Abbington Youth Center
|
| Breakeven analysis for multiple products. A newly-minted MBA gets in trouble when he doesn't check his assumptions with key managers. A bit like the classic Bill French case. |
| |
3
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Barrington High School
|
| Introduces students to the balanced scorecard in a nonprofit organizations and illustrates some of the behavioral issues associated with its implementation. |
| |
7
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Bellington, Town of
|
| The supervisor of the snow removal department is being accused of overspending his budget, but part of the reason was more snow |
| |
2
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Boulder Public Schools
|
| Provides students with an opportunity to look at both structure and process issues in a highly bureaucratic context, and to consider the appropriate balance between centralization and decentralization in a management control system. |
| |
9
|
No
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Bureau of Child Welfare
|
| A combination of an evaluation and a capital budgeting case applied to adoptions, where the city "invests" in an adoption to save the ongoing cost of foster care. |
| |
4
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Carleton Fire Department
|
| Discusses non-financial performance measurement in a nonprofit organization -- in this case a fire department. Students must determine the measures that are valid and useful and then assess how to use them. |
| |
5
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Commonwealth Business School
|
| A proposal for a new management control system to account for faculty time is met with some resistance. Students must assess the reports. |
| |
11
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Conejo (El) Family Planning Clinic
|
| A family planning clinic has overspent its budget. A staff analyst must do a variance analysis. Among other things, students need to interpret the flexible budget that he has prepared. They then must compute variances, some of which are a little tricky. |
| |
6
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Consumers Union
|
| Looks at how the five forces affecting CU's industry have changed with the arrival of Internet competition for many of its services. Students must assess CU's strategy and how it should be changed. They also must consider how CU's activity set needs to be adjusted to fit with the new strategy. |
|
| Young, David W. |
| Noble, David |
|
19
|
Yes
| | |
ADV
|
Add
|
|
| |
5
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Financial Accounting |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Disease Control Programs
|
| A benefit-cost analysis on the question of motorcycle helmets. Asks students to think about how to value a human life, and whether a prevention program is worth the cost incurred to run it. |
| |
9
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Dovetown Parking Authority
|
| A capital budgeting case that provides students with an opportunity to use a number of analytic techniques. Among the techniques and issues that can be discussed are sensitivity analysis, opportunity cost, choice of discount rate, the use of IRR, interdependency of variables, importance of making assumptions explicit, treatment of non-quantifiable factors, and the role of price as a rationing mechanism. |
|
| Vancil, R. F. |
| Taylor, Graeme M. |
|
3
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Easter Seal Foundation of New Hampshire and Vermont
|
| The (A) case presents an organization in financial difficulties, and a new CEO has just taken over. Students must propose changes to the management control system and other organizational features. The (B) case (short enough for an in-class handout) describes what he did, and students are asked to assess his actions. |
| |
15
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Energy Devices
|
| Gives the student some basic practice in CVP analysis and differential cost analysis. It Is used as a practice case with a solution in some of the Notes. |
| |
1
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Forenna, Cittá di
|
| Two towns in Italy use quite different approaches to managing the vendors to whom they have outsourced waste collection. The manager of one town is being criticized for not using the techniques of his counterpart, and is responding that his town is different and therefore requires different techniques. Students must decide who is right and why. |
|
| Padovani, Emanuele |
| Young, David W. |
|
5
|
Yes
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Gotham Meals on Wheels
|
| Students must prepare a spreadsheet that links the balance sheet, operating statement, and statement of cash flows, and then use forecasted sales and expenses to uncover the reasons underlying an impending cash shortage. |
| |
2
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Financial Accounting |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Granville Symphony Orchestra
|
| Some unusual accounting that makes a surplus look like a deficit. Students must reconstruct an unusual operating statement to show this. In addition, they must assess the assumptions underlying an eight year set of financial forecasts. |
|
| Anthony, Robert N. |
| Young, David W. |
|
6
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Financial Accounting |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Haas School of Business
|
| An ethics case in which students must debate the wisdom of a dean’s decision to supplement university-capped faculty salaries with some executive education programs. Boils down to means versus ends. |
|
| Anthony, Robert N. |
| Young, David W. |
|
7
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Harbor City Community Center
|
| A full cost accounting case in which students must prepare a fairly complicated stepdown analysis. In the course of doing so, they gain an appreciation for many of the tricky decisions involved in such an effort. |
| |
4
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Harlan Foundation
|
| Two situations that require different approaches to pricing. Illustrates an important point about pricing and also about the measurement of costs: different purposes require different pricing principles and therefore different cost constructions. |
| |
3
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Housing Finance Agency
|
| The head of the housing agency is evaluating the program to encourage more rental construction. At issue is whether a project selection system is working appropriately. |
| |
7
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Huntington Beach
|
| A road construction project has gone over budget. Students must compute the relevant variances, some of which are a little tricky, and then decide how much more (if anything) the city should pay to the contractor. A good case for role playing. |
| |
2
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Jefferson High School
|
| A full cost accounting case in which changing cost centers changes costs. Students need to compute the different costs and then assess which system is the best. Also moves in the direction of ABC. |
| |
6
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Kyle Evans
|
| A conflict management case in which the issues are being discussed by E-mail and the matter is becoming increasingly inflamed.
