Management Accounting - Basics

Posted: Jun 22, 2011 |Comments: 0 |

Management accounting is the provisions and use of the information found in the accounts by managers of an organization. Based on this information, managers make crucial decisions and have a control over the business activities for the welfare of the business organization. Unlike financial accounts, managerial accounts focus more on the future rather than pondering over the past happenings. It is model based structure which would assist decision making. Unlike financial accounts which are used by stock holders, management accounts are used by managers. While financial accounts are publicly reported, management accounts are confidential. It is a process of identification, measurement, analysis and interpretation of information which is used for a management plan.

Components of Management Accounts

Preparation of financial accounts for non management groups like shareholders, creditors and tax authorities for instance are included in management accounting. Such accounting comprises of strategic management, performance management and risk management. A management accountant uses his skills to prepare financial and decision oriented information which helps a lot while formulating policies. Therefore it is considered to be a value creating discipline. Management accountants focus more on the future of an organization.

Traditional and innovative methods

Management accounting practices may be traditional or innovative. Such traditional and innovative techniques vary from one another by their cost control approaches. Cost control is the main focus of management accounts. In traditional methods, variance analysis is used to compare actual and budgeted costs. In innovative techniques, lifecycle cost analysis and activity based costing are used to make such comparisons. A managerial accountant could control the cost of manufacture through lifestyle costing and could make changes in the product with activity based costing. Lifecycle costing and activity based costing also help to avoid situations of machine breakdowns and reduces cost of raw materials.

Types of Management Accounting

Management accountants do dual reporting which includes interaction with the business team and with the financial division of a corporate. In corporations like banks, publishing houses and telecommunication companies IT costs poses as a big expense. The management accountant works with the IT department to obtain IT cost transparency. Lean accounting suits companies with mass production and does not recommend any business practices at production stages. Resource consumption accounting is a dynamic, principal based approach which provides decision support information. Throughput accounting involves interdependencies of modern production systems. This discipline of accounts is a very important part of Chartered Accountant courses.

Questions and Answers

Ask
200 Characters left
Rate this Article
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 0 vote(s)
    Feedback
    Print
    Re-Publish
    Source:  http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/management-accounting-basics-4938466.html

    Article Tags:

    management accounting

    ,

    management accounts

    ,

    managerial accounts

    Managerial accounting help makes a business profitable and complete. It is the need of the hour and the only way the company can compete with its peers.

    By: Peter Terryl Businessl Jul 14, 2009 lViews: 387

    All businesses would like to think that they will keep the same customers and clients for the remainder of their lives, but this is seldom true.

    By: Prasanth Saravanabhaval Finance> Accountingl Jan 10, 2012
    MOHAMMAD WAHID ABDULLAH KHAN

    Summary: Financial accounting reports are prepared for the use of external parties such as shareholders and creditors, whereas managerial accounting reports are prepared for managers inside the organization.

    By: MOHAMMAD WAHID ABDULLAH KHANl Finance> Accountingl Feb 02, 2011 lViews: 275

    The importance of managerial accounting in the workplace

    By: Michelle Moranl Finance> Accountingl Jun 23, 2010 lViews: 2,289

    Advertising requires account managers serve as liaisons between clients and companies. These Advertising Account Managers should be creative, have the ability to do advertising research and be well organized.

    By: Jasonl Education> College and Universityl Mar 29, 2011

    Advertising Account is the client service area of the integrated marketing and communications industry. In order to enter this field, most people have previous experience in Advertising.

    By: Emmal Education> International Studiesl Jun 20, 2011

    The competition among students with their marks is becoming tougher and tougher to get admission in the best colleges of Delhi. Delhi university cut off marks seems to be unrealistic as it has touched the pinnacle in last few years.

    By: Bibon Pattrickl Education> College and Universityl Jun 01, 2012

    For the first time, SOL will offer the facility of online admission for undergraduate courses. Students can download and submit application forms on the SOL website - Sol.du.ac.in

    By: silent planetl Education> College and Universityl May 31, 2012

    In order to perform a search and get the exact college textbook that is required you need the following information; Title, Author, Volume# or Edition#, and the ISBN number. Armed with this information you are able to search online or in other bookstore for the exact item for a college book and not pay university prices. There are many different sites online that offer a college textbook at a better price. But don't discount the local public library. You may be able to find your college textbook

    By: EvertonAl Education> College and Universityl May 31, 2012

    The prices of collect textbooks continue to rise. That's the bad news. And the good news is that there are ways to get cheap textbooks – you either rent or buy them from college bookstores online.

    By: EvertonAl Education> College and Universityl May 31, 2012

    Textbooks are your major expenses of every semester, and they can be very, very expensive. But there's good news here: you can buy them at discounted prices from 40% - 85%. And what do you need to do?

    By: EvertonAl Education> College and Universityl May 30, 2012

    Not all realize that management is a separate issue from leadership. Many leaders have difficulty doing one and continuing to do the other. Sadly, a manager is sometimes still looked upon as an operational piece of the organization. This leads some to firmly believe that managers should be chosen to manage and leaders to lead.

    By: Bennyl Education> College and Universityl May 25, 2012

    The financial risk management is said to be the procedure of setting up the economic value in any company by using the financial instruments in order to handle the exposure to the risk, specially the market risk and the credit risk.

    By: Bennyl Education> College and Universityl May 25, 2012

    A corporation is legally separate and financially separate from its owners. Individual states control the rules for forming corporations within their boundaries. A company must have a corporate charter that describes the business, how the business plans to acquire financing, and how many owners it will be allowed to have.

    By: Bennyl Education> College and Universityl May 25, 2012

    The dielectric constant and loss are important properties of interest to electrical engineers because these two parameters, among others, decide the suitability of a material for a given application. Dielectric relaxation is studied to reduce energy losses in materials used in practically important areas of insulation and mechanical strength.

    By: Bennyl Education> College and Universityl May 25, 2012

    A factorial experiment is an experimental design that allows simultaneous conclusions about two or more factors. The term factorial is used because the experimental conditions include all possible combinations of the factors.

    By: Bennyl Education> College and Universityl May 25, 2012

    Discuss this Article

    Author Box
    Articles Categories
    All Categories
    Quantcast