The paper aims to study research on performance management (PM) practices in the public and private sector. Its basic assumption is that because of considerable differences between public and private sector organisations and management the practices of PM in the two sectors will differ as well. The paper intends to identify major issues, concepts, applications and utilizations of PM in both sectors in a comparative view over the last 20 years. It tackles the issue of PM from the perspective of financial management. By applying several dimensions of the public/private-distinction (ownership, funding, control, type of goals) to the analysis of performance management systems (PMS), and by developing an analytical framework to study the “design” and the “use” stage of a PMS, the authors formulate a set of seven hypotheses for the intended review. This paper informs about the first exploratory phase of a literature review of altogether 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals over the last two decades. The review confirms differences between public and private sector PM-practices, although less strong as assumed. Public PM-practices put more emphasis on multidimensional performance criteria and are less linked to strategies. Targeting and monetary incentives are less relevant in public organisations. And finally, the use of performance information is less intensive and sometimes only symbolic in this sphere. The authors provide some theoretical explanation for the presented evidence. The exploratory study shows that some of the hypotheses need to be refined and restructured. In the intended second phase of this research, the authors will redefine the selection criteria for the review, extend the scope of articles for review and reformulate the hypotheses.