IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_4569.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fishing for Excuses and Performance Evaluation

Author

Listed:
  • François Larmande
  • Jean-Pierre Ponssard

Abstract

We study a principal-agent model in which the agent can provide ex post additional relevant information regarding his performance. In particular, he can provide a legitimate excuse, that is, evidence that a poor result is only due to factors outside his control. However, building a convincing case requires time, time that is not spent on exerting productive effort, and thus generating information represents an opportunity cost. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the principal to prefer a policy of adjusting ex post the performance measure for the information provided by the agent to a policy of conforming to a result-based system with no adjustments. The risk aversion and a possible limited liability of the agent play an important role in the analysis. This paper clarifies the issues associated with the so-called “excuse culture” prevailing in some organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • François Larmande & Jean-Pierre Ponssard, 2014. "Fishing for Excuses and Performance Evaluation," CESifo Working Paper Series 4569, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4569
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp4569.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Pierre Ponssard & François Larmande, 2008. "Implementation of an EVA compensation scheme," Post-Print hal-00332061, HAL.
    2. François Larmande, 2013. "Limited liability, the first-order approach, and the ranking of information systems in agencies," Post-Print hal-02312972, HAL.
    3. Bentley W. MacLeod, 2003. "Optimal Contracting with Subjective Evaluation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 216-240, March.
    4. Joel S. Demski & Hans Frimor & David E. M. Sappington, 2004. "Efficient Manipulation in a Repeated Setting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 31-49, March.
    5. Joel S. Demski, 1998. "Performance Measure Manipulation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 261-285, September.
    6. Fudenberg, Drew & Tirole, Jean, 1990. "Moral Hazard and Renegotiation in Agency Contracts," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(6), pages 1279-1319, November.
    7. Sunil Dutta & Frank Gigler, 2002. "The Effect of Earnings Forecasts on Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 631-655, June.
    8. Kim, Son Ku, 1995. "Efficiency of an Information System in an Agency Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(1), pages 89-102, January.
    9. Larmande, Francois, 2013. "Limited liability, the first-order approach, and the ranking of information systems in agencies," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 314-317.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jonathan Glover & Carolyn B. Levine, 2019. "Information Asymmetries about Measurement Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 50-71, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter-J. Jost, 2023. "Auditing versus monitoring and the role of commitment," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 463-496, June.
    2. Lang, Matthias, 2019. "Communicating subjective evaluations," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 163-199.
    3. Herweg, Fabian & Müller, Daniel, 2008. "The Optimality of Simple Contracts: Moral Hazard and Loss Aversion," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 17/2008, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    4. Elisa Gerten & Michael Beckmann & Elisa Gerten & Matthias Kräkel, 2022. "Information and Communication Technology, Hierarchy, and Job Design," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 189, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    5. Bijapur, Mohan, 2011. "Moral hazard and renegotiation of multi-signal contracts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 56619, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. De Waegenaere, A.M.B. & Wielhouwer, J.L., 2008. "On the Effects of the Degree of Discretion in Reporting Managerial performance," Discussion Paper 2008-21, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    7. Corgnet, Brice & Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael, 2013. "Are you a good employee or simply a good guy? Influence costs and contract design," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 259-272.
    8. Peter O. Christensen & Hans Frimor & Florin Şabac, 2020. "Real Incentive Effects of Soft Information," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 514-541, March.
    9. Hooper, Louise, 2008. "Paying for performance: Uncertainty, asymmetric information and the payment model," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 157-163, January.
    10. Jonathan Glover & Carolyn B. Levine, 2019. "Information Asymmetries about Measurement Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 50-71, March.
    11. Chi, Chang Koo & Olsen, Trond E., 2018. "Relational Incentive Contracts and Performance Measurement," Discussion Papers 2018/6, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    12. Peter O. Christensen & Hans Frimor & Florin Sabac, 2013. "The Stewardship Role of Analyst Forecasts, and Discretionary Versus Non-discretionary Accruals," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 257-296, June.
    13. Paul E. Fischer & Phillip C. Stocken, 2004. "Effect of Investor Speculation on Earnings Management," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5), pages 843-870, December.
    14. Chassang, Sylvain & Zehnder, Christian, 2016. "Rewards and punishments: informal contracting through social preferences," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 11(3), September.
    15. Laux, Volker & Stocken, Phillip C., 2012. "Managerial reporting, overoptimism, and litigation risk," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 577-591.
    16. Praveen Kumar & Nisan Langberg, 2009. "Corporate fraud and investment distortions in efficient capital markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(1), pages 144-172, March.
    17. Kräkel, Matthias, 2021. "On the delegation of authority," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 965-981.
    18. Jürgen Hagmüller & Ulf Schiller, 2006. "Managemententlohnung und Berichterstattungsanreize," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 58(55), pages 1-23, January.
    19. Lorens A. Imhof & Matthias Kräkel, 2023. "Team Diversity and Incentives," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 2497-2516, April.
    20. Christensen, Peter O. & Feltham, Gerald A. & Sabac, Florin, 2005. "A contracting perspective on earnings quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 265-294, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    performance measurement; manipulation; controllability principle; excuse culture; influence activity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4569. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.