PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS

This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts of business planning and management control systems, highlighting the connection between strategy formulation, business model design, the operational translation of managerial choices, and control systems that support managerial action.
The course is designed to show how a strategic idea is progressively transformed into a coherent set of assumptions, operating plans, financial plans, and performance monitoring tools. From this perspective, the business plan is examined not only as a formal document, but also as a managerial process of analysis, coordination, communication, and assessment of the economic, financial, and balance-sheet sustainability of business choices.
The course explores the main components of a business plan: industry and competitive analysis, business model, operating plan, investment and financing plan, projected financial statements, scenario analysis, and sensitivity analysis. It emphasizes their integrated logic. At the same time, it introduces the foundations of management control systems, with particular attention to the role of managerial accounting information in planning, responsibility assignment, performance measurement, and decision support.
Special emphasis is placed on the managerial interpretation of data and numbers. The course does not focus only on the technical preparation of plans and reports, but also aims to develop students’ ability to critically interpret assumptions, expected results, risks, and organizational implications. In this perspective, the course also covers selected costing and control topics such as product costing, responsibility accounting, activity-based costing, and the different logic of costing systems, in order to show how internal information systems can support more informed managerial decisions.
Overall, the course is positioned within the broader field of business and management studies as an introductory yet structured learning path, aimed at providing students with the basic competencies needed to understand how to build a credible plan, assess the internal coherence of business choices, and use management control systems to support strategy execution.

1. KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Students in the Planning and Management Control Systems course will gain knowledge of the key concepts, tools, and principles that link strategy, business models, financial planning, and management control systems. The course will provide an understanding of how strategic and operational decisions are translated into assumptions, plans, expected outcomes, and monitoring tools to support managerial decision-making.
By the end of the course, students will know and understand:
- the role of business planning as a document, a managerial process, and a communication tool;
- the relationship between strategy, business models, operating plans, financial plans, and control;
- the main components of a business plan and their integrated logic;
- the fundamentals of the profit model, cost structure, and the relationships between costs, volumes, and results;
- the main approaches to product costing, with particular reference to job order costing, process costing, variable costing, absorption costing, and activity-based costing;
- the development of operating plans, investment plans, financing plans, tax plans, and distribution policies;
- the logic behind the preparation and interpretation of projected financial statements and cash flow forecasts;
- the principles of scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis as tools for assessing uncertainty;
- the role of management control systems in planning, accountability, performance measurement, and decision support processes;
- the fundamental concepts of responsibility accounting and internal reporting in support of management.

2. ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Students in the course must be able to apply the knowledge acquired to real-world business situations, interpreting data, formulating coherent hypotheses, and using planning and control tools to support managerial decisions.
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
- analyze and represent the logic of a business model, highlighting how value is created, distributed, and captured;
- translate strategic and business model choices into coherent operational, economic, and financial assumptions;
- develop simple analyses of profitability, contribution, break-even, and operating leverage;
- apply different costing approaches to business cases, interpreting their implications and limitations;
- construct a basic operating plan, including the main dynamics of working capital;
- link operating plans, investments, sources of financing, taxation, and dividends within a coherent overall framework;
- prepare and interpret simplified projected financial statements and assess their economic, equity, and financial sustainability;
- use scenarios and sensitivity analyses to discuss risks, critical assumptions, and possible effects on expected results;
- read and interpret basic management reports in light of organizational responsibilities and control objectives;
- develop and present a project in which strategy, business model, planning, and control are coherently integrated.

Since this course provides advanced knowledge about management accounting deepening the effects of the digital (r)evolution, students must have acquired the notions and the basics provided in INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MANAGEMENT - 1 AND 2.

The main topics covered in the course include:
- an introduction to business planning and management control systems;
- the business plan as a document, a managerial process, and a communication tool;
- strategy, business models, and translating strategic decisions into operational frameworks;
- business model design and business model innovation;
- profit models, revenue structures, cost structures, and contribution margin analysis;
- break-even analysis, operating leverage, and interpretation of operating risk;
- product costing in various business contexts: job order costing and process costing;
- operating plan and working capital planning;
- investment plan, financing plan, tax plan, and dividend plan;
- preparation and interpretation of projected financial statements;
- scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis, and a conceptual introduction to Monte Carlo simulation;
- Flexible Budgets and Standard Costs;
- development and presentation of an integrated project on strategy, business models, planning, and control.

Details about the text book will be given during classes and will be available on Moodle.

The learning assessment methods will be divided into two parts.
A first part will refer to the development of a written test aimed at evaluating the understanding of the theoretical concepts exposed during the course. The grade of the written test has a weight of 60% of the total grade.
The test consists of 15/30 questions distributed across the various topics of the course. The questions can be: multiple choice, open questions or development of exercises. Each question has a weight of 1 or 2 if answered correctly. There is a penalty of 0.25 for each incorrect multiple answer.
A second part will require the development of a business case aimed at evaluating the student's ability to apply the skills acquired at a theoretical level. The assignment grade has a weight of 40% of the total grade. Students will be required to present their work in an oral exam.
The assignment involves the development of a business case. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their ability to correctly develop the case, familiarity with the typical problems that allow them to put into practice the theoretical concepts acquired during the lessons.
The student can choose to replace group work with an additional oral exam.
To pass the exam, students must obtain a passing grade in both tests.

written and oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Regarding grade grading (mode by which grades will be assigned), regardless of attending or non-attending mode:
A. scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- sufficient knowledge and applied comprehension skills with reference to the syllabus;
- limited ability to collect and/or interpret data, making independent judgments;
- sufficient communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language pertaining to the economic operation of companies with particular reference to management accounting and planning issues;
B. scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- discrete knowledge and applied comprehension skills with reference to the syllabus;
- discrete ability to collect and/or interpret data, making independent judgments;
- fair communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language pertaining to the economic operation of companies with particular reference to management accounting and planning issues;
C. scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- good or very good knowledge and applied comprehension skills with reference to the program;
- good or excellent ability to collect and/or interpret data, making independent judgments;
- fully appropriate communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language pertaining to the economic operation of companies with particular reference to management accounting and planning issues.
D. honors will be awarded in the presence of knowledge and applied understanding with reference to the syllabus; excellent judgment and communication skills.

The teaching method will include frontal lessons, case studies and guest lectures from experts in the field.
The course aims to have a hands-on approach. Students will have to develop their assignments through various software and databases. In particular, tools such as Excel will be used: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel , tools dedicated to market analyzes such as CRModel: https://www.crmodel.studio/ , databases for the analysis of sector data such as: https://www.marketresearch.com/ .
Students will also use AI tools to refine their ideas such as OpenAI's ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/auth/login