Assessment of cost control systems: A case study of Thai construction organizations

The most important function that facilitates construction organizations to accomplish profit maximization is cost control. However, the absence of a well-established cost control system has caused failures to many Thai contractors especially during the current economic recession period. To comprehensively understand cost control systems in practice, this study theoretically assessed effectiveness as well as the deficiencies of the traditional systems vis-a-vis the effective systems. In addition, by contrasting what are found in effective systems but not found in traditional systems, critical attributes most contributing to the systems' successfulness were identified so that the improvement steps can be suitably prioritized. The validated findings indicated remarkable contrasts between traditional and effective systems. Two critical aspects, including advancement of cost control framework and systematic participation of site personnel in cost control, were found to be the major differences. Interestingly, similar conditions were encountered in various countries such as Greece, Pakistan and Australia; hence suggestions from this study could be internationally useful.