Management Control Systems, 5th edition

Published by Pearson (July 18, 2023) © 2025
  • Kenneth Merchant
  • Wim Van der Stede

Title overview

A market-leading text offering students a thorough understanding of management control systems

Management Control Systems, 5th edition is renowned for its authorship, excellently researched material and wealth of international examples from real companies.

Includes an extensive range of 75 case studies offering insight into the actual business environment and a wealth of international examples from real companies.

Hallmark features of this title
  • Written in a clear style your students can understand, this latest edition introduces the authors' leading framework, explaining a wide variety of performance measures and controls as well as how to use them.
  • An invaluable guide to this increasingly relevant, complex and fascinating subject
  • An extensive range of 75 case studies from around the globe shows the outworking of management controls in real business and organizations
  • Coverage of performance measurement and incentive systems, processes, as well as critical trade-offs in their design and use
  • Detailed coverage of measures focused on results but also broader management controls with aims other than profit maximisation
  • Supplementary resources for lecturers now include case studies from past editions of this book that can be utilised in teaching

“The book provides a comprehensive view of management control systems and is written in a very engaging style” Paul Summers, Summit Accountancy Training/University of Liverpool

“This book brings the material alive” Tufts University, USA

“I just hope to one day see the Tenth Edition of the book” University of Liège, Belgium

New and updated features of this title

  • NEW! A brand-new chapter on environmental, social and governance issues, including corporate social responsibility, reflects new initiatives and policies and their impact on today’s organisations.
  • Updated examples and cases bring the subject to life by exploring examples of well-known businesses such as Microsoft and the implications of infamous scandals such as Carillion.
  • New! New content in this edition considers the impacts of recent global shocks and world events and their influence on companies.
  • Updated instructor resources for this edition provide you with extensive teaching notes to accompany the case studies in the book

Key features

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Table of contents

Section I: The Control Function of Management

  1. Chapter 1: Management and Control

Section II: Management Control Alternatives and Their Effects

  1. Chapter 2: Result Controls
  2. Chapter 3: Action, Personnel and Cultural Controls
  3. Chapter 4: Control System Tightness
  4. Chapter 5: Control System Costs
  5. Chapter 6: Designing and Evaluating Management Control Systems

Section III: Financial Result Control Systems

  1. Chapter 7: Financial Responsibility Centers
  2. Chapter 8: Planning and Budgeting
  3. Chapter 9: Incentive Systems

Section IV: Performance Measurement Issues and Their Effects

  1. Chapter 10: Financial Performance Measures and Their Effects
  2. Chapter 11: Remedies to the Myopia Problem
  3. Chapter 12: Using Financial Result Controls in the Presence of Uncontrollable Factors

Section V: Objectives Beyond Profit Maximization

  1. Chapter 13: Management Control Implications Stemming from the Broader Goal of Stakeholder Welfare Maximization
  2. Chapter 14: Management Control in Not-for-profit Organizations

Section VI: Corporate Governance, Important Control-Related Roles, and Ethics

  1. Chapter 15: Corporate Governance and Boards of Directors
  2. Chapter 16: Controllers and Auditors
  3. Chapter 17: Management Control-Related Ethical Issues

    Author bios

    Kenneth A. Merchant is the Deloitte & Touche LLP Chair of Accountancy, Emeritus at the University of Southern California. He is well-known internationally in the field of management accounting.

    Wim A. Van der Stede is the CIMA Professor of Accounting and Financial Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science. An author and teacher, he brings a European perspective and a wealth of experience to this book.

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