ABSTRACT Objective: the accuracy of planning and control artifacts is fundamental for bringing assertiveness to the organizational management process. The utility of the artifacts is questioned when the desired accuracy is missing. This research aims to identify the relationship between the artifact structure, the market assumptions, and the accuracy of the performance variables with a view to adapting the artifact profile to the desired impact over performance accuracy. Methods: this is a quantitative study based on convenience sampling and the data analysis methods used were structural equation modeling and necessary condition analysis. Results: within a sufficiency logic, the results support adherence between the planning and control artifacts, but not their relationship with performance accuracy. However, when analyzing the necessity logic, the artifacts become a necessary condition for a high level of performance accuracy. Conclusions: we show that the planning and control structure is consistent for achieving accuracy, but defining the desired level of deviation tolerance is a fundamental condition for the efficiency level of the management process. The more demanding the organization is in terms of deviation tolerance, the greater the need for artifacts.

Abstract Purpose This study aims to investigate the influence of budgeting design characteristics on perceived budgeting usefulness, based on the enabling-coercive framework. Design/methodology/approach This paper develops a survey in one large publicly-listed Brazilian company that operates in the electric utility industry. The sample comprises 75 middle managers from different areas of this organization. This study uses structural equation modeling as the data analysis method. Findings The results indicate that internal and global transparencies determine middle managers’ perceptions of budgeting usefulness, while no relationship was found for repair capacity and flexibility characteristics. This paper shows that managers, when provided with global and internal transparencies and independently of their level discretion regarding target revisions or the reallocation of resources, perceive budgeting systems as being useful for decision-facilitating and decision-influencing roles. Practical implications The findings might be relevant for budgeting professionals to review or design the budgeting system in terms of dribbling potential flaws and increasing its use in the organization. Originality/value The study explores the multidimensionality of the enabling-coercive budgeting design construct. This study provides a theoretical contribution to the literature by showing that budget alignment, integration, learning and information sharing are relevant such that an organization could improve the assertiveness using budgeting systems. Besides, this paper provides an opposing view about the supposed relation between flexible budgeting design and budgeting usefulness. Frequently, some management directions are offered by the literature and no guarantee is provided in terms of the connection between the adoption and the usefulness of those mechanisms. Therefore, the findings shed more light on the practical developments in budgeting.

Abstract Prior literature has provided inconclusive evidence on the effects of family involvement in management (FIM) on family business (FB) performance. However, so far in the literature, there have been very few attempts to investigate FIM and family essence simultaneously as antecedents of FB performance. Therefore, we address this gap by studying how a stewardship-oriented culture (being a feature of FB essence) moderates the relationship between FIM and FB performance. We test our hypotheses with the Structural Equation Modeling technique using survey data in combination with archival data on a sample of 69 medium and large private Brazilian FBs. We find that a stewardship-oriented culture makes the relationship between a family CEO and FB performance weaker and observe that a stewardship has no moderating effect on the relationship between FIM and FB performance. These findings contradict prior literature on the beneficial role of stewardship in family-managed FB. Only in case of a nonfamily CEO, a stewardship-oriented culture positively moderates the relationship with FB performance. In addition, our study reveals a U-shaped nonlinear relationship between the level of FIM and FB performance, which is consistent with recent literature on the existence of faultlines derived from heterogeneous TMT and the impact on firm outcome.

