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Model Syllabus 3
Accounting 537Management Control Systems
Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
Professor Kenneth A. Merchant
Office HOH 606
Telephone (213) 821-5920
E-mail kmerchant@marshall.usc.edu
Class Hours T/Th 12:301:50 p.m.
Classroom JKP 202
Office Hours By appointment. Arrange by e-mail. I will do my best to accommodate your
schedule.
Honor Code Students are expected to adhere to, and will be bound by, the University and
School policies governing academic integrity.
Text K. A. Merchant & W. A. Van der Stede (2012), Management Control Systems:
Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives. London: Financial
Times/Prentice-Hall, 3rd edition.
Course Objectives
This graduate course is designed to broaden and deepen your conceptual and technical
understanding of management control systems (MCS). MCS are considered broadly to include
everything that managers do to ensure good performance or, more specifically, to ensure that the
companys strategies get implemented effectively. But the emphasis in the course is on financial
controls, which dominate in importance at managerial levels in all but the smallest
organizations. Using financial controls requires managers to make decisions about: (1)
responsibility structures (e.g., cost centers, profit centers), (2) performance measures (e.g.,
The course is issue-oriented, with current and emerging issues as a major focus. Among the
issues we will discuss are control uses of measures such as EVA, EBITDA, and customer
satisfaction, dashboards and Balanced Scorecards, the stress-testing use of financial plans, the
Merchant & Van der Stede, Management Control Systems, 3rd edition, Instructors Manual
The course is built around a textbookMerchant and Van der Stedes Management Control
Systems. The text is supplemented with a short monograph (de Kluyvers A Primer on
Corporate Governance):
(MV) K. A. Merchant & W. A. Van der Stede (2012), Management Control Systems (London:
Financial Times/Prentice-Hall), 3rd edition.
Grading
Quizzes 50 points
Project 1 50 points
Quizzes and Exams
The quizzes and the final exam will test individual (not group) work. The quizzes will focus on
specific issues in the case being discussed that day in class. The final exam, will be a take-home
exam in lieu of an exam during the final exam period. It will involve a case analysis. No make-
up exams will be given (see LSOA policy on incompletes).
Projects
The projects will involve group analyses of cases that are supported by data provided on Excel
spreadsheets. The first project is a budget stress-testing exercise. The second involves
comparative performance evaluations of a large number of bank branches. Some groups will be
asked to present their analyses and conclusions in class.
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Class Participation
I assign a material proportion of the grade based on class participation for several reasons.
First, it improves my grading accuracy. I think I can learn more from hearing you share your
ideas in a long series of classes than I can from reading what you write in a few short exam
sessions.
But perhaps more important than that, grading class participation motivates class participation,
and having highly interactive class sessions helps the learning process. Active class
participation encourages students to be well prepared and thus to become active, rather than
passive, learners. Participation provides students with the opportunity to gain from the
1. Does the class member make points that are especially pertinent to the discussion? Do they
2. Is there continuity in ones contribution from what has been said previously during class, or
are the comments disjointed, isolated, or tangential? The best class contributions are those
3. Do the comments reflect a willingness to put forth new, challenging ideas or are they
always agreeable and safe?
4. Is the participant able and willing to interact with others by asking questions, providing
supportive comments or challenging constructively what has been said?
Participation will be evaluated on the basis of a near-continuous scale, the end points of which
can be described as follows:
Outstanding Contributor: This persons contributions reflect exceptional preparation, and the
Unsatisfactory Contributor: This person may be absent from class or someone who rarely
Merchant & Van der Stede, Management Control Systems, 3rd edition, Instructors Manual
E-Mail Questions
On the bottom of many of the class assignments, you will see that I have included an e-mail
question. Prior to noon before each of our classes, please send me an e-mail message or private
Blackboard posting answering the question(s) for that days class. This is not intended to be a
time-consuming obligation. Your answers should be briefthree sentences or less for each
question.
Your answers to the e-mail questions serve multiple purposes. First, they help me to get to know
you and how you think. Second, these messages open the communication channels between us.
