5 Astrodome Sports Ltd was formed in December 2000 by seven engineers who comprise the board of directors of the
company. The seven engineers previously worked together for ‘Telstar’, a satellite navigation company.
In conjunction with one of the three largest construction companies within their country they constructed the ‘365
Sports Complex’ which has a roof that opens and uses revolutionary satellite technology to maintain grass surfaces
within the complex. The complex facilities, which are available for use on each day of the year, include two tennis
courts, a cricket pitch, an equestrian centre and six bowling greens. The tennis courts and cricket pitch are suitable
for use as venues for national competitions. The equestrian centre offers horse-riding lessons to the general public and
is also a suitable venue for show-jumping competitions. The equestrian centre and bowling greens have increased in
popularity as a consequence of regular television coverage of equestrian and bowling events.
In spite of the high standard of the grass surfaces within the sports complex, the directors are concerned by reduced
profit levels as a consequence of both falling revenues and increasing costs. The area in which the ‘365 Sports
Complex’ is located has high unemployment but is served by all public transport services.
The directors of Astrodome Sports Ltd have different views about the course of action that should be taken to provide
a strategy for the future improvement in the performance of the complex. Each director’s view is based on his/her
individual perception as to the interpretation of the information contained in the performance measurement system of
the complex. These are as follows:
Director
(a) ‘There is no point whatsoever in encouraging staff to focus on interaction with customers in efforts to create a
‘user friendly’ environment. What we need is to maintain the quality of our grass surfaces at all costs since that
is the distinguishing feature of our business.’
(b) ‘Buy more equipment which can be hired out to users of our facilities. This will improve our utilisation ratios
which will lead to increased profits.’
(c) ‘We should focus our attention on maximising the opening hours of our facilities. Everything else will take care
of itself.’
(d) ‘Recent analysis of customer feedback forms indicates that most of our customers are satisfied with the facilities.
In fact, the only complaints are from three customers – the LCA University which uses the cricket pitch for
matches, the National Youth Training Academy which held training sessions on the tennis courts, and a local
bowling team.’
(e) ‘We should reduce the buildings maintenance budget by 25% and spend the money on increased advertising of
our facilities which will surely attract more customers.’
(f) ‘We should hold back on our efforts to overcome the shortage of bowling equipment for hire. Recent rumours are
that the National Bowling Association is likely to offer large financial grants next year to sports complexes who
can show they have a demand for the sport but have deficiencies in availability of equipment.’
(g) ‘Why change our performance management system? Our current areas of focus provide us with all the
information we need to ensure that we remain a profitable and effective business.’
As management accountant of Astrodome Sports Ltd you have recently read an article which discussed the following
performance measurement problems:
(i) Tunnel vision
(ii) Sub-optimisation
(iii) Misinterpretation
(iv) Myopia
(v) Measure fixation
(vi) Misrepresentation
(vii) Gaming
(viii) Ossification.
Required:
(a) Explain FOUR of the above-mentioned performance measurement problems (i-viii) and discuss which of the
views of the directors (a-g) illustrate its application in each case. (12 marks)