RESUMO As características distintivas das empresas familiares, como a influência exercida pela família, adicionam complexidade aos modelos de ciclo de vida organizacional. Esta pesquisa analisa a relação entre os estágios do ciclo de vida organizacional (Lester, Parnell, Carraher, & Pamell, 2003) e os elementos de influência da família na empresa no modelo F-PEC (Poder, Experiência e Cultura). O estudo foi desenvolvido por meio de amostra de 117 empresas familiares brasileiras, sem a participação de empresas com ações negociadas em bolsa, e tratamento estatístico por meio de modelo de equações estruturais. Como achados, pode-se dizer que os elementos do F-PEC foram parcialmente identificados na amostra. O poder indica o controle da empresa pela família; a experiência indica o papel das diferentes gerações; e a cultura, os valores dos controladores. Em particular, deve ser destacado que, no nascimento, o poder e a cultura têm papéis importantes; na maturidade, a experiência e a cultura se destacam; e, no rejuvenescimento, o poder e a cultura foram identificados como caracterizadores. Em termos de artigo exploratório, contribui para o entendimento das organizações, proporcionando indicações para o desenvolvimento de análises comparativas e a atuação sobre as variáveis que proporcionam o planejamento de migração para estágios mais desejáveis, como crescimento, maturidade e rejuvenescimento.

ABSTRACT The distinctive features of family firms, such as family influence, add complexity to organizational life-cycle models in terms of the different stages of development. This research analyzes the relationship between stages of the organizational life cycle proposed by Lester et al. (2003) and the elements of influence of the F-PEC family (power, experience, and culture). The study was developed through a sample of 117 Brazilian family companies, without the participation of companies with shares traded on the stock exchange, and employed statistical treatment of the data through a structural equation model. As a result, the elements of F-PEC were partially identified in the sample. Power indicates the control of the company by the family, experience indicates the role of the different generations, and culture indicates the values of the controllers. In particular, it should be pointed out that, at birth, power and culture play important roles; in maturity, experience and culture stand out, and in rejuvenation, power and culture have been identified as characteristic. As an exploratory analysis, the article contributes to the understanding of organizations, by indicating the development of comparative analyses and performance on the variables that provide migration planning to more desirable stages, such as growth, maturity, and rejuvenation.

RESUMEN Las características distintivas de las empresas familiares, como la influencia ejercida por la familia, agregan complejidad a los modelos de ciclo de vida organizacional. Esta investigación analiza la relación entre las etapas del ciclo de vida organizacional propuestas por Lester et al. (2003) y los elementos de influencia de la familia en la empresa del modelo F-PEC (Poder, Experiencia y Cultura). Este estudio se desarrolló a través de una muestra de 117 empresas familiares brasileñas -sin participación de empresas con acciones negociadas en bolsa-, y tratamiento estadístico por medio de modelo de ecuaciones estructurales. En lo que se refiere a resultados, se puede observar que los elementos del F-PEC fueron parcialmente identificados en la muestra. El poder indica el control de la empresa por la familia; la experiencia, el papel de las diferentes generaciones; y la cultura indica los valores de los controladores. En particular, debe destacarse que, en el nacimiento, el poder y la cultura tienen papeles importantes; en la madurez, la experiencia y la cultura se destacan y, en el rejuvenecimiento, el poder y la cultura se identifican como caracterizadores. El presente trabajo, como estudio exploratorio, contribuye al entendimiento de las organizaciones al proporcionar recomendaciones para el desarrollo de análisis comparativos y la actuación sobre las variables que propicien la planificación de migración a etapas más deseables, como crecimiento, madurez y rejuvenecimiento.

Abstract This research explores the innovation process in organizations based on the Management Control System (MCS). We examined the link between the diagnostic and interactive uses of management control systems and their association with the intensity of the innovation process. Motivations for the research are: (a) enhance the potentiality of the model by including variables that are external to the organization, and (b) offer an empirical emergent country perspective on innovation. The study is quantitative and the data were collected by means of a survey questionnaire involving a sample of 121 Brazilian companies. The analysis was supported by structural equation modeling. The contributions are: (a) enhancement of the model by including the influences exerted by external stimuli on the intensity of innovation, (b) confirmation of the utility of the model in an emergent country, and (c) despite the controversial literature, highlighting the importance of the interactive use of the Management Control Systems process, by offering an empirical perspective on innovation control. A positive implication of the findings relates to the use of a broader and not exclusively internal model to increase its potentiality, reflecting the organizational reality by including the dynamism of external stimuli and the innovation control perspective.