|
| |
8
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Levinton, Town of
|
| A case on pricing water services where there are two prices needed: (1) to hook into the system and (2) for ongoing use. Many issues around cross-subsidization among various user groups. |
| |
5
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Merced College
|
| A debate about how to account for and spend earnings on a college’s endowment. At issue are some new accounting regulations that make the issue more complicated than it needs to be. |
| |
4
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Financial Accounting |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Meredith Center
|
| A market segmentation case in which an organization that serves the blind is attempting to position itself in such a way that it can remain financially viable while accomplishing its mission. At issue are different “segments” of the blind population, referral patterns, and the fit between programs and needs. |
| |
20
|
No
| | |
INT
|
Add
|
| Milan Sanitation Department
|
| The creation of profit centers in a municipal repair garage has changed worker incentives, and greatly improved productivity. The manager must decide what to do now that the initial luster has worn off. |
| |
3
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Moray Junior High School
|
| A junior high school principal in a school-based system is faced with some difficult budget cuts. Students can put the budget on a spreadsheet and play with the possibilities. Given the constraints the principal faces, nothing appears to work. |
| |
6
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
|
| |
2
|
No
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Neighborhood Servings
|
| A meals-on-wheels type organization has made a shift in strategy, and its cost accounting system has become outdated. Students must undertake a reasonably simple activity-based costing analysis to find out the “true cost” of each meal type. |
| |
5
|
Yes
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| New England Trust
|
| A "ratio detective" case involving 10 nonprofit organizations of varying sizes, characteristics, and means of support. |
| |
4
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Financial Accounting |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| North Lincoln
|
| A description of the building of a budget in a small state government. Illustrates various types of game playing, and machinations that people use to obtain resources. Includes a director of fiscal affairs trying unsuccessfully to introduce “rationality” into a system where stakeholders get their needs met because of the system’s irrationality. |
| |
17
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Northridge
|
| A continuing care retirement community located in a small college town is attempting to determine whether it should earn a surplus on its operations and, if so, how much. A wide variety of matters that bear on the issue are presented in the case. |
| |
7
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Financial Accounting |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Budget Formulation in Nonprofit Organizations
|
| Discusses the technical aspects of preparing a budget, and the fit of the budgetary process with a variety of other aspects of the organization. Begins by looking at the organizational and strategic context in which budgeting takes place, and distinguishes the mechanical aspects of budgeting from the behavioral ones. It then look at the mechanical aspects of building a budget, and concludes with a discussion of budgeting misfits—areas where the budgetary process does not work as well as it might because it does not fit well with other organizational systems or processes. Has a practice case with a solution at the end. |
| |
13
|
No
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
|
| Anthony, Robert N. |
| Young, David W. |
|
8
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Conflict Management
|
| Discusses the role of conflict in organizations, and the importance of managing it well if the organization is to learn as much about its environment as possible. |
| |
10
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Cultural Maintenance
|
| Defines and discusses the importance of organizational culture. Addresses how leaders can manage culture using a variety of levers available to them. |
| |
12
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
| |
7
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Financial Accounting in Nonprofit Organizations
|
| Discusses the basics of financial accounting, using examples of nonprofit organizations. Takes students through a simple example of building a small day care center from inception. Contains three practice cases of increasing levels of difficulty. Does not discuss fund accounting, which is contained in a different note. |
| |
37
|
No
| | |
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Financial Surpluses in Nonprofit Organizations
|
| Discusses the four reasons why a nonprofit organization needs to earn a surplus: (1) to assist it to obtain the funds necessary to replace assets that wear out or become obsolete; (2) to finance the cash needs associated with a growth in revenues in conjunction with its charitable or nonprofit purposes; (3) to provide the funds necessary to expand and diversify its fixed assets as it expands its charitable activities; and (4) to protect it from fluctuations in revenues from year to year, and from general economic and other uncertainties surrounding its ongoing operations. |
| |
7
|
No
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
| |
8
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
| |
13
|
No
|
| Nonprofit |
| Public Sector Management |
|
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Leadership
|
| Discusses the 7 levers that leaders can use to guide their organizations toward high performance. Links leadership to Chester Barnard’s Functions of the Executive, and contrasts the 7 levers with the McKenzie Ss in the 7S-model.
