Sivabalan Et Al an Exploratory Study of Operational Reasons to Budget - Research Paper Example

 Table of Contents 1.0 Critical Analysis of the Research Paper 3 1.1 Overall Description of the Research Paper 3 1.1.1 Summary of the Research Paper 3 1.1.2 Author’s Information 6 1.2 Critical Analysis 7 1.2.1 Issues Addressed in the Research Paper 7 1.2.2 Importance of the Research Topic 7 1.2.3 Assumptions of the Author 8 1.2.4 Theories and Hypothesis 8 1.2.5 Data Collection Method Employed and Analysis 9 1.2.6 Fulfilment of Author’s Purpose and Contribution of the Survey 11 1.2.7 Findings of the Authors 12 1.2.8 Comparison of the Author’s Work with Other Research Papers 12 1.2.9 Clarity of Objectives, Writing Style and Presentation 14 1.3 Implications of the Research Paper 15 1.3.1 Management Accounting Issues Raised in the Research Paper 15 1.3.2 Learning Outcome and Practical Usefulness of the Research Paper 17 1.3.3 Future Implications for Management Accounting 19 2.0 Suggestions for Improvements 19 3.0 Description of the Planning of the Analysis of the Research Paper 20 3.1 Section Wise Analysis of the Research Paper 20 3.2 Brief Description of the Sources 24 3.3 Time Table of the Analysis 25 References 27 Bibliography 31 1.0 Critical Analysis of the Research Paper 1.1 Overall Description of the Research Paper 1.1.1 Summary of the Research Paper The research paper states that operational budgets are needed for planning and control rather than for evaluation. Rolling forecasts have been considered as a substitute for annual budgets. Rolling forecasts can make better prediction regarding financial matters of the company in contrast to annual budgets. A survey involving 331 accountants revealed that planning and control reasons for budgeting were more important that evaluation reasons. It also revealed that they expected a complementary relation between annual budgets and rolling forecast. Rolling budgets and annual budgets should be used together for the same operational budget reasons. The three performance evaluation criteria used are budget participation, budget use and budget emphasis. Reliance on Accounting Performance Measures (RAPM) and participative budgeting has been discussed in the research paper. Budget emphasis deals with the importance of the budget as considered by the organisation and how they use it as a management control device. The evaluation reason of budgeting can be divided into business unit evaluation and staff evaluation. The performance of the staff and the business unit in relation to the budget is analysed. Operational planning involves combining resources, devising action plans, managing the productive capacity and various other factors. Budgets are prepared with the aim that the departments are aware in advance about the available funds. Budgets also help in determining alternative course of actions. Control through the budgets is in the form of cost control and a tracking device of the board of directors. Directors use the budget to track the organisation’s progress. Budgets help in keeping costs within limits. The paper discusses on evaluation related criticism of the budget. Budgets are used as motivating factors, but at times they have a negative affect and result in (JRT) Job Related Tension) because employees think that the budget is difficult to achieve. Adverse affects of using budgets for evaluation has been discussed. Several propositions have been made in the paper. The first proposition is that evaluation reasons are less important than planning and control reason. The research reveals that the short term forecast made by the rolling budget are useful in making the business further competitive. From a performance evaluation perspective also use of rolling budget helps to improve staff performance. Rolling forecasts are capable of a better short term forecast compared to annual budget. This is the basis of the second proposition that planning and control reasons of budgets are more useful for rolling forecasts. Rolling forecasts result in frequent changes in targets for employees. This creates confusion regarding what targets are to be achieved. Annual budgets are more suited for performance evaluation. This leads to the third proposition that evaluation reason for budget are more important for annual budgets than the rolling forecasts. The final proposition deals with the fact that whether rolling forecast should be used as compliment or substitute to the annual budget. Rolling forecast and annual budget can be used together for evaluation purpose with annual budget involved in annual evaluation of business unit and rolling forecast for monthly or quarterly forecast. The research methodology adopted was a survey through mails of management accountants who had CPA qualification. This was conducted on randomly selected 2400 respondents. Both rolling forecast and annual budget users were used in this statistical analysis. The survey was conducted in two phases. The operational reasons that were used for the survey included two control reasons, six planning reasons and two evaluation reasons. These were ranked using seven point scale with ‘1’ in the scale representing ‘no importance’ and ‘7’ in the scale representing ‘high importance’. All the 10 budget reasons were found to be important for both rolling forecast and annual budget. The