Year: 2020

Performance Management Information Systems identifies the accounting information requirements and the types of information systems used; describes and identifies the main characteristics of transaction processing, management information and executive information systems; and defines the good and bad of open and closed systems with regard to performance management.

Different types of information systems used for strategic planning, management control and operational control and decision-making.

Accounting information can be drawn from both internal and external sources and is used to create plans and for decision making.

• For strategic planning, information about competitors, profitability of products, customer profitability, pricing decisions and the value of the market share are useful in order to set goals and create a strategy.
• For management control, information about resources, efficiency and effectiveness is required to set targets and objectives. Much of this information can be generated internally.
• For operational control, information about the operations, transaction data (e.g. customer purchases), detailed operating information that is expressed in the right units is used to organize day to day tasks and activities.

Management information systems include transaction pro cessing systems, management information systems, executive information systems and enterprise resource planning systems.

1. Transaction processing systems (TPS)

Transaction processing systems (TPS) “collect, store, modify and retrieve the transactions of an organization” and are characterized by:

• Controlled processing
• Inflexibility
• Rapid response
• Reliability

2. Management information systems (MIS)

Management information systems (MIS) “convert data into information” and are characterized by the following:

• Provide support for structured decision
• Are designed to report on existing operations
• Have little analytical capability
• Inflexible
• Focus on the internal

3. Executive information systems (EIS)

 Executive information systems (EIS) use data from the MIS and allow to create a “generalized computing and communication environment.” Characteristics include:

• User friendly interfaces
• Interactive tutorials that visualize situations
• Links to external databases
• Tracking of critical information

4. Enterprise resource planning systems (ERP systems)

 Enterprise resource planning systems (ERP systems) are software packages that pull together the organization’s processes into one system. Some characteristics are:

• Can be accessed by anyone who’s computer is linked to the central server
• Has decision support features
• Can be linked to external systems
• Works well for global operations
• Allow for standardization of information and work practices

When it comes to a management report, the key areas that you focus on are the profits and losses amongst your clients, products, geographic regions, and even the company’s departments. The first step would be to have a computerized system develop the necessary data, which is collected by a mid-level manager and written up using the following reports:

1. Cash Flow: This report provides the monthly transactions for your bank, which includes your company’s expenses and liabilities, along with the income you have received. For example, by analyzing your cash flow, you may realize that you had a $30,000 increase in accounts receivable. The increase could be that your client was invoiced for $50,000, but you only received $20,000. The amount in accounts receivable is the difference. This is only one of many examples of how there could be a difference between the cash in your bank and the profit in your reports, which is easily explained with this amazing cash flow tool.
2. Balance Sheet is a summary of the company’s assets, retained earnings, and liabilities are shown on this report. This report delivers an accurate evaluation of your company’s worth (e.g. vehicles, equipment, and cash on hand) minus what has to be paid (e.g. suppliers, future bills). Using a balance sheet, you can easily discover which clients are behind on their payments and how much money is owed to you. And you also have the option of comparing the sales from a previous month to the current month. This tool goes as far as averaging the revenue per customer and the amount of sales that each salesperson generated.
3. Profit and Loss is income from sales, minus expenses that are generated on a daily basis. The report will divide your expenses into their necessary spending categories. Maybe you want to average out your numbers for the year. You can do this by viewing your sales and expenses on a quarter-to-quarter or month-to-month basis. Now, you will know which months or quarters are the strongest for your company and which ones you have to work on. You can even view the numbers by a specific team, department, or assignment.
4. Sales: one of the most important reports is the sales report, because it generates information about the invoices that were raised for the past month.
5. Trade Creditor is a list of all the businesses that you have to pay.
6. Trade Debtor is a record of all the clients that have invoices with your business and still owe you money.

