環境不確定性、預算制度特徵與公司績效

Environmental Uncertainty, Budgeting Systems, and Firm Performance

本文調查我國企業之預算制度實務，並檢視外在環境不確定性、預算制度與公司績效三者間之關係。本研究以台灣地區1,500 家公開發行之製造業公司的財務／會計經理為研究對象，共計回收399 份有效問卷。研究結果顯示，我國企業預算手冊建立與使用的比率以及預算參與程度比10 年前增加。此外，環境不確定性對資訊更新、預算制度複雜程度及預算參與等預算制度特徵均有顯著的影響，各項預算制度特徵對於公司績效有顯著的影響。亦即企業因外部環境的不同，會採用不同的預算制度，而不同預算制度的採用，則會影響公司的績效。此一發現應有助於實務界如何設計預算制度以因應環境不確定性，以及如何藉由預算制度提升績效。本研究亦發現環境不確定性此變數在預算制度與公司績效之關係中並非調節變數，而應為影響預算制度的前因變數。

This paper reports the results of a survey on the budgeting practice in Taiwan. It also examines the association among uncertainty, budgeting systems and firm performance. Taiwan officially became the 144th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 2002. On one hand, this means that global market has officially opened to Taiwanese firms. On the other hand, the Taiwan government has undergone amending laws and regulations, including lowering import tariffs, to facilitate access to its market for foreign companies. The competition and uncertainty the Taiwanese firms facing are expected to increase. To build and sustain competitive position, Taiwanese firms need to design control systems to cope with variations in environmental uncertainty (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Daft, 1983). Budgeting is one of the control systems that have attracted most attention from academicians and practitioners (Birnberg, Shields & Young, 1990). A recent initiative for a forum on budgeting documents the crucial role of budgeting in management controls (Evans, 2002, p. 6). Extant research provides limited information on the current budgeting practice in Taiwan. Duh (1991) conducted a survey on management accounting practices in Taiwan, but more than ten years have lapsed since then. It is thus desirable to conduct a survey on the state of the art of budgeting practice in Taiwan. This investigation is important since it may provide information on how Taiwanese firms prepare for the competition from around the world. The results of this study also provide a benchmark for future research on the impact of joining the WTO on budgetary controls in Taiwan. In addition, most of prior research examines the relationship among environmental uncertainty, budgeting systems and performance adopting the contingency theory. Environmental uncertainty is treated as a moderating variable in the participative budgeting-performance relationship (e.g., Govindarajan, 1986). However, Shields & Shields (1998) made the case for treating environmental uncertainty as an antecedent variable of participative budgeting. This paper empirically explores whether environmental uncertainty is an antecedent or moderating variable in the relationship between characteristics of budgeting systems (e.g., participative budgeting) and performance. Moreover, with the exceptions of Gupta & Govindarajan (1984), Govindarajan & Gupta (1985) and Govindarajan & Fisher (1990), most of these studies adopt financial measures of performance without considering other dimensions of performance (Kaplan 1983; Kaplan & Norton, 1996, 2001, 2004). This paper aims at filling this gap by including four dimensions of performance measures based on the balanced scorecard. Data for this study are collected through a survey on 1,500 chief finance officers (CFOs) randomly chosen from publicly-held manufacturing companies in Taiwan. Of the 1,500 questionnaires distributed, 408 are returned (27.2%), of which 399 are usable (26.6%). The results of this study show that 111 (27.8%) companies update operating budgets whenever considered necessary. One hundred and one (25.3%) firms update their operating budget every month and 47 (11.8%) firms update operating budget once per year. In our survey, 243 (about 60.9%) firms develop their budget manuals, and 178 out of 243 firms (73%) use budget manuals very often. Comparing with Duh (1991), firms update their operating budgets more frequently than before. In addition, the percentage of firms developing and using their budget manuals increased in the past decade. In terms of ERP/transaction systems for budgeting systems, 213 (53.4%) firms use financial software for variance analysis/management reports, and 220 (55.1%) firms use software to conduct department budgeting. Ninety-six (24.1%) firms perform capital budgeting with their financial software and 133 (33.4%) firms use software for sales forecast. In terms of budget participation, 347 (87%) firms in our survey report that top and department managers determine the budget objectives after discussions with colleagues. The percentage increases while comparing with Duh’s (1991) results of 45.5 percent. Overall, the mean degree of finance and accounting people’s involvement in budget-related activities is above 3.30 using a 5-point Likert type scale. The LISREL is employed to investigate the relationship among environmental uncertainty, budgeting systems, and firm performance. The results show that the fitness of the model is good (GFI=0.95, AGFI=0.88, CFI=0.94, RMSR=0.04). Findings of LISREL also show that environmental uncertainty significantly influences the selection of budgeting systems, characterized by the frequency of updating operating budgets, system sophistication, and participation in the budgetary process. In addition, budgeting systems have significant impacts on firm performance. This finding may have implications for practitioners in how to design a budgeting system to cope with environmental uncertainty and in understanding how firm performance is associated with budgeting systems. This study also shows that environment uncertainty is a causal antecedent of budgeting systems, and should not be treated as a moderating variable in the relationship between budgeting systems and firm performance. Limitations of this study and implications for future studies are also offered.