Management Accounting - Sample Assignment

RUNNING HEAD: MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
BALANCE SCORECARD

Management accounting
1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Part A.........................................................................................................................................2
Client’s description.................................................................................................................2
Part B..........................................................................................................................................4
Balance Scorecard and its features.........................................................................................4
Part C..........................................................................................................................................8
Difference between BSC and traditional approaches.............................................................8
Part D.......................................................................................................................................11
Suitability of BSC to the client.............................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................14

Management accounting
2
Introduction
This report contains detail information about the balance scorecard approach and its features.
It clearly provides the introduction about the BSC approach and its characteristics. It says that
the BSC uses four perspectives to measure the performance of an organization. It has unique
features and is bit different from the traditional performance measurement systems. The
report also deals with the difference between the new balance scorecard approach and the
earlier or traditional systems used for measuring the performance.
Along with the above points, a description about the company is also provided which has
used BSC and for which this approach will be suitable. Apple Inc. Is been chosen as a client
of the management consultancy firm and its description is provided in the report. In the later
part, the suitability of Balance Scorecard for the client company is been discussed followed
by a conclusion. The last part of the report concludes that the BSC approach is the most
appropriate strategic tool for measuring the performance of a company. Also it is best
suitable to the Apple Inc as it allows the company to evaluate its business performance on the
basis of its strategic goals.
Part A
Client’s description
Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company operating its business in California. The
company develops and designs the customer electronics, software and online services. It also
deals in designing hardware products which includes iPhone mobile, tablets and Mac
personal computers. The other key products and services are iPod, iPad, Apple watch, Apple
TV, iTunes store, Apple play, iCloud, iBooks store and many more (Apple. 2018).
The company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1967 and
later it was developed as Apple Computer Inc. in 1977. The company started its business by

Management accounting
3
selling the personal computers. Later the founders hired a staff for designing and developing
the computers. Apple got public in 1980 and enjoyed an instant financial success. After
facing so many difficulties due to the high pricing of products, the company launched its own
store in 2001 in order to bring back the status of the enterprise. In 2001, Apple has made
various acquisitions of software companies and had also changed some hardware of its
computers. This resulted in the success and the profitability is again returned to the company.
In 2007, Apple Computer was renamed AS Apple Inc. and in 2011, company appointed Tim
Cook as the new CEO. Currently, Apple is the largest information technology in the world in
respect of revenue and the second largest in the list of mobile manufacturer after Samsung.
The company has almost over 123,000 full time employees and 499 retail stores across 22
countries, as reported on December 2017 (Reuters.com. 2018).
Vision
The vision of the company is to make great products with innovating technologies. The
company believes in keeping things simple and is focused to control the primary technology
used by it in its production. The vision statement of the company also deals with the fact that
it must participate in those market segments where they can make a significant contribution.
The company urges to work with pure honesty and due diligence (Forbes.com. 2012).
Mission
The recent mission statement delivered by the CEO of Apple stated that the company’s
mission is to design Macs, the best personal computers in the world including OS X, iWork
and professional software. The iPad and iTunes online store has bring a revolution in the
world of digital music. Apple focused on redefining the future of mobile media and
computing devices (Business Insider. 2013).