Project Materials

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Planning and control are put in place to keep organization on course towards profitability goals and achievement of its mission and to minimize surprise along the way. They enable management to deal with rapidly changing economic and competitive .

environment, shifting customer demands and priorities and restructuring for future growth. Planning is a management function that denotes .the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.

Control on the other hand promote efficiency, reduce risk of asset loss and help to ensure the reliability of financial statements and compliance with laws and regulations (Coso, 1992).

Planning and control is of great significant which is seen as an effective solution to variety of potential problems (Coso, 1992). According to Chambers (1995), Cosserat (1999), Ridley and

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Chambers (1998) planning and controls are systems comprising of the control environment and control procedures. They further state that the planning and control systems includes all the predetermined objectives, policies and procedures adopted by the directors and management of an entity to assist in achieving their objective of efficient conduct of its business, including adherence to internal policies,

the safeguarding of assets, the prevention and detection of fraud and error,, the accuracy and completion of the accounting records and timely preparation of reliable financial information. Successful organizations ensure that they attain and consolidate continued survival in a competitive environment (Drucker, 1999).

Thus, successful organization set performance measures that focus attention, identifies and communicate success which support organization leaning and provides a basis for assessment and reward (Brown, 1996).

Organizational performance is measured in terms of customer satisfaction, through reduced customer complaints (Kloot, 1999). In order to be able to perform, organizations should critically look

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at customers and all stakeholders in business and know how best they are satisfying their needs. Kloot (1999) adds that organizations should continuously improve their services through assets accumulation,

create value, improved quality services and flexibility, organizations operating activities is effective when control are built into the organization, infrastructure becoming part of the very essence of the organizations success in terms of continued improvement on performance standards as part of the competitive advantage of the organization.

1.2  STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

Despite the central role of planning and control in sustaining organizational performance, it is obvious that the system still fall short in the following, areas posses as the problem leading to the research work, which include the following:

1.  Can the effectiveness of planning and control in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria be examined?

2.  Can the level of performance of the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria be established?

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3.  Can we establish a relationship between planning, and; control and performance in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria?

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.  To examine the effectiveness of planning and control used in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria plc.

2.  To establish the level of performance in cement company of Northern Nigeria plc.

3.  To establish a relationship between planning and control and performance in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria plc.

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following hypotheses were formulated for this research:

i.  That there is no effectiveness in planning and control in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria.

ii. That the level of performance of Cement Company of Northern Nigeria cannot be established.

iii.    That there is no relationship between planning and control and performance in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria.

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1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1.  The study results will be useful to management, Board of directors, and all stakeholders of Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, specifically they will use the findings from the study to redesign policies aimed at improving on the levels of performance.

2.  Findings will also be available for reference by academicians, researchers who seek to conduct further research under this study.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In the process of conducting this research the study was confined on planning and control as an independent variable and the effectiveness will be measured base on control environment control activities, information and communication flow in ling with the laws and regulations toward monitoring of operation and performance of cement company of northern Nigeria.

1.7 SCHEME OF CHAPTERS

This project has been divided info five (5) chapters as follows:

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Chapter one focuses on the introductory aspect of the study comprising background to the study, statement of research problem, objective .of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, and scheme of chapters.

Chapter two features the literature review which consist of, introduction, concept of planning and control, planning process, control system, components of control system, elements of control system, common weakness of control system, organizational performance, planning, control and organizational performance.

Chapter three deals with the research methodology and means of data collection.

Chapter four is based on data presentation and; data analysis. It also addresses and discusses findings.

Chapter five highlights summary of the findings, proffer recommendation, and finally conclusions.