|
| |
11
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Lean Operations
|
| Discusses the evolution of production systems, from Frederick Taylor to the present. Includes a discussion of the fundamentals of “lean production,” just-in-time production, Kanban production control systems, involvement of the workforce in improving operations, performance measurement, the Shingo Prize, and how the concepts can be applied to service organizations.
|
| |
12
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Management Accounting in Context
|
| Discusses management control system design, and its link to activities such as strategy formulation, culture, customer management, conflict management, and motivation. Contains a managerial checklist and a practice case study. |
| |
15
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Management Control Systems in the Public Sector
|
| Contrasts “bureaucratic” control with “management control” and discusses ways that public sector organizations could achieve greater management control. Concludes that, although there are several barriers that inhibit a public sector organization from developing improved managerial control, there also are ways to overcome the barriers.
|
| |
11
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
|
| Padovani, Emanuele |
| Young, David W. |
|
5
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Motivation
|
| Discusses the many issues involved in motivating employees, including the role of contingent compensation. Links the motivation process to several other organizational processes, such as culture and management control. |
| |
10
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Operations Strategy
|
| The “classic” competitive dimensions are cost (low price), quality (high quality), flexibility (ability to respond to changes in demand volume and product mix) and delivery (speed of service). During the last decade or so, service has been added to these competitive priorities. This note discusses why and how. |
| |
3
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Operations Management |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Performance Measurement in Nonprofit Organizations
|
| Discusses the need for output measurement in nonprofit organization to (1) measure efficiency, which is the ratio of outputs to inputs (i.e., expenses) and (2) measure effectiveness, which is the extent to which actual output corresponds to the organization's goals and objectives. Looks at alternative ways of measuring output in nonprofit organizations. Discusses why, despite the importance of devising such alternatives, current nonprofit management control systems tend to be deficient in measuring their effectiveness, and suggests some remedies. |
| |
16
|
No
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on Pricing in Nonprofit Organizations
|
| Discusses the tricky proposition of setting prices in many nonprofit organizations. Full costs, differential costs, or a variety of other configurations can be used to determine prices. The choice depends in large measure on the scenario under consideration. Unfortunately, many nonprofit managers give little thought to pricing policies. The note discusses why this is a mistake, and includes several matters that affect pricing decisions in nonprofit organizations, including prices for subsidized services and services that are provided free of charge. |
| |
9
|
No
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
ADV
|
Add
|
|
| |
17
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Operations Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Ratio Analysis
|
| Similar to the Note on Financial Statement Analysis, but shorter. Excludes the material on assessing the accounting-related issues. |
| |
20
|
No
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Financial Accounting |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Services and Service Quality
|
| Discusses the unique challenges associated with managing service operations and with delivering service quality, and introduces several models and tools for service operations managers. |
| |
9
|
No
| | |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Six Sigma
|
| Explains what Six Sigma is and how to undertake a quality improvement effort using its concepts.
|
| |
4
|
No
| |
| Operations Management |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on the Financial Control Structure in Nonprofit Organizations
|
| Discusses the design of responsibility centers. Expands the discussion to include criteria for profit centers, the program structure, matrix organizations, the information structure, the account structure, and behavioral factors (including motivation systems, goal congruence, cooperation and conflict, and culture). |
| |
16
|
No
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on The Seven Leadership Levers Used by Successful Managers
|
| Discusses the role of severn "leadership levers" that a manager can use to lead help his/her organization achieve success. The levers comprise (1) strategy formulation, (20 authority and influence, (3) management control, (4) motivation, (5) conflict management, (6) culture management, and (7) customer management. |
| |
21
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Marketing |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Note on the Technical Aspects of Programming in Nonprofit Organizations
|
| Discusses the technical issues inherent in the programming phase of the management control process. Includes the importance of undertaking a benefit-cost analysis when some of the benefits may not be easily quantified. Also discusses techniques for "quantifying the value of a human being." |
| |
17
|
No
|
| Nonprofit |
| Nonprofit Organization Management |
| Public Sector Management |
|
| Finance/Financial Management |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
|
| |
6
|
No
|
| For Profit |
| Nonprofit |
| Nonprofit Organization Management |
| |
BEG
|
Add
|
| Note on Transfer Pricing
|
| Discusses the various issues that must be considered in setting transfer pricing, and how they can be resolved. |
| |
9
|
No
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Omega Research Institute
|
| A research institute has changed its strategy but has not changed a variety of internal activities and processes to make them consistent with the new strategy. Students need to identify those processes that need redesign. They include authority and influence, conflict management, customer management, management control, motivation, and a few others. |
| |
11
|
Yes
| | |
INT
|
Add
|
| Pacific Park School (A)
|
| A relatively simple case in preparing a budget for a school's summer camp program. Requires students to think about how to deal with capital improvements and whether a financial surplus is appropriate. |
| |
2
|
Yes
|
| Nonprofit |
| Nonprofit Organization Management |
|
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Pacific Park School (B)
|
| A follow on to the (A) case. Requires students to prepare a variance analysis to explain why the budgeted surplus was not attained. |
| |
2
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Pi Kappa Phi, Inc.