Importance of Management Reports

1. You can discover trends and make the best decisions

Whenever you perform a financial report, you know exactly if the company is gaining or losing. The only downside is that you don’t know exactly how and why this may be happening. There is no benefit in simply knowing that you are winning or losing. With a management report, you are able to go within the workings of your company to see what is actually causing your company to win or lose. Even better, you can find out what areas need work and which parts of the company are the strongest. This is necessary, because you could have a profit for the year and still have a weak link within the company. This issue could be preventing you from making even more money for the company. Are you in business to leave money on the table?

2. Prevent any unnecessary losses and expenses

And with the world of business constantly changing, it is critical to know when and where you may need to make some adjustments within the company. You definitely don’t want to be the company that reacts, after it is too late. By then, your business is in the hole and you have a lot more to lose.

3. A powerful tool that delivers up-to-date information about your company

With a management report, you always have the upper hand and can easily adjust to the new changes in business. This is a strategic tool that can be used for long-term plans of growth and profits. Investing in an informative management report is a no-brainer for any organization. Invest in your future today and make sure you have the best Corporate Service Provider to cover your back from registration of your business in the UAE to monthly management reports and annual reporting.

Every business is a little different, but as a starting point for many of our clients we like to look at the following items. You’ll notice this might seem a little sparse, and that’s by design. Too much information is almost worse than no information, so we like to focus on what really matters in your business and nothing else.

1. Budget

A well-crafted budget is a beautiful thing indeed. It will enable you to set a path for the business to follow over the coming year(s) and give you a framework within which to operate the business and achieve your goals. What do we need to do in sales next month? Check the budget. How much can we spend at the office party? Check the budget. Typically you’ll set a new budget each year and periodically update the budget during the year as new information comes to hand.

2. Cash flow

The lifeblood of any business, it’s important to know what cash flow is doing in your business. Unless you’re in dire straits there is no need to micro-manage cash, but you should be able to report on what the future cash balance is for the business over the coming year as well as know what kind of state your trade receivables are in.

And finally we like to look at a some Key Performance Indicators. These will vary business by business, but below are a few that we recommend for most service businesses.

3. Wage Revenue ratio

Too often we’re not getting a good return on our wage spend so it’s a wise idea to track this carefully. A good goal is to spend no more than 65% (ideally, less) of revenues on labour costs. And remember that when we talk about revenue we really mean gross profit (i.e. sales less direct costs).

4. Staff productivity

This one helps you dig into the reasons behind revenue shortfalls as it shows which staff are hitting their personal productivity targets and which are not. Some businesses will report on hours, others on revenue generated, but either way there is accountability on a per-head basis. We would also consider write-offs per team member here as well.

5. Client/job profitability

This information will let you know which clients or job types are profitable in your business and those which are not. Regular analysis here may lead to letting certain clients go, re-quoting other clients, redesigning or ditching certain service offerings all in the pursuit of profit.

Five items. That’s it. With the information gathered from these five items you should have most, if not all, of what you need for a really useful set of management reports. From here we can see if we’re hitting our targets, keep an eye out for future cash dramas, and find out which staff/clients/jobs are helping or hindering the bottom line.

Performance Analysis in Private Sector Organizations describes financial performance indicators; describes non-financial performance indicators; analyses past performance; explains the causes and problems created by short-termism and financial manipulation of results; explains the Balanced Scorecard and the Building Block Model and discusses the difficulties of target setting in qualitative areas.

Performance Analysis in not for Profit Organizations and the Public Sector

Not for profit organizations have general objectives which include:

• “Surplus maximization (Similar to profit maximization)
• Revenue maximization
• Usage maximization
• Usage targeting (Matching the capacity available)
• Full/ partial cost recovery (Minimizing subsidy)
• Budget maximization: Maximizing what is offered
• Producer satisfaction maximization: Satisfying the wants of staff and volunteers
• Client satisfaction maximization: Generating the support of the public”

Performance could be measured in Private Sector Organizations through:

Performance can be measured using the value for money criteria of economy, effectiveness and efficiency.

