A balanced scorecard is a strategy performance management tool – a well-structured report used to keep track of the execution of activities by staff and to monitor the consequences arising from these actions.

The term 'balanced scorecard' primarily refers to a performance management report used by a management team, and typically focused on managing the implementation of a strategy or operational activities. In a 2020 survey 88% of respondents reported using the balanced scorecard for strategy implementation management, and 63% for operational management. Although less common, the balanced scorecard is also used by individuals to track personal performance; only 17% of respondents in the survey reported using balanced scorecards in this way. However it is clear from the same survey that a larger proportion (about 30%) use corporate balanced scorecard elements to inform personal goal setting and incentive calculations.

The critical characteristics that define a balanced scorecard are:

The balanced scorecard was initially proposed as a general purpose performance management system. Subsequently, it was promoted specifically as an approach to strategic performance management. The balanced scorecard has more recently become a key component of structured approaches to corporate strategic management.

Two of the ideas that underpin modern balanced scorecard designs concern making it easier to select which data to observe, and ensuring that the choice of data is consistent with the ability of the observer to intervene.

Organizations have used systems consisting of a mix of financial and non-financial measures to track progress for quite some time. One such system, the Analog Devices Balanced Scorecard, was created by Art Schneiderman in 1987 at Analog Devices, a mid-sized semi-conductor company. Schneiderman's design was similar to what is now recognised as a "First Generation" balanced scorecard design.

In 1990, Schneiderman participated in an unrelated research study led by Robert S. Kaplan in conjunction with US management consultancy Nolan-Norton, and during this study described his work on performance measurement. Subsequently, Kaplan and David P. Norton included anonymous details of this balanced scorecard design in a 1992 article. Although Kaplan and Norton's article was not the only paper on the topic published in early 1992, it was a popular success, and was quickly followed by a second in 1993. In 1996, the two authors published The Balanced Scorecard. These articles and the first book spread knowledge of the concept of balanced scorecards, leading to Kaplan and Norton being seen as the creators of the concept.

While the "corporate scorecard" terminology was coined by Schneiderman, the roots of performance management as an activity run deep in management literature and practice. Management historians such as Alfred Chandler suggest the origins of performance management can be seen in the emergence of the complex organization – most notably during the 19th century in the US. Other influences may include the pioneering work of General Electric on performance measurement reporting in the 1950s and the work of French process engineers (who created the tableau de bord – literally, a "dashboard" of performance measures) in the early part of the 20th century. The tool also draws strongly on the ideas of the 'resource based view of the firm' proposed by Edith Penrose. None of these influences is explicitly linked to in the original descriptions of balanced scorecard by Schneiderman, Maisel, or Kaplan & Norton.