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

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.

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