• Economy is spending money frugally
• Efficiency is getting the most for the money spent.
• Effectiveness is getting what has to be done economically and efficiently
• Public sector organizations

Public sector organizations come in many shapes and forms. The most obvious examples are schools and hospitals, police forces and local transport providers, but there are many less visible organizations such as regulatory bodies. The objectives of public sector organizations are very different from those of commercial organizations, and this can make performance management more complicated. The following factors in particular differentiate public sector organizations from commercial:

1. They have a broader group of stakeholders than commercial organizations. This can lead to greater conflicts. Commercial organizations are likely to be mainly concerned with shareholders, employees, customers and their lenders. Public sector organizations are likely to be interested in pleasing the providers of funding (the government), the users of the service and the taxpayer. In the case of schools, for example, parents would be happy to see more money spent on education but, as taxpayers, they may not wish to pay more taxes.
2. Customers do not pay directly for the services they receive, and there may be little relationship between the costs of providing the service and the amount it is used. Consider a subsidised bus service, for example. The daily costs of running the buses are likely to be largely fixed, and do not depend on the number of passengers using them at least in the short term. This makes it harder to decide how much should be spent on the service.
3. Many public sector organizations operate as monopoly providers. Even if customers are not happy with the service they receive, they cannot switch to an alternative supplier. In commercial organizations, this is generally not the case, and bad performance will lead to a loss of customers and, therefore, loss of funding.
4. The output of public sector bodies is often difficult to measure. How do you determine how much work a police force has performed? Statistics such as the number of crimes reported may be used. If the police force is doing a good job however, and crime is falling, the number of crimes reported may fall. So the lower number of crimes reported would wrongly suggest that the police force is not working so hard.

There is a perception that performance in public sector organizations is poorer than in the private sector, both in terms of efficiency and quality of service.

Performance measurement is the performance based management process which is flowing from the organizational mission and the strategic planning process. Divisional performance measurement includes the objective and subjective assessments of the performance sub-units of an organization such as divisions or departments. Divisional performance measurement are effective in ensure that a strategy of organization is successfully implemented by monitor a divisions effectiveness in satisfying its own predetermined goals or stakeholder desires. Divisional performance measures may be based on non-financial as well as on financial information.

Measurement of Divisional Performance

Method 1. Return on Investment (ROI)

Many organizations use return on investment (ROI) to measure divisional performance. ROI expresses divisional profit (operating profit) as a percentage of assets employed in the division. Some companies use net profit after tax as the numerator in calculating the ROI.

Decid­ing on the denominator is a complex decision. Many companies allocate corporate equity to different divisions on some equitable basis (e.g., proportion of total assets employed in each division) and use the same as a denominator.

Some firms use capital employed, (i.e. fixed assets + working capital) as the denominator. However, considerable variations are found in practice on how working capital is treated. Many firms use gross working capital particularly if divisional managers have no influence on trade creditors or other current liabilities. Others prefer to use net working capital as it provides a good measure of corporate resources allo­cated to the business, and managers are expected to earn an adequate return on the same.

Many organizations use book value of fixed assets in calculating capital employed in the division. However, use of book value often misstates the division profitability. Use of book value reduces capital employed and increases ROI every successive year without any real improvement in economic performance. Therefore, use of book value may not motivate divisional manages to acquire new fixed assets.

Better alternatives are the use of replacement cost or the original cost of acquisition (gross book value). However, use of replacement cost or original cost presents some practical problems because it is difficult to ascertain replacement costs of different assets acquired at different points of time having different residual values. If original cost of an asset is used managers may be motivated to dispose of assets even if they have some usefulness.

Companies prefer to use net book-value methods in preference to others because non-accounting methods have an element of subjectivity, while financial accounting methods have an aura of reality for operating managers. The selection of a particular method ultimately depends on the assessment of corporate management of what practice would induce divisional man­agers to efficiently use resources and to acquire proper amount and kind of new assets.

The following are the advantages of ROI for measuring divisional performance:

(a) It is a comprehensive measure and captures all the factors which influence figures in financial statements.

(b) It is easy to calculate and understand.

(c) It makes comparison of performances of different divisions easy.

(d) Data on ROI of different companies are easily available and that helps in inter-firm comparison.

