This study investigates the eAects of national culture on firms’ design of and employees’ preference for management controls. Data for testing two hypotheses are collected from 159 Taiwanese managers working in six each of Japanese-, Taiwanese-, and U.S.-owned, size-matched, computers/electronics firms in Taiwan. Overall, the results are consistent with national culture aAecting these firms’ design of and employees’ preference for seven management controls, though there also are anomalies. These findings are combined with prior research for identifying desirable improvements in research design and method, variable measurement and selection, and, most important, the theoretical foundation for culture-based research on management controls. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.