results revealed that certain planning and control reasons were more important than evaluation reasons. The results supported proposition 1 and proposition 4. The results did not support proposition 2 and proposition 3. The results further reinforced the fact that planning and control reasons for budgeting were more important that evaluation reasons. However, it was not established that whether planning and control reasons were more important consideration while preparing rolling forecasts or annual budgets. Budgets have greater importance for business unit evaluation than staff evaluation. Rolling forecast is used as complements to the annual budget and not as substitutes. Limitations in the research paper may be that the operational budget reasons that were selected were not the most important ones. Organisation and strategic business units have been treated similarly, the scale selected was ordinal and descriptive statistics were used. This research paper is expected to pave the way for further research studies on operational budgeting. 1.1.2 Author’s Information Dr. Prabhu Sivabalan is a senior lecturer in the School of Accounting. He is a lecturer in undergraduate courses and MBA. He holds a position in the list of top twenty lecturers of the Graduate School of Business. He has been voted in this list since the last five years. He was the first to receive School of Accounting Teaching prize. Dr. Prabhu Sivabalan had worked as a Cadet analyst in Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu before starting his academic career. He received a first class honours in his bachelor of business undergraduate degree and he has done PhD in management control systems, budgeting and strategy under the guidance of Associate Professor Bernhard Weider and Professor Peter Booth. Prabhu Sivabalan has numerous articles published in his name. He has published various practitioner articles and industry reports on budgeting. He has made several presentations jointly with the CPA and other professional service bodies, in practitioner and academic conferences (UTS Business, n.d.). 1.2 Critical Analysis 1.2.1 Issues Addressed in the Research Paper The research paper addresses the relative importance of planning and control reasons of budgeting in comparison to evaluation reasons. It also explores the use of rolling forecast and annual budget in terms of whether they have a complementary relation or used as substitutes. 1.2.2 Importance of the Research Topic In a going concern, the strategic plan that is set by the top management lays down the base for management planning on a regular basis. Budgeting has many uses in a company. In a company budgeting of costs, sales, profits, capital and expenditures are carried out. It helps in performance measurement and thus enables control (Tiffin, 2007). An operational budget is a quantitative and detailed plan for operations. It plans, organises and controls all the operating and financial activities of the company. Planning involves setting certain goals. The budget helps the managers in deciding the course of action. Controlling involves comparing actual results with that of the budget. A comprehensive or planning budget involves a projection of balance sheet and income statement. The research paper tries to find out that whether planning and control or evaluation is the more important reason for budgeting. This research topic is expected to pave the way for further research on similar topics and it can also be useful for firms since they will be aware of which aspect of budgeting they should concentrate on. 1.2.3 Assumptions of the Author The author selected 10 operational budget reasons and assumed that these reasons are applicable in all organisations. There might be other planning and control reasons in the organisation. The relative importance of various planning and control reasons varies across various organisations. The research paper also assumes that planning, control and evaluation are the only reasons for budgeting. 1.2.4 Theories and Hypothesis A hypothesis involves making a tentative statement in order to explain a particular event. Hypotheses have not been made in the research paper. However, the research paper does cite certain theories based on previous research work of various people. The research paper cites earlier theories that budgets are used for evaluation purpose. It also cites earlier theories that rolling forecasts are substitutes of annual budgets. The Milani Budget Participation Measure that considers six items while preparing budgets for evaluation was considered. The research paper reveals useful findings on the basis of statistical analysis. 1.2.5 Data Collection Method Employed and Analysis The data collection method employed was a cross sectional survey. The questionnaires were mailed to management accountants who have CPA qualification. Surveys can either be longitudinal or cross sectional. Cross sectional surveys are used to obtain information on the population at a particular point of time. Longitudinal surveys on the other hand are used to collect data over a period of time (Ischool, n.d.). Cross sectional surveys are repetitive surveys and help to grasp net effect changes. The repeat surveys enable comparison of responses (Weerasekera, n.d.). CPA Australia provided useful access to its membership database. The accounting background of the members of CPA Australia further made the survey authentic and useful. The mail out survey was conducted in two phases with a time of six weeks in between. Each phase involved 1200 respondents. Ample time was provided to the respondents for responding. A follow up reminder was also sent to the respondents to ensure success for the survey. 