In spite of these advantages many companies do not use ROI for measuring divisional performance because it has the potential to create serious dysfunctional effect.

Use of ROI may motivate divisional managers to avoid acquisition of assets which would decrease the ROI of the division even though it would improve the performance of a company as a whole. E.g., if the current ROI of a division is 20% it would not acquire an asset which would earn a return of 18% although the weighted average cost of capital of the company is 15%.

Thus ROI creates a bias towards no or little additional investment. Man­agers may also take wrong asset disposal decisions. Similarly, a division which has a very low ROI may be tempted to improve ROI by acquiring assets which will improve its ROI although its earning will be lower than the cost of capital of the company.

In view of this serious limitation, many companies use ‘RI’ as a measure of divisional performance.

Method 2. Residual Income (RI) or Economic Value Added (EVA)

Residual Income is pre-tax profit less an imputed interest charge for invested capital.

The imputed interest charge is often referred to as capital charge in management literature. This capital charge is found by multiplying the amount of assets employed by a rate. Selecting the rate of capital charge also poses some problems.

The simplest method is to use company’s cost of capital. However, a sophisticated method uses different rates for different classes of assets may be one rate for general-purpose assets, while a special rate for special-purpose assets.

Some companies use a rate which is close to the company’s cost of borrowing rather than to its cost of capital.

While ROI is a ratio, RI is an absolute figure. RI deals with the problems of ROI adequately because any investment, which will earn higher than the capital charge will improve the RI. Therefore, use of RI motivates divisional managers to acquire only those assets, which will improve the performance of the company as a whole. Thus, the RI method sets the same profit objective for same assets in different divisions.

A sophisticated system also solves the problem of the same profit objective for different assets in the same division by using different rate of capital charges for different class of assets. RI is definitely a superior measure compared to ROI for measuring divisional performance.

Stern Steward & Co., a consultancy firm in USA, uses the term EVA for RI. The Stern Steward & Co. suggests many adjustments to correct the distortions in reported profit and capital due to accounting bias towards prudence. Many firms use EVA as the basis for cal­culating variable part of the executive compensation to induce managers to behave like owners, who in a business to create wealth for themselves.

Transfer pricing can be defined as the value which is attached to the goods or services transferred between related parties. In other words, transfer pricing is the price which is paid for goods or services transferred from one unit of an organization to its other units situated in different countries

Transfer pricing refers to value attached to transfer of goods or services between related parties.

Thus, transfer pricing can be defined as the price paid for goods transferred from one economic unit to another, assuming that the two units involved are situated in different countries, but belong to the same multinational firm.

Aims & Objective of Transfer Pricing

1. Transfer pricing minimizes the tax burden or arranging direction of cash flow:

Transfer price, as aforesaid, refers to the value attached to transfer of goods, services, and technology between related entities such as parent and subsidiary corporations and also between the parties which are controlled by a common entity. Its essence being that the pricing is not set by an independent transferor and transferee in an arm’s length transaction. Transaction between them is not governed by open market considerations.

2. Transfer pricing results in shifting profits

Whatever the reason for fixing a transfer price which is not arm’s length, the result is the shift of profit. The effect is that the profit appropriately attributable to one jurisdiction is shifted to another jurisdiction. The main object is to avoid tax as also to withdraw profits leaving very little for the local participation to share. Other object is avoidance of foreign exchange restrictions.

3. Shifting of Profits: Tax avoiding not the only object

Transfer between the enterprises under the same control and management, of goods, commodities, merchandise, raw material, stock, or services is made at a price which is not dictated by the market but controlled by such considerations such as:

• To reduce profits artificially so that tax effect is reduced in a specific country;
• To facilitate decentralization of production so that efforts are directed to concentrate profits in the State of production where there is no or least competition;
• To remit profits more than the ceilings imposed for repatriation;
• To use it as an effective tool to exploit the fluctuation in foreign exchange to advantage.

