So far, we've read the title and the first four sentences of the Abstract.

Now we know from the title and the first sentence of the abstract that the article also discusses control systems from an empirical perspective. So, if we now move to the fifth sentence in the abstract we see the reference to the empirical perspective:
"The validity and implications of these ideas are examined in the context of the control system of three organizations."
Notice that the sentence starts a new paragraph, separating the theoretical discussion in the first paragraph of the abstract from the reference to the empirical aspects in the second sentence. Also notice that we are told how many organizations are involved in the empirical discussion, ie three.

And what does the author claim he will do in the empirical discussion? He will do two things:
1. examine the validity of the ideas presented in the theoretical part of the article; and
2. examine the implications of those ideas.

We can expect the three case studies to be presented clearly, so if we now turn to the relevant section of the article, we can start to look for where they each appear. Turning to the section which starts with the subheading (in capital letters):
ACCOUNTING, BUDGETNG AND CONTROL SYSTEMS IN THEIR ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
(on page 160), by quickly scanning we see that the second sentence begins:
"In this section, three studies of accounting and budgetary systems ..."
The next sentence begins:
"The first deals with ..." and goes on to refer to "a medium sized residential real estate company in a metropolitan area of the United States". This study, we are told, deals with 'a traditional system for budgetary control'

The following sentence starts:
"The second study...", and continues by stating that it concerns a small distributor of industrial abrasives. Here, the study concerns the 'ability of an accounting system to function as part of the overall organizational control system'.

Then the sentence after that starts:
"The final study ...", which turns out to be a very large US financial institution. Here the study deals with an attempt to introduce a zero-based budgeting system.

At this point, you should make a brief note of the three case studies:

CS1: real estate company - traditional system of budgetary control
CS2: industrial abrasives - accounting system as part of organizational control system
CS3: finance institution - zero-based budgeting

I suggest using 'CS' as abbreviaion for 'case study', so that you will immediately recognise it in your notes as a reference to a case study.

Right, we're now on page 160, the eighth page of the article. But we've only read the Abstract on the first page. We've jumped to page 160 because the fifth sentence in the Abstract referred to 'three organizations'.

Also, we haven't read page 160; we've just quickly scanned the page, from the subheading at the bottom of the left hand column, to find where the author refers to the three organizations. He has been helpful by starting each of three sentences, one after the other, with a phrase that indicates that the key information is in those sentences. Or, rather, what the author has done is followed the normal practice for structuring an academic article - and we can make use of that to find key information quickly.

Whilst we are here, we can look further on to see where each case study organization is discussed in more detail. Again, we can make use of the way that academic articles are structure. Look just below where the author refers to the three organizations, on page 160. Notice a subheading in italic letters:

"Conventional budgeting and control systems."

The next sentences starts:
"In this section we examine the study of a budgeting system if a medium-sized US real estate company ..."
That's it! Case study number 1.
OK, don't read it now. Instead, find where the discussion of this organization ends. Scan the subheadings in italic letters:
"Nature of research site", "Firm's culture, structure and budgeting prior to study", and so on
until we find, on page 163:
"Implications".

This sounds like the end of the discussion of organization number 1. Sure enough, the next subheading is
"Accounting and control systems", followed by
"Nature of the research site" (near top of right hand column on page 163)
That sounds like a different case study from the first one. Look at the two lines just above the subheading:
"...we examine the role of accounting in the actual context of a US distributor of industrial abrasives."
That's it!

Right, just as you found the subheading 'Implications' for the first case study, scan ahead until you find a repeat. As you will see it's on page 165. That seems to suggest that the following sub-section is the final part of the second case study.
OK, carry on looking forward, over the page and there ... about half way down the left hand column on page 166 we see:
"Organizational culture and zero based budgeting as a control system."

Remember, the third case study was about 'zero based budgeting'. Here it is.

Right, don't read any more. Instead, let's go back to the Abstract, back to where we left it.

Continue to part 6