Management control instruments in SMEs: types and their effects on performance

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of management control instruments on the financial performance of Cameroonian small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). The data used is that collected within the framework of the project on the performance of companies in French speaking African countries and the sample is made up of 389 SMEs. The empirical analysis is carried out in two stages: an exploratory stage and a confirmation of the statistical analysis. The results show that a large proportion of SMEs (70,18%) remain focused on traditional tools (calculation of costs and budgets). Also, the share of SMEs that associate modern tools to traditional ones is low; 21% of SMEs use dashboards and 9% use tools like benchmarking or the ABC method. The results of the analysis shows that only the combined use of traditional and modern tools have a significant effect on the financial performance of SMEs.