Budgetary Systems in Organisations: An Anatomy of Management Views, Employees’ Behaviour and Productivity Trend of 21st Century Firms in a Tropical Nation

Abstract

The success or failure of any budgetary system depends to a large extent on the management assumptions of human nature (views), employees’ behavior and level of commitment towards productivity. The budgetary system may be non-humanistic (autocratic) or humanistic (participatory). Autocratic budgetary system is synonymous with employees’ negative reactions including counter productive work behaviours while participatory budgetary system is identified with employees’ positive reactions embedded in productive work behaviours. While admitting the proposition that certain settings may require the operation of autocratic budgetary system, this paper holds that available accounting literature on management theories and empirical researches support the assertion: Participatory budgetary system is a panacea; that is, a cure for all the many ills which have been associated with autocratic budgetary system. The unconcerned attitude of enterprise management towards modern theories and researches in budgetary systems and practices, the level of counterproductive work behaviours and some illicit acts in businesses and the environment, the corruption trend in a tropical Nation like Nigeria, productivity downturn and economic depression have posed serious concern. Participatory budgetary system relative to modern management views and motivated work behaviours will boost productivity upturn in Nigerian firms.