INTRODUCTION TO MANAGERIAL
1 ACCOUNTING
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Managerial accounting provides accounting information for internal users in a firm. Specifically, managerial
accounting identifies, collects, measures, classifies, and reports financial and nonfinancial information that is
useful to internal users in planning, controlling, and decision making. Managerial accounting also has no
mandatory rules, emphasizes the future, and is multidisciplinary.
2. The three broad objectives of managerial accounting are to provide information for planning, controlling, and
decision making.
3. The users of managerial accounting information are generally managers and other employees of a firm.
Managerial accounting information is typically not provided to outsiders but may be in selected cases. For
example, a bank may require budgeting information for the next few years before agreeing to grant a loan.
4. A managerial accounting system typically provides both financial and nonfinancial information. For example,
financial information on cost of production is tracked. Other information, such as the number of warranty
returns, may also be tracked by the management information system.
5. Controlling involves comparing the expected performance with the actual performance to see what
differences, if any, exist.
6. Planning occurs first. Planning requires setting objectives and identifying the means of achieving those
objectives. Then, the results of the plan are compared with the plan, which is called controlling. Clearly, it is
also feedback, in that any impediments or unexpected occurrences are noted. This feedback is then used to
develop the plan for the next period.
7. Managerial accounting is internally focused, does not follow mandatory rules, keeps track of both financial
and nonfinancial information, emphasizes the future, and relies on a broad range of disciplines. Financial
accounting, on the other hand, is externally focused, follows externally imposed rules (such as GAAP), has a
historical orientation, and provides information about the company as a whole.
8. Managerial accountants have had to broaden their focus beyond simple financial reporting to include the
gathering of information on all types of costs and of the value of the product or service to customers. These
broader costs are used in planning and decision making.
9. Customer value is the difference between what a customer receives and what the customer gives up when
buying a product or service. The focus on customer value forces management accounting to look at many
types of costs, not simply manufacturing cost. These may include the price of the good or service,
maintenance costs, search costs, learning costs, and disposal costs.
10. The value chain is the set of activities required to design, develop, produce, market, and deliver products
and services to customers. It is important because it helps the company to understand its role in serving
customers and to develop strategic competence.
11. Today’s managerial accountant must understand many functions of the business, from manufacturing to
marketing to distribution to customer service, in order to provide appropriate information for managing the
value chain. Increased international trade means the managerial accountant must be familiar with not only
business practices and laws in his or her own country but also in the countries with which the company
trades.
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, CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Managerial Accounting
12. Enterprise risk management (ERM) refers to the formal process of identifying the factors or threats, both
internal and external to the organization, that might prevent the organization from achieving its strategic
objectives. The managerial accountant plays an increasingly important role in ERM by providing financial and
nonfinancial measures of these threats and communicating them to high-level executives (e.g., chief risk
officer, chief financial officer, board of directors) in the organization who manage these factors.
13. Line positions are those that have direct responsibility for the basic objectives of an organization. These
typically include producing and selling a product. Staff positions are supportive in nature (e.g., human
resources, maintenance) and have only indirect responsibility for an organization’s basic objectives.
14. Yes, the controller should be a member of top management. This is because the controller, as the chief
accountant for the firm, has a wealth of information needed by top management in determining the strategic
direction of the firm.
15. Ethical behavior involves choosing actions that are right, proper, and just. Yes, it is possible to teach aspects
of ethical behavior in a managerial accounting classroom. Students need to see examples of right and wrong
behavior in business. These examples help them to recognize ethical dilemmas later on the job.
16. One major theme or executive pressure common to many of the recent accounting scandals is a focus on the
short term, rather than the long term. For example, WorldCom wrongly decided to increase current period net
income by inappropriately decreasing current period expenses (by recording more of the expenditures as an
asset that would be expensed in small amounts each period rather than all at once in the current period).
Often, the high-level executives that perpetrate such financial fraud are rewarded by incentives that
overweight current period net income performance relative to long-term net income performance. Another
major theme common to many of the accounting and banking frauds is a lack of sufficient transparency, or
clarity, in the types and timing of the information that is reported to parties outside of the organization. Some
business experts also would argue that a third common theme underlying many of these scandals was the
lack of sufficient oversight (i.e., watchdog mentality) by the perpetrating organization’s auditors, board of
directors, or both.
17. The three forms of certification discussed are the Certified Management Accountant, the Certified Public
Accountant, and the Certified Internal Auditor. While all three are appropriate to the accountant within the
company, only the CMA exam is interdisciplinary and covers the broad range of subjects faced by the
managerial accountant.
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, CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Managerial Accounting
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
1-1. c
1-2. b
1-3. a
1-4. b
1-5. e
1-6. e
1-7. d
1-8. d
1-9. b
1-10. e
1-11. d
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