PROFIT CENTER ACCOUNTING’S ROLE IN INCREASING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE – THE EXAMPLE OF THE AGROKOR CONCERN

Suvremeno poduzeće i sustav upravljanja potrebno je organizirati tako da se postigne njegovo optimalno funkcioniranje. U tom nastojanju primjenjuju se brojni modeli organizacije i upravljanja prikladni za različite praktične situacije. Suvremena poduzeća okreću se decentralizaciji organizacije u svrhu postizanja optimalnih rezultata. Decentralizaciju se provodi mijenjanjem organizacijske strukture što dovodi do pojave centara odgovornosti kao jednog od načina decentralizacije. Najstarija podjela centara odgovornosti jest podjela na profitne, troškovne i investicijske centre. Najveću važnost među navedenim centrima imaju profitni centri jer je decentralizacijom poduzeća na profitne centre stvorena mogućnost kontroliranja profita pojedinih segmenata u složenim poduzećima. Tako je omogućen uvid u segmente koji doprinose profitabilnosti poduzeća, kao i one koji potencijalno ugrožavaju poslovanje. Računovodstvo odgovornosti predstavlja sustav planiranja i vrednovanja performansi poslovnih segmenata u cilju efikasnijeg upravljanja performansama kompanije te uključuje prikupljanje i pružanje informacija o troškovima, prihodima, dobiti i povratom na ulaganje, ovisno o razini vrednovanja, i to na osnovi svakoga pojedinog menadžera koji ima ovlasti donošenja odluka o tim stavkama. U okviru računovodstva odgovornosti, svaki kontroliran segment, računovodstveno praćen i mjeren za specifični skup aktivnosti, može biti prepoznat kao centar odgovornosti. Cilj rada ispitati je i ocijeniti doprinos centara odgovornosti uspješnosti poslovanja poduzeća te istražiti na koji način su poslovne aktivnosti pojedinih profitnih centara povezane i koliki je utjecaj njihovih rezultata na ukupan rezultat poduzeća na primjeru koncerna Agrokor.A modern company and its management should be organized in a way to achieve its optimal functioning. For that purpose numerous models of organization and management suitable for a variety of practical situations are applied. Nowadays, modern companies turn more to the decentralization of the organization in order to achieve optimal results. The oldest division of responsibility centers is the division into profit, cost and investment centers. Profit centers are of the greatest importance among them because decentralization of the company into profit centers creates the possibility for controlling the profit of individual segments in multi-productive companies. This gives insight into not only those segments that contribute to the company’s profitability, but also into those that could potentially threaten the business. Decentralization of organization in multi-productive companies strengthens the entrepreneurial forces and leads to the co-operation among individual profit centers within the same company. Responsibility accounting is a system of planning and evaluation of the performance of business segments with the aim of achieving a more efficient performance of the company. It includes collection and dissemination of information on costs, revenues, profits and return on investment, depending on the valuation level, on the basis of each individual manager who has decision-making power when it comes to these issues. Within responsibility accounting each segment, which is controlled, monitored and measured for specific set of activities, can be recognized as a responsibility center. The aim of the paper is to examine and evaluate the contribution of responsibility centers to the business performance of the concern and to explore how business activities of individual profit centers are associated. Furthermore, the paper examines the extent of impact of their results on the overall results of the Agrokor concern