For years, small companies have experimented with forms of open-book management. Open-book systems have smoothed change efforts by giving workers the why instead of just the how of initiatives; they have enabled employees to think like owners. Now divisions of large organizations such as R.R. Donnelley & Sons and Amoco Canada are finding opening the books can work for them, too. It isn't easy, and companies must adapt the principles to their own situations. AES Corporation, for example, found that it had to declare all its employees "insiders" when it went public. One of the reasons for large companies' interest in open-book management is the success of a role-model company, Missouri-based Springfield ReManufacturing. Leaders of divisions of large companies have been able to visit and ask questions. Other early adopters are also showing competitive advantages. Among them are Wabash National, now the nation's leading truck and tractor manufacturer, and Physician Sales & Service, a distributor of supplies to doctors' office. Open-book principles are the same whether a company is large or small: every employee must receive all relevant financial information and be taught to understand it; managers must hold employees accountable for making their unit's goals; and the compensation system must reward everyone for the overall success of the business. Hexacomb Corporation is one large organization that has done well. Workers at the company's seven plants are inspired by a system of splitting profits over budget fifty-fifty: half goes to the company and half to the bonus pool. Such companies are learning the benefits of having everyone work to push the numbers in the right direction.
多年来，小公司一直在试验各种形式的开放式财务管理。开放式财务管理系统通过向员工说明举措的原因而非仅仅是做法，使变革工作更加顺利；它让员工能够像企业所有者一样思考。现在，诸如R.R. Donnelley & Sons和加拿大阿莫科等大型组织的部门也发现，公开账目对它们同样有效。这并非易事，公司必须根据自身情况调整这些原则。例如，AES公司发现，上市时必须将所有员工都视为“内部人员”。大公司对开放式财务管理感兴趣的一个原因是榜样公司——总部位于密苏里州的斯普林菲尔德再制造公司取得了成功。大公司各部门的领导得以前往参观并提问。其他早期采用者也展现出了竞争优势。其中包括现已成为美国领先的卡车和拖拉机制造商的瓦巴什国民公司，以及向医生办公室供应物资的经销商医师销售与服务公司。无论公司规模大小，开放式财务管理的原则都是相同的：每位员工都必须获取所有相关财务信息并学会理解这些信息；管理者必须让员工为实现所在部门的目标负责；薪酬体系必须根据企业的整体成功对每个人进行奖励。Hexacomb公司就是一家做得很好的大型组织。该公司七家工厂的员工受到一种利润分配制度的激励：超出预算的利润五五分成，一半归公司，一半进入奖金池。这些公司正在认识到让每个人都朝着正确方向推动数字所带来的好处。