RESUMO Desde os primórdios até a atualidade, a literatura contábil vem registrando diversas situações que propiciam tensões nos controllers, do tipo conflito e ambiguidade de função. O referencial teórico foi composto pelo trabalho seminal sobre a Teoria de Função de Katz e Kahn (1970) e pelas evidências empíricas sobre a evolução das funções do controller. Neste estudo foi utilizada a técnica de equações estruturais, a qual permitiu não rejeitar as duas hipóteses de pesquisa, evidenciando que o conflito e a ambiguidade de função incidem, negativamente, sobre a satisfação no trabalho dos controllers brasileiros. A amostra foi composta por 114 controllers. Para a coleta de dados foi utilizado um questionário eletrônico, que possibilitou capturar informações dos respondentes, assim como suas percepções quanto aos níveis de conflito, ambiguidade de função e satisfação no trabalho. Para isso, foram utilizados os instrumentos desenvolvidos por Rizzo, House e Lirtzman (1970), e o Job Satisfaction Index apresentado no trabalho de Tarrant e Sabo (2010). Os resultados indicaram que os controllers brasileiros percebem conflito e ambiguidade de função quando desempenham suas funções. A satisfação no trabalho dos controllers é afetada com maior intensidade pela ambiguidade de função do que pelo conflito, mas apesar de perceber essas duas tensões, os executivos encontram-se moderadamente satisfeitos com suas atuais condições de trabalho.

ABSTRACT From early times to the present, accounting literature has recorded several situations involving role conflict and ambiguity that cause tension among controllers. The theoretical framework was comprised of the seminal work on Role Theory by Katz and Kahn (1970), and empirical evidence regarding the evolution of the role of controllers in the enterprises. In this study, we used the structural equations technique, which allowed for non-rejection of the two study hypotheses, thus providing evidence that role conflict and ambiguity adversely affect job satisfaction among Brazilian controllers. The sample was comprised of 114 controllers. An electronic questionnaire was used to collect the data, allowing information about the respondents to be captured, along with their perceptions regarding levels of role conflict and ambiguity and job satisfaction. For this, the tools developed by Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970) were used, as well as the Job Satisfaction Index presented by Tarrant and Sabo (2010). The results indicated that Brazilian controllers perceive role conflict and role ambiguity while they perform their duties. Job satisfaction of the controllers isaffected more strongly by role ambiguity than by role conflict. However, despite perceiving these two tensions, executives are moderately satisfied with their current working conditions.

RESUMEN Desde sus comienzos hasta los días actuales, la literatura contable viene registrando diversas situaciones que crean tensiones en los controllers de tipo conflicto de función y ambigüedad de función. El marco teórico de este estudio se compone del trabajo precursor de Katz y Kahn (1970) sobre la Teoría de Función y por las evidencias empíricas sobre la evolución de las funciones del controller. Se ha utilizado la técnica de ecuaciones estructurales que ha permitido aceptar las dos hipótesis de estudio, al demostrar que el conflicto de función y la ambigüedad de función afectan negativamente la satisfacción en el trabajo de los controllers brasileños. La muestra se compone de 114 controllers. Un cuestionario electrónico ha sido utilizado para recolectar los datos de los encuestados y su opinión en relación con los niveles de conflicto, ambigüedad de función y satisfacción en el trabajo. Para ello, se han utilizado los instrumentos de investigación desarrollados por Rizzo, House y Lirtzman (1970) y el Job Satisfaction Index, presentado en el trabajo de Tarrant y Sabo (2010). Los resultados indican que controllers brasileños perciben conflicto y ambigüedad de función cuando desempeñan sus funciones. La satisfacción en el trabajo de los controllers es afectada con mayor intensidad por la ambigüedad de función que por el conflicto, pero aunque los ejecutivos perciban estas dos tensiones, se encuentran moderadamente satisfechos con sus actuales condiciones de trabajo.