摘要：平衡计分卡（BSC）对中国企业财务绩效起什么作用，文献没有实证报导。本研究假设，使用平衡计分卡的企业获得更好的财务绩效，挑选25对中国大型企业，比对2008、2009年度的财务绩效数据，结果发现使用BSC的企业并不比未使用BSC的企业有更好的表现，也未发现BSC变量与企业财务绩效具有明显相关性。结论推翻了假设。
关键词：平衡记分卡 财务绩效 变量
Abstract. What is the effect of implementing Balanced Scorecard on Financial performances in Chinese companies? Existing literature provides no empirical evidence. Here I hypothesize that firms using BSC have higher net profit margin, return on asset and inventory turnover than that of firms not using BSC. As control variables, I include prior year’s financial performances, sales revenue and leverage ratio (total debt/ total assets). I compare the financial performances of 25 firms which use BSC with that of 25 firms which don’t use BSC in 2009.Using T-tests and Wilcoxon Rank Tests, I can’t find that the financial performances of firms using BSC are significantly higher than the financial performances of firms not using BSC. Besides, through correlation and regression analyses, it can be found that variable of BSC doesn’t have a significant relationship with financial performance. So, all the hypotheses are rejected.
1.introduction
Balanced Scorecard provides executives with a comprehensive framework that links a company’s strategy and goals into a systematic set of performance measures in four aspects: financial, customer, internal-business and the learning and growth. (Kaplan & Norton, 1996a). Managers are willing to use Balanced Scorecard. But how to measure the effectiveness of Balanced Scorecard?Is Balanced Scorecard a necessary good or evil?
Mooraj, Oyon and Hostettler (1999) think that the Balanced Scorecard will be thought to be “good” if it adds value to the organization, and will be considered “necessary” if it appears to be essential to management. Although it is hard to measure the exact amount of intangable value created, we can evaluate that whether there is an increase in tangable value (or financial performance) after implementing Balanced Scorecard.
Through reviewing relevant literature, it can be found that Balanced Scorecard can be used to improve financial performance. The findings indicate branches in the BSC group outperformed non-BSC branches on a common composite financial measure. Is it also applicable to Chinese companies?
2. Hypotheses development
To research the effect of using BSC on a firm’s financial performances in Chinese companies, I will choose net profit margin, return on asset and inventory turnover as the proxies of financial performances to test.
H1: The firms using BSC have higher net profit margin than that of not.
H2: The firms using BSC have higher return on asset than that of not.
H3: The firms using BSC have higher inventory turnover than that of not.
3. Research methodology
3.1 Sample selection
In this study, I will focus on China’s large industrial companies. All of the 25 large industrial companies,like Tsingtao Brewery (2009 Sales 18026 million RMB,2008 Sales 16023 ), Supor ,Founder Technology Group, I selected have applied BSC before 2009. Besides, I set up the matching samples of companies ,like YanJing Brewery(2009 Sales 9490,2008 Sales 8246),AiShiDa Electric,Hedy, that do not use BSC.There are 8 pairs of sales in total beyond 50%~175% range and 6 pairs in total beyond 50%~195% range.
3.2 Data collection
Net Profit Margin = Net Profit ÷ Turnover
ROA = Net Profit t ÷ [( Total Asset t + Total Asset t - 1) ÷ 2]
Inventory Turnover = Sales Cost t ÷ [( Inventory t + Inventory t-1 ) ÷ 2]
Then the NPM, ROA and Inventory Turnover of each firm can be collected.
3.3 Control variables
This research aims to find out whether the firms applying BSC have better financial performances than that of not. But we also need to know that whether there is any other factor affecting performances. It means we need to set up some control variables. I chose firm size and risk as the control variables, excluding factors of industry and prior year’s financial performances. I chose total sales as the proxy of firm size and total debts to total assets ratio as the proxy for the riskiness of a firm.
3.4 Empirical model
When set up an empirical model to test H1, H2, H3, it is necessary to include the control variales. So, we can have the equation:
PERFORMANCE = f (BSC, CONTROL VARIABLES)
The performance in the equation is the Net Profit Margin, ROA and Inventory Turnover. The BSC variable reflects whether a firm uses Balanced Scorcord. Here I create a dummy variable. When a firm uses BSC, the variable takes on the value of 1, while a firm does not use BSC, the variable takes on the value of 0. The control variables are the variables I mentioned above: sales revenuet and leveraget. The specific model for each financial performance in hypotheses is described as:
(1) NPMit = α10 + β11 BSCit + β12 Sales Revenueit + β13 Leverageit + ε14it
(2) ROAit = α20 + β21 BSCit + β22 Sales Revenueit + β23 Leverageit + ε24it
(3) I Tit = α30 + β31 BSCit + β32 Sales Revenueit + β33 Leverageit + ε34it
In the next step, I will use SPSS to find that whether firms using BSC achieve higher financial performances than that of firms not using BSC.