424 respondents replied to the survey. 17.7% was the raw response rate. The sample for the statistical analysis was medium and large sized companies. The respondents for the survey were chosen carefully and those which were not applicable were discarded. The final sample size chosen was 331 organisations out of which 63.4% used a rolling forecast. The sample size was adequate for the study. The respondents had significant knowledge and experience and thus they were considered suitable for the survey. Response and non response bias was removed by using three pretesting elements, non-response bias analysis and follow up procedures to diminish the response error. Non-response bias analysis was done by comparing the responses obtained from the two phases. Independent sample tests were used to compare mean scores on survey items for late and early respondents. Significant difference was shown by only two out of twenty items. Descriptive statistics were used in the survey. 10 operational reasons for budgeting were considered which consisted of two evaluation, two control and six planning reasons. These operational reasons were graded on a scale of seven with ‘7’ in the scale representing ‘high importance’ and ‘1’ in the scale representing ‘no importance’. All the ten reasons had means greater than 3.5. This revealed that control, planning and evaluation all have significant importance in support of proposition 1. However, planning and control had higher means than evaluation. Negative ‘t’ statistical values indicated that the mean importance scores was higher for annual budget than rolling forecast for planning and control reasons. This was against proposition 2. Negative coefficients suggested the opposite of proposition 2. Significant statistical difference was not found between scores for business unit evaluation and staff evaluation. There was no statistical support for proposition 3. It was revealed from the survey results that annual budgets and rolling forecasts are used jointly mostly in large and listed organisations. Thus, proposition 4 was supported. Thus, it can be said that the survey method that was adopted was useful. The sample chosen was also suitable. The survey helped to establish the propositions of the research paper. 1.2.6 Fulfilment of Author’s Purpose and Contribution of the Survey The survey helped in achieving the author’s purpose of the research. The survey supported certain propositions and negated the others. The purpose of the study was fulfilled as to why budgets are used in organisations and what purpose they serve in the organisation. It established the fact that planning and control reasons are more important for budgeting in relation to evaluation reasons. Rolling forecasts complement the annual budgets rather than substituting them. The survey established these facts clearly. The findings of this research paper will be useful for further researches on planning and control reasons of budgeting. The budgeting variables have to be measured using a broader perspective. Planning and control reasons were found to be important both for rolling forecast and annual budgets. This result was consistent will all organisations. The finding that budgets are more important for business unit evaluation than staff evaluation was an important finding. This is because existing literatures use staff evaluation reason for formulating theories and defining relationships between budget emphasis and budget participation. Earlier studies believed that rolling forecasts are used as substitutes to annual budgets, but this paper reveals that rolling forecasts are used for the same purpose as annual budgets and in conjunction with annual budgets. This is an important finding of this paper. Annual budgets have been considered important for evaluation and rolling forecast for planning and control. There is no conflict on the purpose for annual and rolling forecast. The time frame of the two is different. This finding has exposed the scope for further research work on the topic. 1.2.7 Findings of the Authors The major finding of this research paper is that planning and control reasons are more important for budgeting than evaluation. Planning and control are important for rolling forecast as well as annual budgets. Business unit evaluation is a more important use of budgets than staff evaluation. Rolling budgets and annual budgets can be used together in an organisation because rolling budgets are used for planning and control and annual budgets for evaluation. 