Since you have to send me a message, it is easy to append another thought. In the past, some
Schedule of Classes
Session 1
Topic: The Control Function of Management
In this first session, we will go over the syllabus and get to know each othe.r. Then I will
provide a general lecture on managers control options. Finally, we will discuss a control
vignette.
Reading: MV, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4
Session 2
Topic: Control System Alternatives and What Can Go Wrong
No MCS is perfect. Some controls fail, and others cost more than the benefits they provide.
Today we will examine a company that suffered significant problems. Could they have been
prevented? If so, how?
Reading: MV, Chapter 1
Prepare for Class: Case: Atlanta Home Loan
Assignment Questions:
1. Identify the devices (controls) that Al Fiorini used to control his business both before and
after he went back to school. Classify each control as a result, action, or personnel or
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2. What went wrong? Did Al use the wrong types of controls? Did he use the right types of
controls but fail to design or implement them properly? Or was he just unlucky?
E-mail Question: What should Al Fiorini do now? Why?
Session 3
Topic: Evaluating Control System Alternatives
Two young and inexperienced MBA graduates purchase a small aviation company that is in
financial trouble. They have to make a number of control-related judgments and possibly
implement a new control system quickly.
Reading: MV, Chapter 6
Prepare for Class: Case: AirTex Aviation
Assignment Questions:
1. Did AirTex need a new control system at the time of the takeover?
2. Evaluate the control system that Frank and Ted implemented. Should anything have been
done differently?
E-mail Question:
A short time after Ted and Frank took over AirTex, one of the employees on the fuel line went
to Ted and asked if he could grow a beard. Under the former administration, they had been
prohibited. Ted said, Yes, as long as you keep it neat. Was that a good answer to this
question? Is this question relevant to a class focused on control systems?
Session 4
Topic: Financial Responsibility Structures
The focus of this session is on one of the main management control system choicesdesign of
Reading: MV, Chapter 7
Prepare for Class: Case: Kranworth Chair Corporation
Assignment Questions:
1. Identify the most important key recurring decisions that must be made effectively for KCC
to be successful. In KCCs functional organization, who had the authority to make these
decisions? Who has the authority to make these decisions in KCCs new divisionalized
organization?
2. Did KCCs top management go too far in decentralizing the corporation? Did they not go
far enough? Or did they get it just right? Why?
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3. Evaluate KCCs new performance measurement and incentive system. Assuming that KCC
will retain its new divisionalized organization structure, what changes would you
recommend, if any? Why?
4. Assume that the R&D function is to be decentralized (given to the divisions). Would this
E-mail Question:
The vast majority of corporations are decentralized to a considerable degree. What kinds of
organizations are best run in a largely centralized manner, and why?
Session 5
Topic: Interdependence and the Transfer Pricing Problem
Where products or services are provided by one organizational entity to another, difficult cost
allocation or transfer pricing problems often follow. In this session, we will discuss a
representative example.
Prepare for Class: Case: Zumwald AG
Assignment Questions:
1. What sourcing decision for the X73 materials is in the best interest of:
a. The Imaging Systems Division?
b. The Heidelberg Division?
c. The Electronic Components Division?
d. Zumwald AG?
2. What should Mr. Fettinger do?
E-mail Question: Is a transfer price just a cost allocation with a profit margin tacked onto it?
Explain.
Session 6
Topic: Budgeting and the Setting of Financial Performance Targets
Planning and budgeting processes are important, and often complex, elements of companies
management control systems. Here we will examine a somewhat typical company process and
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Assignment Questions:
1. Draw a diagram of HCCs budget process. Make the x-axis the months of the year. Make
the y-axis the levels in the HCC organization. Who does what when?
3. Should HCC managers have expected that the MPS target-setting philosophy would be
equally effective in all four operating divisions described? If not, what explains the
differences?
E-mail Question:
Mike Pelta, general manager of Hermetic Seal, is quoted in the case as saying he has not missed
a budget in his 33 years as a manager. How do you think he did that? Does this record suggest
that Mike is an extremely effective manager, a very lucky manager, or a devious, manipulative
manager? Is he to be congratulated for his budget-achievement record?