|
| Lets students be forensic accountants. A fraternity house was damaged by fire, and alumni are being asked to donate funds for reconstruction. There also has been a large insurance settlement. Some digging in the financials suggests that perhaps the fire (that took place in June, just after graduation) was not as devastating as might first be imagined. |
| |
7
|
Yes
| | |
INT
|
Add
|
| Piedmont University
|
| A college is considering the designation of each of its schools as a profit center. Several issues must be resolved before a decision can be made, including, among others, how to deal with central administrative costs, libraries, computer support, and cross registration. |
| |
3
|
Yes
| |
| Management Accounting |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Rovereto, Town of
|
| A question of whether to purchase new snow plows for a city or to let the existing ones go and use private contractors for the snowplowing service |
| |
4
|
Yes
| |
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Southern Seattle University Health System (B)
|
| Similar to Southern State UHS, but in two parts. In the A case, students must consider the responsibility center structure in the department of medicine, and assess how the budget has been constructed. In the B case, they are given enough data to build a budget themselves on a spreadsheet, using cost drivers. |
| |
4
|
Yes
|
| Healthcare Management |
| Nonprofit |
|
| General Management |
| Management Control Systems |
| Organizational Behavior |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Spruce Street Shelter
|
| A relatively simple case on the subject of flexible budgeting, but it raises enough issues concerning the use of the reports that it can easily be used for an entire class session. It provides a nice lead-in to somewhat more complex variance analysis cases. |
| |
3
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| Timilty Middle School
|
| A new program called Project Promise has been introduced to an inner-city middle school. From all indications it is a great success. Then, the school system’s budget director raises some complicating issues. Students must decide how successful the program has been, and whether it is worth its cost. |
| |
13
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| University Day Care Center
|
| Requires students to identify several reasons for a variance between budget and actual, and to make the appropriate calculations. There are several related issues that they also must deal with, such as pricing, staffing, and supply costs, all of which serve to complicate the analysis. |
| |
7
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Urban Arts Institute
|
| This case concerns a budgeting system that is unresponsive to senior management's needs. Several changes are needed to align the system with the organization's new strategy. The case can be taught on either a technical or a conceptual level (or both), depending on the instructor's interests and his or her goals for the course. |
| |
15
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| White Hills Children's Museum
|
| Introduces some real-world complexities into a transfer pricing decision. Market price works when there is an unambiguous market price, but in this instance, it is not clear that the two jobs are the same, which means that the prices might legitimately differ. The case also includes some important behavioral issues. It is a bit like the classic Birch Paper. |
| |
3
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
BEG
|
Add
|
| WIC Program
|
| A quite complex case with many issues. To analyze it, students must prepare a managerially-oriented flow chart, which presumably will be more useful than the flowchart contained in the body of the case. The important distinction is that the managerially-oriented flowchart will show key decision points, which the students can then analyze, using data in the case, in order to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the voucher processing activities of the WIC Program. However, further analysis will show that voucher processing is a red herring; there is much more going on. |
| |
9
|
Yes
| |
| Management Control Systems |
|
INT
|
Add
|
| Yoland Research Institute
|
| A relatively simple case, in which several present value calculations are required to give students some practice in the technique. The case also deals with the questions of sunk costs, the weighted cost of capital, and the appropriate interest rate to use for donated funds. |
| |
2
|
Yes
| |
| Finance/Financial Management |
|
BEG
|
Add
|