1.2.8 Comparison of the Author’s Work with Other Research Papers The author’s research paper can be compared with a similar research paper by the author himself. The title of the research paper is “Alternative reasons to budget, firm and budgetary characteristics, and firm performance”. The reason for choosing this article was that this article dealt with reasons of budgeting and it discusses on planning and control and evaluation reasons as well. However, unlike the research paper that is being discussed, this article has not revealed the relative importance of planning and control and evaluation in terms of which is more important. Most of the researches that have been conducted till now on budgeting have focused on evaluation. This has led to severe criticism of the budgeting in organisations. This research paper deals with alternative reasons for budgeting, the importance of the reasons to budgeting (RTB), RTB benefits, firm’s characteristics and performance and budgetary characteristics. A path analysis model known as Partial Least Square (PLS) Regression was used. PLS Regression is a technique that integrates features of multiple regression and principle component analysis. It is useful in predicting set of dependent variables from a set of independent variables (Abdi, 2003). Budgetary characteristics were considered as intervening variables which helped to obtain results that supported certain prior research and did not support other research works. The alternative reasons to budget depend on the organisation’s characteristics and budgeting characteristics. In this paper, the reasons to budgeting considered are operational planning, performance evaluation, goal communication and strategy formulation. However, the research paper that is being discussed deals with only planning, control, and evaluation reasons of budgeting. Path analysis is a statistical measure of relationships between reasons to budget and budgetary and firm characteristics. The sample size was 312 in the paper being compared in contrast to the article being studied where the sample size was 331. The number of respondents in the paper being compared was 2400 and CPA Australia member database was used in this case too. The raw response rate was 17.67%. The sample size was 312 after ineffectual samples were discarded. In this research paper also certain propositions were found to be consistent with prior research and others were not consistent (Sivabalan & Et. Al., n.d.). Another research paper that can be cited in this study is “Multiple Facets of Budgeting: An Exploratory Analysis”. The authors of this research paper are Stephen C. Hansen and Wim A. Van Der Stede. This article identifies four important reasons of budgeting namely communication of goals, strategy formulation, planning and performance evaluation. This article has missed out an important aspect of budgeting that is ‘control’. It points out the fact that earlier articles have emphasised only on performance evaluation reason of budgeting. This article draws our attention to other reasons of budgeting, but it does provide idea about the relative importance of the various reasons. The survey for the articles was conducted on 57 managers and it simply established the fact that all the reasons are equally important and the various reasons to budget arise in relation to different budgetary characteristics. The article which is being studied has clearly established planning and control as the most important reason for budgeting unlike this paper which has not elaborated as to which reason is the most important. The sample size in this research paper is extremely small in comparison to the sample size selected in the research paper being studied. 1.2.9 Clarity of Objectives, Writing Style and Presentation The research paper has been written in a clear and concise manner. The objective of the research paper was established right at the beginning. The writing style is interesting and the various topics have been presented in a systematic manner. 1.3 Implications of the Research Paper 1.3.1 Management Accounting Issues Raised in the Research Paper In the words of Robert S. Kaplan “Management accounting is a system that collects, classifies summarises, analyses and reports information that will assist managers in their decision making and control activities” (Institute Of Cost and Works Accountants of India, n.d.). Budgeting helps in gathering, finding and communicating non financial and financial information of the organisation (Beavers, 2007). The main focus of management accounting is on internal planning and control and thus this paper is extremely useful from the perspective of management accounting. This research paper has established planning and control as the more important criteria for budgeting in comparison to evaluation. The operational planning reasons like sales, resource coordination, and formulation of action plans, prices and management of production capacity are the major considerations while preparing a budget. Control reasons that are considered are monitoring by the directors and cost control. These will have an impact on management accounting which will provide business managers useful information for achieving organisational goals. The primary issue that has been raised in the research paper is that although there are strong criticisms on budgeting, companies still continue to use operational budgets. The paper tries to find out the reason behind this. This fact raises the question as to whether there are other reasons for which the budgets are used or is it just used for evaluation purpose. The paper points out the uses of the operational budget in an organisation. The article tries to explore the motive behind operational budgeting. It tries to bring out the practices in most of the organisations on whether they use the operating budget for planning and control or for evaluation reasons. It also compares the relative importance of business unit evaluation and staff evaluation. The research paper challenges the view that rolling forecasts are used as substitutes for annual budgets. It rather says that rolling forecasts can be used along with the annual budgets. This is because rolling forecasts are carried out within a shorter time span in comparison to annual budgets which are made once a year. They help in overcoming the limitation of the annual budgets. 