Note: The names of the individuals working on the two group projects are due to me by the
Session 7
Topic: The Planning Role of Budgets: Business Stress Testing
As you should know by now, planning is decision making in advance. Using the financial
statement format in a future-looking sense (i.e., budgeting) allows managers to anticipate what
might be coming their way in various plausible scenarios.
Case: VisuSon, Inc.
Session 8
Topic: The Planning Role of Budgets: Business Stress Testing (cont.)
In this class session, we will consider the work you have done for your first group project. Some
of the groups will present their findings. The group presentations will either reinforce each other
or, if they are different, we will compare and contrast them.
Case: VisuSon, Inc.
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Session 9
Topic: Results Controls (or Not)
In this session, we will examine and critique the performance measurement and incentive
systems in two companies in an industry with which all of you have some familiarity
automobile retailing. The two companies systems are quite different. Can we say which one is
the better design?
Reading: MV, Chapters 2 and 16
Assignment Questions:
1. Compare and contrast the performance measurement and incentive systems used at Puente
Hills Toyota and Kooistra Autogroep.
2. When comparing the use of incentives in the two companies, do you believe that incentive
pay is truly effort-inducing; that is, does it drive employees to perform at their best? If you
3. What advice would you provide to the managers of these companies?
E-mail Question: As a first approximation, which of the following statements do you believe is
most correct, and why:
I. People are people. They respond approximately equally to many things, including incentive
systems.
Session 10
Topic: Summary Financial Performance Measures: Advantages and Limitations
There are many forms of summary financial performance measures. Are some better than
others?
Reading: MV, Chapter 10
Prepare for Class: Case: Behavioral Implications of Airline Depreciation Accounting Policy
Choices
Assignment Questions: Assume that at least some rewards for the management team (and,
hence, also other employees) are based on performance measured in terms of accounting income
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1. What are the behavioral implications of each of the three depreciation-related accounting
policy choices:
a. Depreciation patterns (i.e., straight-line vs. accelerated);
b. estimated useful lives; and
c. residual values?
Consider, at a minimum, the effects of each of these choices on decisions regarding:
a. replacements of aircraft in service;
2. Assume that in a particular US airline company there is a conflict between the benefits of
conservatism vs. liberalism in depreciation accounting. That is, for this company
conservatism in depreciation accounting is greatly preferred for financial reporting purposes
(for whatever reason), but for internal purposes the company would be better-off if the
policies were more liberal, or vice versa. Would you recommend to the managers of this
company that they adopt a third set of books? That is, should they maintain one set of books
3. If the managers of a particular airline do not want to maintain a third set of books, should
they tend to be conservative or liberal in their aircraft depreciation accounting?
E-mail Question: International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are less prescriptive than
current US GAAP, and the interpretive guidance that is provided is more limited. More
Session 11
Topic: New Improved Summary Financial Measures of Performance
We will start discussing the performance measurement element of financial control systems. In
this session, we will discuss some relatively new financial performance measures that are said to
Reading: MV, Chapter 10
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Prepare for Class: Case: Berkshire Industries, Inc.
Assignment Questions:
1. Were Berkshires motivations for a new incentive system reasonable? If so, what were their
main options for a new system? Was an economic profit-focused system a reasonable
choice?
2. Evaluate the Berkshire Industries new incentive plan. What changes would you
recommend, if any?
Session 12
Topic: Combinations of Measures: KPIs, Dashboards, and Balanced Scorecards
Todays discussion focuses on a company that places primary control emphasis on nonfinancial
measures of performance. Why do they do that?
Reading: MV, Chapter 11
Prepare for Class: Case: Catalytic Solutions, Inc.
Assignment Questions: Evaluate the CSI performance measurement and compensation
systems. What changes would you suggest be made, if any? Explain.
Session 13
Topic: Combinations of Measures: KPIs, Dashboards, and Balanced Scorecards
(cont.)
The focus of this session is on the concurrent use of multiple performance measures. The most
popular combination-of-measures system is marketed under the rubric Balanced Scorecard.
But some variations are given alternative names, such as dashboards, KPIs, and performance
prisms.