Purposes of Transfer Pricing

The key objectives behind having transfer pricing are:

• Generating separate profit for each of the divisions and enabling performance evaluation of each division separately.
• Transfer prices would affect not just the reported profits of every center, but would also affect the allocation of a company’s resources (Cost incurred by one centre will be considered as the resources utilized by them).

Why Organizations need to understand Transfer Pricing?

For the purpose of management accounting and reporting, multinational companies (MNCs) have some amount of discretion while defining how to distribute the profits and expenses to the subsidiaries located in various countries. Sometimes a subsidiary of a company might be divided into segments or might be accounted for as a standalone business. In these cases, transfer pricing helps in allocating revenue and expenses to such subsidiaries in the right manner.

The profitability of a subsidiary depends on prices at which the inter-company transactions occur. These days the inter-company transactions are facing increased scrutiny by the governments. Here, when transfer pricing is applied, it could impact shareholders wealth as this influences company’s taxable income and its after-tax, free cash flow.

It is important that a business having cross-border intercompany transactions should understand transfer pricing concept, particularly for the compliance requirements as per law and to eliminate the risks of non-compliance.

Transfer Pricing Methodologies

The OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) Guidelines discusses the transfer pricing methods which could be used for examining the arms-length price of the controlled transactions. Here, arms-length price refers to the price which is applied or proposed or charged when unrelated parties enter into similar transactions in an uncontrolled condition.

The following are three of the most commonly used transfer pricing methodologies:

For the purpose of understanding, associated enterprises refer to an enterprise which directly or indirectly participates in the management or capital or control of another enterprise.

Problems associated with Transfer Pricing

There are quite a few problems associated with the transfer prices.  Some of these issues include:

• There could be differences in opinions among organizational divisional managers with respect to how transfer price needs to be set.
• Additional time, costs and manpower would be required for executing the transfer prices and designing the accounting system to match the requirements of transfer pricing rules.
• Arm’s length prices might cause dysfunctional behavior among the managers of organizational units.
• For some of the divisions or departments, for instance, a service department, arm’s length prices don’t work equally well as such departments don’t offer measurable benefits.
• The transfer pricing issue in a multinational setup is very complicated.

External considerations in performance management can have an impact on how the organization performs and the steps to be taken to improve performance.

Stakeholders can have an interest and can be impacted by the organization’s activities. Examples of stakeholders are customers, competitors, employees, suppliers, lenders and the community.

Market conditions can impact performance and include “factors as economic growth, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, government fiscal policy.”

The allowance for competitors includes monitoring “competitors” prices and cost structures” and features that add value and could lead to increased market share.

Performance measures should ensure that stakeholder needs are met, there are plans in place to deal with changes in the market and provide a basis for comparisons with competitors.

Performance measures vary for each of the external considerations. Examples are:

• Employees: Motivation, morale
• Management: Salaries, profit sharing
• Shareholders: Price of shares, dividend yield, earnings per share
• Customer: Price, quality, service, value for money
• Government: Taxation, inflation, exports, employment
• Community: Environmental impact, employment, social needs

The make-or-buy decision is the action of deciding between manufacturing an item internally (or in-house) or buying it from an external supplier (also known as outsourcing). Such decisions are typically taken when a firm that has manufactured a part or product, or else considerably modified it, is having issues with current suppliers, or has reducing capacity or varying demand.

Another way to define make-or-buy decision that is closely related to the first definition is this: a decision to perform one of the activities in the value chain in-house, instead of purchasing externally from a supplier. A value chain is the complete range of tasks such as design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of a product / service that businesses must get done to take a service or product from conception to their customers.

Some companies manage all of the tasks in the value chain from manufacturing raw materials all through to the ultimate distribution of the completed goods and provision of after-sales services. Some other companies are happy just to integrate on a smaller scale by buying a lot of the parts and materials that are required for their finished products. When a business is involved in more than one activity in the whole value chain, it is vertically integrated. This kind of integration is quite common.

