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1MANAGEMENTACCOUNTINGQUARTERLYSPRING2002,VOL.3,NO.3Companiesusingthebalancedscorecardhaveachievedmixedsuccess.Webelievethedif-ficultylieswiththeprocessofchoosingmet-ricsandusingthemappropriately.Tosolvethedilemmasofhowtosystematicallychooseappropriatemetricsandhowtocomparedivi-sionswithdifferingmetrics,wesuggestusingatoolcalledtheAnalyticHierarchyProcess(AHP).TheAHPisauniquemethodthatprovidesameansofchoosingappropriatemetricsinvirtuallyanycontext.Itusesahierarchicalapproachtoorganizedataforprop-erdecisionmaking.Themethodiseasytoimplement,simpletounderstand,andabletosatisfyeveryrequire-mentofmetricchoiceandscorecardconstruction.Theprocesscanneatlycapturetheconsensusofapotential-lydivergentgroupofmanagersandcanbequicklyandeasilyupdatedasdesired.TheAHPisapowerfulyetsimpletoolthatprovidesgreatpromisetowardimple-mentingthebalancedscorecardforpracticaluse.BALANCEDSCORECARDCONCEPTIntheSeptember1997issueofManagementAccounting(nowStrategicFinance),B.DouglasClintonandKoChengHsuillustratedtheimportanceofthebalancedscorecardconceptdevelopedbyRobertKaplanandDavidNorton.1SincethepublicationofKaplanandNorton’s1992HarvardBusinessReviewarticle,compa-nieshaveimplementedthebalancedscorecardwithmixedresults.2Theyseemtohaveadifficulttimechoosingthepropermetricsandthenusingthemappropriately.“Thepointtousingthebalancedscorecardasaman-agementtoolisnottoadoptaspecificsetofmetricsbycloningthemfromaparticularlist,”wroteClintonandHsu.3“Theideaistoanalyzeeachofthesecomponents(relationshipsandmanagementperspectives)andcon-siderhowtheylinktostrategyandlinktogethertosup-portameaningfulcontinuousimprovementandassessmenteffort.”Thebalancedscorecardconceptisthebalancedpur-suitofobjectivesinfourkeyareas:customers,financial,inter-nalbusinessprocesses,andinnovationandlearning.Thebalancedscorecardprovidessummary-leveldataemphasizingthemetricsmostcriticaltothecompanyineachofthefourareasonly.KaplanandNortonarequicktopointoutthatsuccessinusingthebalancedImplementingtheBalancedScorecardUsingtheAnalyticHierarchyProcessSpring2002VOL.3NO.3Spring2002THOMASSAATY’SINNOVATIVETECHNIQUEPROVIDESASYSTEMATICPROCESSFORCHOOSINGMETRICS.BYB.DOUGLASCLINTON,PH.D.,CPA;SALLYA.WEBBER,PH.D.,CPA;ANDJOHNM.HASSELL,PH.D.,CPA2MANAGEMENTACCOUNTINGQUARTERLYSPRING2002,VOL.3,NO.3scorecardishighlycontingentontheabilityofthecho-senmetricstoencourageactionandappropriatechangeforthecompany.InKaplanandNorton’ssecondbalancedscorecardarticle,theyemphasizedtheimportanceoftyingthemetricstostrategy.4Intheirdiscussion,theypresentedatypicalprojectprofileforbuildingabalancedscore-card,buttheyshowedthatthewaysinwhichparticularcompaniesusethebalancedscorecardoftendiffercon-siderably,asdothebenefitsderivedfromthedifferentapproaches.Inmorerecentyears,thebalancedscorecardhasgrownintoatoolusedasabasisfordevelopingastrate-gicmanagementsystem.Byobservinghowcompaniesappliedthebalancedscorecard,KaplanandNortonrec-ognizedhowusefultheapproachcanbeincouplingstrategydevelopmentwithstrategyimplementation.Differentmethodsofemployingthebalancedscorecardareusedtoclarifyandupdatestrategy,tocommunicateintentions,toalignorganizationandindividualgoals,andtolearnaboutandimprovestrategy.Itisthisverydiversityinchoosingmetrics,however,thatprovidesthecentralfocusofproblemsinimplementingandusingthebalancedscorecard.Unfortunately,noonereallyknowsthebestwaytochoosethemetrics.SYSTEMATICALLYCHOOSINGMETRICSHowshouldacompanychoosethemetricstouseineachofthefourcategories?Thisquestionismademoredifficultbecauseitisalmostcertainthatdifferentmet-ricsareappropriatefordifferentdivisionswithinacom-pany.Althoughausefulgoalis“balance,”when,ifever,doesoneofthefourareasbecomemoreimportantthananother?Ifoneofthefourareasistreatedasmoreimportantthananother,howwilltherelativeimpor-tanceofthefourareasbedeterminedandcommunicat-ed?Howshouldtopmanagementgoaboutmeaningfullycomparingdivisionsthatareusingdiffer-entmetricsandweighttherelativeimportanceofthefourareas?Willmanagersearningperformance-basedcompensationtiedtotheirindividualizedbalancedscorecardperceivetheyarebeingtreatedfairlywhencomparedtomanagersofotherdivisions?Witheachdivisionusingdifferentmetricsforbonuscalculations,howcanacompanysimplifythecompensationprocessandprovideimportantmotivationalincentivesyetensuretheprocessisequitableandcongruentwiththeoverallgoalsofthecompanyasawhole?Tosolvethedilemmaofimplementingthebalancedscorecardbasedonamethodofsystematicallychoosingmetrics,severalimportantissuesneedtobeaddressedandsatisfied.Forexample,thescopeofthemethodmustincludethefollowingrequirements:♦Handlesubjective,qualitativejudgmentsaswellasquantitativedatasimultaneously;♦Beusedwithanymetric—financialaswellasnon-financial,historicalaswellasfutureoriented—andallowcomparisonbetweencategories;♦Beaccuratelydescriptiveincapturingwhatmetricsusersbelievearecriticallyimportantyetnotdictatetothemwhatshouldbeimportant;♦Beeasyenoughforanyoneinvolvedinchoosingmetricstouse;♦Handledirectresourceallocationissues,conductcost/benefitanalysis,andbeusedindesigningandoptimizingthestrategicmanagementsystem;♦R