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Assignment Questions:
1. The Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) working group selected eight customer objectives for its
three strategic themes (described in the case and summarized in the Customer row of
Exhibit 5 of the case):
a. Develop loyal and generous supporters
b. Build reputation on the national and international opera scene
3. What are the benefits from developing the Balanced Scorecard at BLO? What challenges
and barriers must Del Sesto and Dahling Sullivan overcome to capture these benefits?
4. Are the departmental managers, artistic leaders, and employees at the BLO more
empowered or less empowered after the Balanced Scorecard has been created?
Session 14
Topic: Performance Evaluations: Adjusting for the Effects of Uncontrollables
In this class, we will continue our discussion of performance evaluations. How can/should firms
deal with the effects of uncontrollable events that often obscure managers impacts on
performance measures?
Reading: MV, Chapter 12
Prepare for Class: Cases: Olympic Car Wash
Beifang Chuang Ye Vehicle Group
Assignment Questions: For Olympic Car Wash: How large should the bonus pool be for the
Aalst location?
For Beifang Chuang Ye Vehicle Group: To what extent, if at all, should Mr. Zhou provide
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Session 15
Class cancelled to allow time to work on group project #2 on performance evaluations.
Session 16
Topic: Performance Evaluations: Group Project #2
In the first part of this session a few randomly selected groups will present the findings of the
performance evaluation group project exercise. The assignment and the Bank of the Desert
Session 17
Topic: Ethical Issues and Analyses and an Industry Application: Retail Brokerage
In this session, we will focus on the management control challenges in the retail brokerage
industry. I hope to have an expert guest with us for the class. I have assigned the ethics chapter
Reading: MV, Chapter 15
Prepare for Class: Case: Philip Anderson
Assignment Questions:
1. What are the proper roles of (a) stock broker and (2) branch manager? That is, what does the
company want them to do? What distinguishes someone who is performing well in each of
these roles from someone who is not?
2. What control system does Stuart & Co. use to ensure that the brokers and managers perform
their roles well? Is it likely to be effective?
E-mail Question: Do you see any potential ethical issues in this case? If so, what, and how did
you identify it as an ethical issue?
Session 18
Topic: The Role of Controller: Issues and Dilemmas
In this session, we will discuss a case that allows us to consider the role of controller/CFO in a
more stressful time.
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Reading: MV, Chapter 14
Prepare for Class: Case: Don Russell: Experiences of a Controller/CFO
Assignment Questions:
1. Does Don have the power to force ETI top management to make a correcting accounting
entry? If not, what should he do? If so, should he force the entry to be made, and how large
should it be?
2. Are earnings management practices as took place at C&S and ETI smart? Are they ethical?
E-mail Question: Was Don Russell a good controller for Cook and Spector, Inc.? Why or why
not?
Session 19
Topic: Control Impacts of the SarbanesOxley Act of 2002
In this session, we will focus on the benefits and costs to corporations of the SarbanesOxley
Act of 2002 (SOX).
Reading: MV, Chapter 13
Prepare for Class: Case: Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc.
Assignment Questions:
1. Evaluate the process that PacSun went through to comply with SOX, and particularly SOX
Section 404. Was that process as effective and efficient as it could have been?
2. Are the significant deficiencies that were identified in each of the two years of the audit
evidence of control system flaws or largely irrelevant technical violations? Another way to
3. PacSun executives seem convinced that the costs of complying with SOX were greater than
the benefits to the company. Why did PacSun not benefit from the compliance process to
the same extent as some other companies? Or were their compliance costs too high?
E-mail Question: Judging now with some benefits of hindsight, was SOX a good law?
Session 20
Topic: Corporate Governance and the Roles of Boards of Directors
In this class, we will focus broadly on systems of corporate governance and the roles and
obligations of boards of directors.
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Reading: deK, Chapters 1, 2, 3
Prepare for Class: Case: Vector Aeromotive Corporation
Assignment Questions:
1. Why did Vector Aeromotive have a board of directors before it went public? How (if at all)
2. Evaluate the board composition and actions. All things considered, did the board act
properly? Did the board members choose the optimal time to terminate Gerry Wiegert?
