Contemporary Issues in Management Accounting

management accounting problems

As mandatory regulations related to reporting on and assurance of sustainability data begin to take hold, now is the time for CPAs in a variety of roles to position themselves to take advantage. Respondents also were asked about the effect of election uncertainty on business forecasting and about the effect of a potential lowering of interest rates. Leaders at private and newly public companies are optimistic about growth opportunities, although many view the pivotal role that artificial intelligence plays to be a double-edged sword. Studying the influence of formalisation in the functional relationship between the accounting and marketing departments, Opute et al. [64] suggest a positive association. In other words, they argue that the more formalised the processes in the firm, the higher the achieved integration between both functional areas. However, Opute et al. [64] note that whether this positive association is achieved would depend on the integration component (information sharing, unified effort and involvement) considered.

Management Accounting and Sustainability

Organisations must embrace strategic management accounting practices that would enable them understand the market, their competitors, and the customers and leverage the intelligence from that knowledge to organise their operations towards profitably satisfying the customer. Thus, organisations must ensure that good costing, planning, control and performance measurement; strategic decision-making, customer accounting and competitor accounting measures are embraced to enable them compete effectively. This study follows the theoretical foundation that strategic management accounting would aid effective management decision-making, and ultimately boost organisational performance. In line with the aim of this study, relevant literature is reviewed to explain the theoretical premise of this study.

Discover content

For example, Cadez and Guilding [9] considered the prospector, defender and analyser typologies in the Slovenian context, while Ojra [58] considered the prospector and defender typologies in the Palestinian contexts. In their study of Italian manufacturing companies, Cescon et al. [11] found a positive association of perceived environmental uncertainty and strategic pricing usage as a feature of the strategic decision-making SMA technique. In other words, the more the perceived environmental uncertainty, the higher the usage of the strategic pricing feature of the strategic decision-making SMA component. From the perceptual lens, the environment could be viewed as certain or uncertain only to the extent that decision makers perceive it to be (e.g. [1, 11]). Perceived environmental uncertainty is described as the absence of information relating to organisations, activities and happenings in the environment [20].

Challenges in reporting on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: a management accounting focus

management accounting problems

You need to be persuasive and convincing and be educated in both human capital management and financial capital management, according to Lon Searle, former CFO of YESCO Franchising LLC. Learn more about the critical importance of technology adoption, the benefits of an integrated tech stack, and the potential pitfalls of a “watch-and-wait” approach. “At the start of the pandemic, we saw a lot of firms who were not set up for remote work and were really scrambling. And these firms, many of them were horrified at the idea of their employees working remotely.

While these would be desirable, this is not a huge shortcoming for this particular subject matter. The lack of a Table of Contents or chapter listing within the PDF of the book itself is an issue. The book follows a logical pattern in presenting the topical information, though slightly different from how I currently teach managerial accounting.

  • But I think that’s a matter of personal preference not impacting the learning experience for the student.
  • That conclusion supports the findings in Gordon and Narayanan [26], but contrast the view in Tuan Mat’s [85] exploration of management accounting practices.
  • In summary, the chapters in this book are concise, well written and are supported by useful references.
  • This is done by analyzing all of the corporation’s fixed costs along with all of its variable costs.

Similar content being viewed by others

But for the most part they are very well known (I think with college age students as well) so most likely helps peak interest. I observed some unusual omitted spaces, but that was possibly a function of my specific PDF viewer. Using some previously presented information is inevitable in a Managerial Accounting class; however, many of the individual chapters could be presented on a stand-alone basis with some instructor of the credit introduction. Using individual chapters in a modular fashion would also be particularly attractive if the text was being used as supplemental text for a typical Accounting II course. Specific chapters relating to Managerial topics could be used as supplementary material in an Accounting II course. Coverage of the content appeared to be accurate, unbiased, and consistent with current Managerial Accounting principles.

Consumer products with artificially high production costs will lead to higher than average consumer prices and potentially lower sales. Management accounting can also create sales or production forecasting models that do not take into account current or future economic situations. Business owners and managers could make incorrect decisions or inferences from these forecasts, creating serious repercussions for the business. Management accounting may require businesses to operate under specific constraints. Constraints represent specific guidelines or policies that limit the financial expenditures of a company or its division and departments. Constraints include budgets, petty cash accounts and authorized purchase orders by owners or directors.

Mulling also recommends getting involved in your profession at the local or global level. For instance, the IMA provides that opportunity and also helps professionals create a network for career opportunities, skill enhancement, and decision support. Kuchen adds that devising new systems, business processes, and analyses that save the company money and help it run more efficiently, along with showing an interest in and aptitude for cost accounting, will help you advance.

The research found that 41 percent of firm leaders said they might invest more in automation technology. Keeping up with the revolving door of regulatory and legislative changes is no small feat. That’s why it is no surprise that the AICPA’s most recent “Top Firm Issues Survey” found that “keeping up with changes and complexity of tax laws” is among the top issues for firms large and small. Managerial Accounting by Heisinger and Hoyle also contains a handful of other pedagogical aids to compliment your lectures and help your students come to class prepared. From a focus on decision-making, to end of chapter materials that can only be characterized as very deep and very wide, to ethics coverage, group projects and spreadsheet applications—these features allow you to teach the course you want to teach and assign the materials you like to assign.

The most significant limitation was that many of the chapters rely on a single theoretical perspective. The chapters I liked the most were able to examine and critique their area from multiple theoretical perspectives. One of the best was the chapter by Kraus and Lind on management control in inter‐organizational relationships.