1.3.2 Learning Outcome and Practical Usefulness of the Research Paper The survey conducted during the course of the research established the fact that planning and control are more important reasons for budgeting than evaluation. It further lays down the fact that rolling forecasts are used complementarily with annual budgets. The usefulness of the research paper lies in the fact that it negates all the criticism that has been targeted towards budgeting with the view that budgeting is done for evaluation reasons. The fact that planning and control are more important justifies the continued use of budgets by organisations. The research paper also creates the scope for further research on similar topics. The findings of the research paper will help organisations to develop their focus as to which budgeting reason they should concentrate on. It has been established that planning and control are more important than both annual budgets and rolling forecasts across organisations of all sizes. However, annual budgets are better suited for evaluation than rolling forecasts. Rolling forecasts serve as planning and control device. Rolling forecasts and annual budgets are used for the same reason but the time horizon for both is different. This finding of the research paper creates possibility of further research on this topic. The research paper will be extremely useful not only for future researchers but also for companies while formulating their budgets. 1.3.3 Future Implications for Management Accounting Management accounting mainly provides useful financial information to the business managers which help them in formulating business goals and objectives. The research paper has established the greater focus of managers on planning and control while preparing budgets. The budgets will provide useful information which will improve management accounting and will provide better financial information to the business managers. 2.0 Suggestions for Improvements There is scope for improvement in the title of the research paper. The title provides a vague picture of the topic that is being discussed in the paper. A more appropriate title would be “An Exploratory Study to Establish the Relative Importance of Budgeting Reasons”. In the survey that was carried out, only 424 out of 2400 respondents showed response. They were provided a time of four weeks to respond. It is possible that many respondents who are in senior managerial positions did not get the time to respond. The time period for responding could be increased to get a better result. The research paper had selected ten operational reasons of budgeting, but there might be certain other operational budgeting reasons that have not been explored in this paper. A detailed study should be done to see if certain crucial operational budgeting reasons have been missed out. A continuous scale can be used instead of the ordinal scale. Categorical data which have ordered scales are ordinal scale. Ordinal scale is based on categorical data. Interval or ratio scales may be used which are continuous scales (Social Research Methods, 1997). Since the findings of the research paper have established that planning and control reasons of budgeting are more important than evaluation reasons therefore, the paper could guide as to how further importance can be provided to this aspect while budgeting. 3.0 Description of the Planning of the Analysis of the Research Paper A section wise analysis was carried out to avoid the possibility of missing out on certain important aspects of the research paper. Moreover, a section wise analysis provides a clearer picture of the topic being discussed and the manner in which the author has presented the topic in his research paper. 3.1 Section Wise Analysis of the Research Paper Title The title of the research paper does not provide a clear idea about the topic of discussion in the research paper. It provides an idea that the operational reasons for which budgeting is done will be discussed in the paper. Rather the research paper does a comparative analysis between planning and control reasons for budgeting and evaluation reasons for budgeting. The paper explores the relative importance of these two factors while preparing a budget. It also discusses on rolling and annual budgets. A lot more has been discussed in the paper than mere operational budgeting. The title should have been a little more revealing and should have described the entire scope of the research paper. Abstract and the Introduction Abstract should always be concise and include complete information with the aim to attract the reader’s attention regarding what the research paper is about (Koopman, 1997). The abstract has been written lucidly. It briefly provides idea