3. What should the board members do now (March 22, 1993)?
4. What could have prevented or minimized the problems that Vector faced?
E-mail Question: If the SarbanesOxley law had been passed before the time of this case, do
you think the problems faced by the board of Vector Aeromotive would have occurred?
Explain.
Session 21
Topic: Fiduciary Obligations Surrounding Financial Reporting
In this class, we will focus on the roles of various parties when financial reporting problems are
discovered.
Prepare for Class: Case: Financial Reporting Problems at Molex, Inc.
Assignment Questions:
1. What was the financial reporting problem at Molex? How would the correction of the
problem be recorded in Molexs financial statements?
2. What factors do you think influenced managements decision not to raise the issue with the
auditors?
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Session 22
Topic: Fiduciary Obligations Related to Executive Compensation and Other
Governance Issues
In this class, we will discuss the fiduciary obligations related to executive compensation. Our
guest for the day (I hope) will be Michael Ziering, the recently retired Chairman/CEO of
Diagnostic Products Corporation (DPC). Michael has both a legal background and experience
Reading: deK, Chapters 8 and 9
Prepare for Class: Case: Golden Parachutes?
Assignment Questions:
1. If the proposed severance agreement is implemented, who benefits and who loses?
2. Should the compensation committee approve the severance agreement as is? Should some
of the elements of the agreement be modified? Or should DTI not have a severance
agreement?
3. Suppose that you, as Dennis Feingold, object strongly to at least some of the elements of the
E-mail Question: Are there any ethical issues in this case? If so, what? What makes them
ethical issues?
Session 23
Topic: New Practices: Enterprise Risk Management
Our focus in this session is on enterprise risk management, a newly developing tool aimed at
helping companies address all the various kinds of risks they might face.
Reading: deK, Chapter 6, particularly pp. 107108, and Appendix C.
Prepare for Class: Case: Entropic Communications, Inc.
Assignment Questions:
1. Why did Entropic implement a formal enterprise risk management (ERM) process?
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2. Do you think the company realized the benefits of ERM as envisioned by COSO? Why or
why not?
3. What changes would you suggest for making the ERM process at Entropic more effective?
Session 24
Topic: New Practices: Going Beyond Budgeting?
In this session, we will examine the planning and budgeting system of a company that has
gone Beyond Budgeting. This approach is still relatively rare. Is it superior to what most
companies do and, hence, an innovation that will spread? Or is it a fad that will soon die out?
Reading: Go to the Beyond Budgeting Roundtable website (www.bbrt.org). Click on the
Beyond Budgeting tab on the left panel. Read the material in that section, titled About
Beyond Budgeting.
Prepare for Class: Case: Statoil
Assignment Questions:
1. Statoil managers claim that their company no longer prepares a budget. What do they mean
by that claim?
2. Why did Statoil decide to abandon budgeting?
3. Describe the new processes that Statoil implemented to replace the budget. What are its
strengths and weaknesses?
E-mail Question: Instead of placing increasing high emphasis on achievement of budget goals,
as they did, should HCC managers (remember our earlier class?) have gone beyond
budgeting?
Note: I expect Bjarte Bogsnes, a key character in the Statoil case, to join us in class today.
You can see Bjartes new book called Implementing Beyond Budgeting promoted on the
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Session 25
Topic: Industry Application: A Sales Incentive System
In this class, we will discuss the merits and demerits of a proposed new sales incentive system
that includes an interesting truth-inducing feature.
Prepare for Class: Case: Houston Fearless 76, Inc.
Assignment Questions:
1. Why are Houston Fearless 76, Inc. (HF76) managers unhappy with the companys existing
sales incentive plan? Are weaknesses in this plan a major cause of the companys
performance problems?
2. Evaluate the new incentive plan being contemplated. What modifications would you make
to the proposed new plan, if any? How would you address the unresolved issues?
E-mail Question: Is extra 5% bonus attached to the truth-inducing feature of the proposed
new incentive plan large enough to motivate the salespeople to improve the accuracy of their
sales forecasts? If not, is this element of performance worth paying out more money?
