Business Commons^™

Classifying Control Variables, Michael F. Van Breda

Historical Working Papers

Interviews with 68 managers from 20 Fortune 500 firms were used to discern control variables that managers use to control production and evaluate management performance. It was concluded that financial accounting variables tend to be the most used and as a corollary, the control variables do not serve very well in evaluating progress toward long- term goals. Discussion suggests that accounting variables are most appealing because of their appearance of validity and legitimacy.