about the entire paper. It provides a clear idea about what will be discussed in the research paper. It successfully creates interest about the topic of discussion in the research paper. The introduction should always be written in an interesting style with the aim to grasp the reader’s attention. It should indicate the direction and the scope of the research paper. It should reveal the focus of the research paper and give an idea about the content of the paper (Academic Skills Center, 2008). The introduction also successfully summarises the entire research paper. Literature Review and Development of Proposition The literature review should be written like an essay and not as a summary. It elaborates on past and present research and shows how it will be useful in the research paper. It highlights certain arguments on the topic and validates the author’s research paper. It should also elaborate on the works done in the field and whether there are certain gaps in the studies that are already done (Saint Mary’s University, 2009). The literature review aptly describes the evaluation, planning and control budgeting reasons in a firm. It has also discussed relevant studies that have been conducted in the past and the findings of the research conducted on similar topic. Research Method The research methodology adopted has been described in detail. Justifications have been provided for the sample chosen and the method chosen for conducting the research. Every aspect of the research method has been properly justified. Results and Analysis This section should be written in a concise manner. It should report all the findings of the research. It should simply be an objective report for results obtained. The results should be supplemented with tables and figures. The results should be described and key findings should be highlighted (Experimental Biosciences, 2010). This research paper has dealt with results and their analysis in a single section. The analysis could have been done in the following section. This would have given a much clearer picture. The analysis should have depth. The results should be explained in details. It should set the foundation for the conclusion in the last section. The future directions can also be cited. However, the results have been represented clearly in a tabular manner and the analysis has also been done in detail. Summary and Conclusion The summary and conclusion has been written in an effective manner. The entire research paper has been discussed briefly. The findings as well as the limitations have been discussed. In the concluding part suggestions for future research have also been made. The conclusion has been written in such a way that it provided a clear understanding about the entire research paper. 3.2 Brief Description of the Sources The analysis of the research paper required referring to various sources. The comparison of the research paper with another article of the author was carried out. The title of the article was “Alternative reasons to budget, firm and budgetary characteristics, and firm performance”. This article has been written by Prabhu Sivabalan and Et. Al. This article was chosen because it involves discussion on the various reasons for budgeting and includes the planning, control and evaluation reasons. “Multiple facets of budgeting: an exploratory analysis” by Stephen C. Hansen and Wim A. Van Der Stede was referred because it explores four important reasons of budgeting and planning is one of those reasons. It also identifies the flaws of previous researches which have focused on evaluation. Most of the other research works done earlier focused on the evaluation aspect of budgeting and so this article was chosen. The books that were referred to were mostly on budgeting. “Accounting and Finance for Your Small Business” written by Steven M, Bragg and E. James Burton was chosen to get an idea about what operational budgeting exactly is and the purpose for using operating budgets. “Accounting for Management: Planning and Control” by Richard M. Lynch gave an idea about the planning and control reasons of budgeting. “CIMA Learning System 2007 Performance Evaluation” by Robert Scarlett provided an understanding of performance evaluation reason of budgeting. “Budgeting for Managers” by Sid Kemp and Eric Dunbar, “Budgeting for Managers” by Anthony Greenall, “Beyond Budgeting: How Managers Can Break Free from the Annual Performance Trap” by Jeremy Hope and Robin Fraser was referred to get a detailed understanding of budgeting concepts. “Techniques of Management Accounting” by Young, “The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting” by Theodore Grossman and John Leslie Livingstone, “The finance and accounting desktop guide: accounting literacy for the non-financial manager” by Ralph Tiffin, “Accounting and Finance for your Small Business” by Steven M. Bragg and E. James Burton were referred to understand the concepts. Various websites were referred to comprehend statistical tools. Partial Least Squares (PLS) Regression by Herve Abdi was referred because this statistical tool was used in the article that was compared. A website on survey methods and “Longitudinal vs. Cross-sectional Analysis” by Dr. D. R. Weerasekera were referred to understand the effectiveness of cross sectional surveys in comparison to longitudinal surveys. “Introduction to Categorical Data Analysis” was referred understand scales of measurement. UTS Business was referred to gather knowledge about the author’s background. Several websites were referred to understand the ideal way in which the various sections should be written. “How to Write an Abstract” by Philip koopman provides an idea about the ideal way to write the abstract. Academic Skills Centre was referred to understand how the introductory paragraph should be written in a research paper and the author’s paper was judged accordingly. Website of Experimental Biosciences provided understanding of result section and St. Mary’s University’s website was referred to comprehend the apt way of writing literature review. 