Session 26
Topic: Industry Application: A Billing Scorecard
In this class, we will discuss an innovative results-control approach to solution of a problem that
is usually addressed with development and enforcement of sets of policies and procedures.
Prepare for Class: Case: Game Shop, Inc.
Assignment Questions:
1. Why was GSIs production quality control performance so much better than its billing
performance?
2. Evaluate the billing improvement effort and each of the elements of the system that
emerged. Comment specifically on the billing scorecard, detention meetings, P-CARs, and
any other system elements that you believe are relevant.
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3. GSIs ultimate goal is perfection. Can this system be used to achieve billing perfection as
it is designed, or will changes have to be made, or might even a totally different approach be
necessary? Explain.
4. The Billing Scorecard is a results-accountability approach to address the problem, chosen
E-mail Question: Would you include billing performance among a short list of critical success
factors for GSI? If so, why has it apparently not received much attention from management up
until now? If not, why all the concern now?
Session 27
Topic: Industry Application: A Hedge Fund
In this class, we will discuss issues related to performance evaluation and incentive
compensation in a hedge fund. Our primary focus will be on the role of the hedge fund analysts.
Prepare for Class: Case: Raven Capital, LLC
Assignment Questions:
1. Assume the role of a Raven portfolio manager who has to allocate a bonus pool to the four
analysts working primarily for him. Assume a 20% incentive fee for Raven. Use 30% of the
incentive fee as the bonus pool to be allocated to the four analysts whose backgrounds and
2009 portfolio performances are described in Assignment Figures A and B (posted
separately on Blackboard).
a. How would you allocate bonuses to these four analysts? What alternatives did you
consider? Why did you make the choices you did?
c. Do you think you should pay out the entire bonus pool this year, or hold some money in
a bonus bank reserve? Why or why not?
d. Should the proportions of the bonuses allocated vary depending on the size of the bonus
pool available? Redo the allocations of the bonus pool to these four analysts assuming
2. Evaluate the Raven performance evaluation and incentive compensation system. What
changes would you recommend, if any?
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E-mail Question: Employee compensation levels in this industry are higher than in most other
industries. Is this high compensation justified, or is it evidence of one or more flaws in the
corporate governance system? Explain.
Session 28
Topic: Industry Focus: Health Care
In this class, we will try to apply the knowledge we have gained in the earlier sessions to a
challenging settingcontrol of doctors in a family medical practice.
Prepare for Class: Case: Family Care Specialists Medical Group, Inc.
Assignment Questions:
1. What purposes are served by the FCS physician compensation system? Must some of the
compensation be made performance dependent?
2. Is the current system an improvement over the QIIP that it replaced? Explain why, listing
3. Are the incentives provided by the existing system balanced or are some forms of
initiative rewarded more generously than others? In particular, compare the average reward
4. What are the major constraints on the design of any physician’s compensation system for
FCS? In particular, how should FCS decide the appropriate reward, if any, for higher
performance?
5. What changes to the FCS physician compensation system, if any, would you recommend to
Dr. Samaniego?
Session 29
Topic: Management Control in Not-for-Profit Organizations
In this session, we will discuss some control issues in a setting with which you all have some
familiarityUSC.
Reading: MV, Chapter 17
Prepare for Class: Case: University of Southern California: Responsibility Center
Management System
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Assignment Questions:
1. Using the terminology that we used in this course, what would you call USCs
responsibility centers? Are they revenue centers? Profit centers? Something else?
2. The RCMS seems to be working reasonably well. USC has used it for over 25 years, and
seemingly nobody wants to abandon it. What makes it effective?
3. Consider each of the criticisms of RCMS:
a. Does it sound plausible that the RCMS could have been causing, or at least contributing
to, the problems if, indeed, there were problems?
4. What should be done now? Does the RCMS create perverse incentives? If so, how? If not,
why not?
E-mail Question: Very few colleges and universities use a decentralized responsibility center
system like the RCMS. If RCMS provides USC with a comparative advantage, why havent
more universities implemented something like it? Conversely, if RCMS is an inferior system,
why has USC used it for so long?
Session 30
Topic: Review
In this session, we will review the major themes of the course.