4. Results
4.1 Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis of financial performances
(1)The means of NPM, ROA and IT of 50 companies are 0.100, 0.057 and 6.329 respectively. The means of NPM, ROA of firms which use BSC are less than that of firms which do not use BSC in 2009. The numbers are 0.044, 0.049 vs 0.157, 0.064. But the mean of IT of firms which use BSC is more than that of firms which do not use BSC. The number is 7.130 vs 5.528. Through indepentant samples t-statistics, Mann-Whitney U-test, Paired-Samples t-statistics and Wilcoxon Z-test, we can see that the differences of financial performances of two groups are not significant.
(2)The means of NPM, ROA and IT of 46 companies in 2008 are -0.011, 0.020 and 6.141 which are all lower than the data of 2009. The reason for the lower financial performances can be attributed to the financial crisis in 2008. The means of NPM, ROA and IT of firms using BSC are all higher than that of firms which do not use BSC. The numbers are 0.025, 0.032 and 7.324 vs -0.047, 0.007 and 4.959. This result is very different from the result of 2009. The firms using BSC performed much better than the firms not using BSC in 2008 while in 2009, it was the firms not using BSC performed better. But through independent samples t-statistics, Mann-Whitney U-test, Paired-Samples t-statistics and Wilcoxon Z-test, we can see that the differences of financial performances of two groups are not significant as well.
4.2 Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix
I use Pearson correlations and non-parametric Spearman correlations to analyze the correlation of any two variables in 2009. We can see that the variable BSC does not have significant relationship with NPM, ROA and I T in yeart. It means that when companies apply BSC, they may not have higher financial performances than that of not applying.
But through Pearson correlation analysis, the NPMt has significant relationship with ROAt and Levt; ROAt has significant relationship with Levt. Through Spearman correlation analysis, the NPMt has significant relationship with ROAt and I Tt; I Tt has significant relatioship with Salest. So in general, the leverage and sales in yeart both have specific significant relations with financial performances in yeart.
4.3 Regression analysis
Like the correlation analysis above, I use data of 2009 as the proxy of data in yeart. Through regression analysis between BSC and the financial performances, the dummy variable BSCt does not have significant relationship with NPMt, ROAt and I Tt because the p-value of the coefficient is 0.177, 0.617 and 0.278 respectively. So, when firms use BSC, it is not necessary that their financial performances will be higher than that of firms not using BSC and the hypotheses 1, 2, 3 are rejected.
Within the control variables, it can be seen that the leverage in yeart has positively significant coefficient with NPMt and ROAt. The p-value is 0.000 and 0.038 respectively.
5. Conclusion and discussion
The aim of this article is to find that whether using BSC in firms will lead to positive effects on the firms’ financial performances. Through analyses of T-test and Wilcoxon Rank Test, Correlation and Regression, the results reject all the hypotheses. The results show that companies using BSC do not have significant higher net profit margin, return on asset and inventory turnover than that of companies not using BSC. And the variable of BSC doesn"t have relationship with net profit margin, return on asset and inventory turnover.
What is the reason that leads to these consequences? Five possible reasons below.
First, although most treatment samples I chose are the customers of three most famous BSC consulting firms in China, it still can’t guarantee that all the 25 firms implement BSC in a 100% correct way. Second, the time span is too short and the number of sample is not big enough. I just use the data of financial performances in 2009 and the amount of treatment samples is only 25. The third possible reason is the control samples not using BSC may apply another management tool which has the similar effect as BSC. Fourth, In China, firms using BSC will face another challenge. Nowadays, China is a developing country in social transformation period ― from planned economy to market economy. Introducing advanced management methods is a fashion, but due to the inertia of the old system and the old mode of thinking, the practice of BSC may be distorted. The last possible reason may be attributed to the different times of starting to use BSC within treatment samples. For this article, it is tacitly thought that the effectiveness of BSC can be reflected in financial performances in a short term. But this conclusion is just deduced from previous studies. The conclusion itself still needs to be proved. There aren’t articles directly researching the topic of how long will it take for the effectiveness of using BSC to be reflected in financial performance. So it is possible that because the times of starting to use BSC are different, the effects of using BSC on financial performance of treatment firms are different and then it leads to the unfavorable results.
Along with the development of economy in China, more and more large enterprises appear. To manage the operation of huge firms effectively and efficiently.introducing modern management tools is very necessary. BSC is such a management tool that can combine different aspects of performance indicators together and balance the relationship between short - term goals and long - term goals. But when a firm wants to begin to implement BSC, it must first consider carefully that whether the firm needs to apply BSC and whether it meets the requirements of applying BSC. Although the setting of the research is far from perfect, the results can still provide some reference about the situation of firms using BSC in China. And it is clear that the research of the effect of using BSC on financial performances in China still has a long way to go.
References:
Davis S. and T. Albright, 2004. An investigation of the effect of Balanced Scorecard
implementation on financial performance. Management Accounting Research, Vol. 15, pp. 135-153.
Kaplan R. S. and D. P. Norton, 1996a. The balanced scorecard: translating strategy into action. Harvard Business School Press.
1996b. Linking the balanced scorecard to strategy, California Management Review, Vol. 39, pp. 53-79.
Mooraj S., D. Oyon and D. Hostettler, 1999. The balanced scorecard: a necessary good or an unnecessary evil? European Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 481-491.