate support from the general public. In order to enhance, promote and protect the integrity of designation, development of relevant readings, resources, tools are required. Adequate amounts of funds are necessary to carry out day to day operations, for meeting higher growth prospects and to survive in the industry. These can be raised by building successive relationship with those that supply funds like banks, government, public, etc.

Technology is continuously bringing change in the accounting software. These new processes and systems require accountants to develop critical skills to finish more complicated tasks in less time. For this, CPA Australia is regularly evolving its programs to cater to the needs and future requirements of members and their employers (Venkatraman et al., 2018). The purpose of the essay is to identify the steps important for the implementation of balanced scorecard and analyze it to evaluate the financial performance of CPA Australia.

Balance Scorecard for CPA Australia

Implementation of Balanced Scorecard at CPA Australia

The balanced scorecard should not be considered as a series of perspectives being equally weighted. It must be seen as a process where, the organization starts from the bottom towards upward direction going through every perspective with the purpose of achieving the financial gain. Internal processes, learning and growth and customer perspectives are considered as the leadings steps that will facilitate the accomplishment of the basic lagging step which is the financial performance. To implement a balanced scorecard, first of all, design an efficient balanced scorecard with the participation and involvement of all the team members and keeping vision and mission of the organization in mind (Cooper et al., 2017).

Identify all the elements for which the members are looking for and build a strong relationship with them. List down all the objectives of CPA Australia that are linked with various perspectives of balanced scorecard (Schaltegger & Burrit, 2017). A strategy map must be drawn that will indicate the overall corporate strategy regarding how the company creates value for all its stakeholders and customers. To achieve all those objectives, different and appropriate measures must be determined keeping in mind the performance targets. Strategic initiatives must be developed that will help in attaining the organizational success. These strategic initiatives and performance measures must be assigned to the business owners and must be documented in tables defining the complete data in order to maintain accountability throughout the organization.

However, there are various risks that may take place while implementing balanced scorecard. Efficient data collection and reporting of that data is a must to attain all the listed objectives. In organizations, there is no enough time and energy to make a record of each and every information. Moreover, it only encourages internal focus and do not take into account the external environment. CPA Australia lacks in proper system and methodologies that are required to address the problems arising in between the processes (West & Buckby, 2018). In order to face these risks, strategies must be reviewed regularly in order to achieve benefits from developing a balanced scorecard and focus on external environment while developing it. Adequate tools and methodologies must be put in place for its appropriate implementation.

Benefits and Limitations of Implementing a Balanced Scorecard

There are both advantages and disadvantages of implementing a balanced scorecard. Balanced scorecard, being a methodological and systematic tool, provides a clear view of the objectives of CPA Australia and also tells about the planned actions that are to be performed to accomplish all those objectives (Gupta & Salter, 2018). It becomes easier to measure and monitor the performance of employees working in the organization with the implementation of balanced scorecard. For instance, balanced scorecard help in maintaining the track of the new members and also indicates the number of members that have left.

It helps in solving the complex issues regarding the significant aspects of business like skills and knowledge of members, development of content, courses and programs, etc. It provides satisfaction to all the needs and requirements of the organization’s managers. It helps in providing a well set framework for transforming the strategic goals and objectives of company into a set of performance measures by establishing the goals under four different segments (Perez et al., 2017). The overall communication between the different members improves by updating the strategy of organization and through developing various promotional strategies.

On the other hand, there are several disadvantages of using or implementing a balanced scorecard. It is considered as an expensive and time consuming process. Proper skills are required in order to apply this tool correctly in the organization. Clear understanding of the organizational processes and their working are required to develop a well framed balanced scorecard (Cooper et al., 2017). The expenditure of the company may rise if it appoints any expert to do the same. The team of CPA Australia which is keeping the track and monitoring the performance must have adequate knowledge regarding the working of balanced scorecard.

Otherwise, the financial objectives cannot be achieved. Moreover, it focuses only on four perspectives. However, for CPA Australia, it is important to analyze some external factors such as competitors and environment. Therefore, more perspectives must be added to the balanced scorecard to increase its efficiency. Performance targets are not set for different perspectives in this due to which it becomes difficult for CPA Australia to measure and evaluate performance of employees effectively.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that CPA Australia must implement balanced scorecard in order to achieve several objectives. It allows in accomplishing better control over the current performance of the organization and also grabs the relevant information regarding the position of organization in the coming future. It helps in solving the complex issues regarding the significant aspects of business like skills and knowledge of members, development of content, courses and programs, etc. It is significant to generate support from government, industries, regulators and the general public for the betterment of the organization.

Implementation of effective and efficient promotional strategies helps in creating awareness among the public and generate adequate support from the general public. A strategy map must be drawn that will indicate the overall corporate strategy regarding how the company creates value for all its stakeholders and customers. The overall communication between the different members improves by updating the strategy of organization and through developing various promotional strategies.

References

Cooper, D. J., Ezzamel, M., & Qu, S. Q. (2017). Popularizing a management accounting idea: The case of the balanced scorecard. Contemporary Accounting Research, 34(2), 991-1025.

Gupta, G., & Salter, S. B. (2018). The Balanced Scorecard beyond Adoption. Journal of International Accounting Research, 17(3), 115-134.

Hasan, R. U., & Chyi, T. M. (2017). Practical application of Balanced Scorecard-A literature review. Journal of Strategy and Performance Management, 5(3), 87.

Integrated report. (2019). CPA Australia Integrated Report. Retrieved from https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/annualreport-2019

Pérez, C. Á., Montequín, V. R., Fernández, F. O., & Balsera, J. V. (2017). Integration of balanced scorecard (BSC), strategy map, and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) for a sustainability business framework: a case study of a Spanish software factory in the financial sector. Sustainability, 9(4), 527.

Quesado, P. R., Aibar Guzmán, B., & Lima Rodrigues, L. (2018). Advantages and contributions in the balanced scorecard implementation. Intangible capital, 14(1), 186-201.

Schaltegger, S., & Burritt, R. (2017). Contemporary environmental accounting: issues, concepts and practice. Routledge.

Venkatraman, S., de Souza-Daw, T., & Kaspi, S. (2018). Improving employment outcomes of career and technical education students. Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning.

West, A., & Buckby, S. (2018). Ethics Education in the Qualification of Professional Accountants: Insights from Australia and New Zealand. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-20.

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