The Rise and Use of Balanced Scorecard Measures in Australian Government Departments

Abstract

This paper examines the rise and use of balanced scorecard performance measurement systems in Australian government departments. Through a survey of all Australian federal, state and territory government departments we find that Australian government departments include a broad set of financial and non‐financial measures within a balanced scorecard approach. Theoretically, our findings lend support for both economic and ‘external’ institutional rationales for the implementation and use of balanced scorecard measures. We find that those government departments reporting greater implementation of balanced scorecard performance measures also report greater benefits for organisational decisions. Our findings shed light on the use, and further potential, of BSC performance measurement systems as part of the management control system in Government departments.

What are the enablers of economic participation in remote and very remote Australia, and how can we identify them?

“…While there is some indication the current Australian Government is moving towards a more nuanced engagement with economic theory (Hoque & Adams, 2011), assumptions about the nature of a 'productive citizen' are still firmly entrenched in the non-market goals and evaluation of economic engagement and participation initiatives in remote Australia (Dockery, 2014;Haslam McKenzie, 2013). It is perhaps symptomatic of the polity governing the nonmarket approach to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander settlements that the values of, and tradeoffs made, by residents are outside the scope of most indicators measured in reports, such as Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, 2014a), or the Closing the Gap, Prime Minister's Report (Australian Government, 2015a).…”

From Rhetoric to Practice: The Case of Spanish Local Government Reforms

“…Only two entities use the Balanced Scorecard (another said that it is implementing it now), a technique used in the business sector that is now emerging in local governments as an innovative approach to performance measurement. Its philosophy and characteristics adjust to the aims of New Public Management and to a focus on management by results, so it is considered an effective management technique in local entities all over the world, especially in Anglo‐Saxon countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States (Australian National Audit Office, ; Chan, ; Farneti and Bestebreur, ; Wisniewski and Olafsson, ; Modell, ; and Hoque and Adams, ). It can provide a means of shifting the focus away from individual initiatives and programmes and onto the outcomes that such initiatives are intended to achieve (Kaplan, ).…”

Examining the process of performance measurement system design and implementation in two Italian public service organizations

“…Hoque (, p. 37) also documents the research into BSC performance management systems in the public sector. Studies across a range of countries examine implementation of the BSC in healthcare management (Grigoroudis, Orfanoudaki, & Zopounidis, ; Radnor & Lovell, ), higher education institutions (Barndt, Mcgee, & Cataldo, ; Chan, ; Wu, Lin, & Chang, ), local government (Askim, ; Kloot & Martin, ; Nilsson, ) and federal government departments (Chenhall & Euske, ; Hoque & Adams, ). In his extensive 20‐year review of the BSC research literature, Hoque () concludes that further research is needed to examine the use of the BSC in the public sector.…”