{
  "title": "Finance for non-financial managers in the canton of Zurich: does a budget overrun signal poor performance?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/finance-pour-non-financiers-canton-zurich-ecart-budgetaire-performance-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-07-18",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "A budget overrun does not, on its own, establish poor performance. Managers’ decisions must be distinguished from changes in activity and costs allocated to their teams.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Finance for Non-Financial Managers",
  "place": {
    "name": "Zurich",
    "region": "Zurich",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes: interests do not automatically align",
      "point": "Michael C."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A second mechanism: rewards influence action",
      "point": "Steven Kerr (1975, Academy of Management Journal) uses organisational examples to analyse contradictions between desired behaviour and the behaviour encouraged by reward systems."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The hasty conclusion: an adverse variance means failure",
      "point": "An overrun may result from activity exceeding forecasts, a higher supplier price or a new allocation of central overheads."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The limits: an explanation is not proof",
      "point": "Neither of these classic articles measures the effect of financial training, and neither is a study specific to the canton of Zurich."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Zurich",
      "point": "In a hypothetical European headquarters in Zurich, a technology team is allocated shared-service costs and presents its budget in English to regional management."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Meckling",
      "year": "1976",
      "source": "Journal of Financial Economics"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Kerr",
      "year": "1975",
      "source": "Academy of Management Journal"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 413,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Finance-For-Non-Financial-Managers-Zurich-finance-pour-non-financiers-canton-zurich-ecart-budgetaire-performance-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/finance-pour-non-financiers-canton-zurich-ecart-budgetaire-performance",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/finance-pour-non-financiers-canton-zurich-ecart-budgetaire-performance-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/finance-pour-non-financiers-canton-zurich-ecart-budgetaire-performance-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/finance-pour-non-financiers-canton-zurich-ecart-budgetaire-performance-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation-finance-pour-non-financiers-zurich",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/zurich",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}