3.3 Time Table of the Analysis The entire analysis of the research paper was done within a period of one week. The initial two days were spent in reading and understanding the article. It also required gathering an understating of budgeting concepts and management accounting. Two days were needed to collect information from the various sources available that is journals, books and other online sources. The remaining two days were spent on carrying out the actual section wise review of the article and in writing it. One day was spent on editing the paper. References Abdi, H., 2003. Introduction. Partial Least Squares (PLS) Regression. [Online] Available at: http://www.utdallas.edu/~herve/Abdi-PLS-pretty.pdf [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Academic Skills Center, 2008. What Should an Introduction Do? Writing an Introduction. [Online] Available at: http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/introductions [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Beavers, A. R., 2007. The Budgeting Process. Managerial Accounting. [Online] Available at: http://www.laney.peralta.edu/Projects/30604/Business%201B%20-%20Managerial%20Accounting//Chapter_20.pdf [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Experimental Biosciences, 2010. Writing a Results Section. Writing Research Papers. [Online] Available at: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Hansen, S. C. & Van Der Stede, W. A., 2004. Abstract. Multiple facets of budgeting: an exploratory analysis. [Online] Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WMY-4DN9VP9-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1591349327&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=006068bb8009b41ed369c01d0fb7c59e&searchtype=a [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, No Date. Management Accounting. Basics of Cost Accounting. [Online] Available at: http://www.cga.nic.in/pdf/management_accounting.pdf [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Ischool, No Date. Cross-Sectional Surveys. Survey Methods. [Online] Available at: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~palmquis/courses/survey.html [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Koopman, P., 1997. Abstract. How to Write an Abstract. [Online] Available at: http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Lynch, R. M., 1983. Accounting for Management: Planning and Control. Tata McGraw-Hill. Saint Mary’s University, 2009. What is a Literature Review? Writing a Literature Review. [Online] Available at: http://www.smu.ca/administration/library/litrev.html [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Scarlett, R., 2006. CIMA Learning System 2007 Performance Evaluation. Butterworth-Heinemann. Social Research Methods, 1997. Scale of Measurement. Introduction to Categorical Data Analysis. [Online] Available at: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/Cho/intro.htm [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Sivabalan, P. & Et. Al., No Date. Introduction. Alternative Reasons to Budget, Firm and Budgetary Characteristics, and Firm Performance. [Online] Available at: http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/3113/2006005470.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Tiffin, R., 2007. The Finance and Accounting Desktop Guide: Accounting Literacy for the Non-Financial Manager. Thorogood Publishing. UTS Business, No Date. Biography. Staff Directory. [Online] Available at: http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/business/staff/details.cfm?StaffId=62 [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Weerasekera, No Date. Longitudinal Vs. Cross-sectional Analysis. University of Colombo. [Online] Available at: http://www.cmb.ac.lk/academic/Science/Departments/Statistics/statcircle/Publications/Articles/Longitudinal.pdf [Accessed December 28, 2010]. Bibliography Bragg, S. M. & Burton, E. J., 2006. Accounting and Finance for Your Small Business. John Wiley and Sons. Bragg, S. M., 2010. Accounting Best Practices. John Wiley and Sons. Greenall, A., 1994. Budgeting for Managers. Spiro Press. Grossman, T. & Livingstone, J. L., 2009. The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting. John Wiley and Sons. Hope, J. & Fraser, R., 2003. Beyond Budgeting: How Managers Can Break Free from the Annual Performance Trap. Harvard Business Press. Kemp, S. & Dunbar, E., 2003. Budgeting for Managers. McGraw-Hill Professional. Sivabalan, P. & Et. Al., 2009. An Exploratory Study of Operational Reasons to Budget. AFAANZ. Young, 2004. Techniques of Management Accounting. Tata McGraw-Hill. Read More