Vertical integration provides its own set of advantages. An integrated company depends less on its suppliers and so can be certain of a smoother flow of materials and parts for the manufacture than a non-integrated company. In addition, some companies believe they can manage quality better by manufacturing their own parts and materials instead of depending on the quality control standards of external suppliers. What’s more, an integrated company realizes revenue from the parts and material that it is “making” rather than “buying” in addition to income from its usual operations.

The benefits of vertical integration are counterbalanced by the benefits of using outside suppliers. By combining demand from different companies, a supplier can enjoy economies of scale. These economies of scale can cause better quality and lower expenses than would be possible if the business were to endeavor to manufacture the parts or provide a service by itself. At the same time, a business should be careful to retain control over those tasks that are necessary for maintaining its competitive position.

Factors Influencing the Decision

To come to a make-or-buy decision, it is essential to thoroughly analyze, all of the expenses associated with product development in addition to expenses associated with buying the product. The assessment should include qualitative and quantitative factors. It should also separate relevant expenses from irrelevant ones and consider only the former. The study should also look at the availability of the product and its quality under each of the two situations.

Introduction to quantitative and qualitative analysis

Quantitative aspects can be calculated and compared whereas qualitative aspects call for subjective judgment and, frequently require multiple opinions. In addition, some of the associated factors can be quantified with sureness while it is necessary to estimate other factors. The make-or-buy decision calls for a thorough assessment from all angles.

Quantitative aspects are essentially the incremental costs stemming from making or purchasing the component. Factors of this type to look at may incorporate things such as availability of manufacturing facilities, needed resources and manufacturing capacity. This may also incorporate variable and fixed expenses that can be found out either by way of estimation or with certainty. Similarly, quantitative expenses would incorporate the cost of the good under consideration as the price is determined by suppliers offering the product for sale in the marketplace.

Qualitative factors to look at call for more subjective assessment. Examples of such factors include control over component quality, the reliability and reputation of the suppliers, the possibility of modifying the decision in the future, the long-term viewpoint concerning manufacture or purchase of the product, and the impact of the decision on customers and suppliers.

Make-or-buy decisions also occur at the operational level. Analysis in separate texts by Burt, Dobler, and Starling, as well as Joel Wisner, G. Keong Leong, and Keah-Choon Tan, suggest these considerations that favor making a part in-house:

• Cost considerations (less expensive to make the part)
• Desire to integrate plant operations
• Productive use of excess plant capacity to help absorb fixed overhead (using existing idle capacity)
• Need to exert direct control over production and/or quality
• Better quality control
• Design secrecy is required to protect proprietary technology
• Unreliable suppliers
• No competent suppliers
• Desire to maintain a stable workforce (in periods of declining sales)
• Quantity too small to interest a supplier
• Control of lead time, transportation, and warehousing costs
• Greater assurance of continual supply
• Provision of a second source
• Political, social or environmental reasons (union pressure)
• Emotion (e.g., pride)

Factors that may influence firms to buy a part externally include:

• Lack of expertise
• Suppliers’ research and specialized know-how exceeds that of the buyer
• cost considerations (less expensive to buy the item)
• Small-volume requirements
• Limited production facilities or insufficient capacity
• Desire to maintain a multiple-source policy
• Indirect managerial control considerations
• Procurement and inventory considerations
• Brand preference
• Item not essential to the firm’s strategy

The two most important factors to consider in a make-or-buy decision are cost and the availability of production capacity. Burt, Dobler, and Starling warn that “no other factor is subject to more varied interpretation and to greater misunderstanding” Cost considerations should include all relevant costs and be long-term in nature. Obviously, the buying firm will compare production and purchase costs. Burt, Dobler, and Starling provide the major elements included in this comparison. Elements of the “make” analysis include:

• Incremental inventory-carrying costs
• Direct labor costs
• Incremental factory overhead costs
• Delivered purchased material costs
• Incremental managerial costs
• Any follow-on costs stemming from quality and related problems
• Incremental purchasing costs
• Incremental capital costs

Cost considerations for the “buy” analysis include:

• Purchase price of the part
• Transportation costs
• Receiving and inspection costs
• Incremental purchasing costs
• Any follow-on costs related to quality or service