This summary provides an overview of managerial accounting, with a focus on providing financial information for internal decision making and strategic planning. It covers core concepts such as cost analysis, budgeting, performance measurement and decision support. It highlights the difference betwe...
Part I: Introduction to Management Accounting, Cost Terms and Cost
behavior
Chapter 1: Managerial Accounting, the Business Organization, and Professional Ethics
Financial accounting vs Management accounting
Financial accounting
→ develops information for external decision makers, such as stockholders, suppliers,
banks, and government regulatory agencies.
Output = financial statements:
- The income statements
- The statement of stockholders’ equity
- The balance sheets
- The statement of cash flows
Managerial accounting
→ produces information for managers within an organization or internal decision makers
who direct and control operations.
Tools to make decisions needed to be successful and to run the business better.
Roles of Accounting Information
Basic purposes of accounting information:
1. Decision making
→ decisions range from the routine (setting daily production schedules) to the non-routine
(launching a new product lune)
,2. Planning and Controlling
→ planning refers to setting objectives for an organization and outlining how it will attain
them
→ controlling is monitoring the day-to-day operation and keeping the company on track
(i.e. evaluating the results of the plans by comparing he actual results to the expected
results or the budget)
Example:
Accounting information systems
→ accounting systems are formal mechanisms for gathering, organizing, and
communicating information about an organization’s activities.
Cost-benefit balance: the value of a system must be seen as exceeding its cost.
Behavioral implications: managers should also consider behavioral implications, that is, the
system’s effect on employees’ decisions and behavior.
,Vision model:
- We tend to think of accountants as boring and dry, BUT
- Accountants are instrumental in helping to create a prosperous society. They take
economic activities, use critical thinking and accounting judgements to turn it into
useful information that can be used to make good business decisions.
Planning and Control for Product Life Cycles and the Value Chain
- Product life cycles range from a few months (for fashion clothing or faddish toys) to
many years (for automobiles or refrigerators)
- Some products, such as many computers software packages, have long development
stages and relatively short market lives
- Others, such as Boeing airplanes, have a market life many times longer than their
development stage
- Many companies are working to shorten the product developments phase: 1) to
reduce the time during which a product generates no revenue and 2) to bring
products to market on a timelier basis.
At each stage, managers face differing costs and potential returns:
- In the planning process, managers must determine revenues and costs over the
entire life cycle
- Throughout the life cycle: accounting also needs to track actual costs and revenues
- Periodic comparison between planned costs and revenues and actual costs and
revenues allow managers to assess the current profitability of a product determine
its current life-cycle stage, and make any needed chances in strategy (ex. Pfizer)
, → Accounting facilitates cost planning
→ Accountants control using budgets and performance reporting and help track the effects
of continuous improvement programs
→ Accountants provide estimated revenue and cost data during the research and
development stage and during the design stage of the value chain
→ Accountants analyze the trade-off between the increased revenue expected from a
marketing program and its cost
→ Accounting information can influence decision about distributing products or services to
customer
→ Accountants provide cost data for customer service activities
Basic Organizational Structure
Stockholders – elect → BoD – appoint → Managers
Line managers: directly involved with making and selling the organization’s products or
services
Staff positions: advisory, they support the line managers (no authority)
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