Fernando Campa-Planas

Approximately 20 years after the creation of the Balanced Scorecard (hereinafter BSC), BSC is the sixth most widely used management tool by organizations (Rigby and Biledau, 2011). The aim of this article is to identify the key factors for the implementation of a BSC in organizations. To do so, the authors analyzed two cases BSC implementation: one a success and the other a failure. The findings were classified by the answers to the following questions: What was implemented? Where was it implemented? Who implemented it? How did they implement it? and Why was it implemented? The four key factors for the successful implementation of the BSC identified in this study, which complement the existing literature on this subject, are: previous experience of the people responsible for the project; linking the BSC to available resources; consistency between the organizational structure and the strategy; and finally, carrying out a pilot test.
Purpose: Approximately 20 years after the creation of the Balanced Scorecard (hereinafter BSC), BSC is the sixth most widely used management tool by organizations (Rigby and Biledau, 2011). The aim of this article is to identify the key factors for the implementation of a BSC in organizations.
Design/methodology/approach: The methodology used for this research was the case study, specifically the “two case” study method (Yin, 2003). The cases were selected as being extremes: one organization that had successfully implemented a BSC, and a company whose implementation failed. The findings were classified by the answers to the following questions: What was implemented? Where was it implemented? Who implemented it? How did they implement it? and Why was it implemented?
Findings: The four key factors for the successful implementation of the BSC identified in this study, which complement the existing literature on this subject, are: previous experience of the people responsible for the project; linking the BSC to available resources; consistency between the organizational structure and the strategy; and finally, carrying out a pilot test.
Originality/value: The contribution made by this study consists of identifying additional key factors that may affect the success or failure of implementing BSC in an organization

The main objective of this research was to examine the degree of practical application of management accounting in Spanish airline companies as far as management accounting is a crucial tool for the financial decision making process. In particular, the goal was to get to know the degree of strategic planning, the utilized methods of budgeting, procedures used to present the comparison between planned and actual results, and the reported key performance indicators, as well as their frequency. Quantitative methodology has been used through the creation of an on-line questionnaire. The results showed that the level of implementation, and utility granted to the different techniques of management accounting in the analyzed companies that are corresponding to the six most important airlines in Spain, is pretty high, helping airline companies to make operations and financial decisions.

Keywords: strategic planning, airline companies, financial decision making, key performance indicators, management accounting.
JEL Classification: M41, L93