Traditional managerial accounting has often been criticized as ineffective, and in some cases even misleading, leaving many line managers skeptical of the information it provides. Modern management accounting addresses these shortcomings by developing precise cost-per-unit metrics that support budgeting, cost analysis, and performance control. Activity-Based Costing (ABC) enhances accuracy by tracing costs through cause-and-effect relationships rather than relying on broad overhead allocations. This fact-based approach delivers clear visibility into true profit margins across products, service lines, sales channels, and customers. In addition, ABC empowers organizations to reduce costs and improve productivity by reporting unit costs that track trends and benchmark performance against competitors. By moving beyond outdated accounting methods, organizations can unlock significant strategic and financial advantages.
Learning Objectives
Understand current best management accounting techniques
Major Topics
- A taxonomy of accounting: tax, financial, managerial A spectrum of direct and indirect absorption costing Fact-based Data with Activity Based Costing (ABC ) Why do we need advanced management accounting techniques, such as ABC? How the ABC cost assignment network structure connects costs to products and sales channels Learn to use ABC to manage product, service-line, channel, and customer profitability Understand two views of costs: (1) process view versus (2) product view Comparing ABC with time-driven ABC, resource consumption accounting (RCA), lean accounting, and other costing techniques Operational Costing to Optimize Process Costs
- How driver-based budgets and rolling financial forecasts lead to productivity improvement and cost reduction Applying “Attributes” to assess ”value-added costs” and “costs of quality (COQ)” The Shift in ROI’s Source from Tangible to Intangible Assets Increasing the ROI from information – with Corporate Performance Management (CPM) as a Value-Multiplier Accelerating the Rate of Adoption for Implementing and CPM Understand the barriers that slow the adoption rate of CPM: technical, misperceptions, model design, and social / cultural How to overcome behavioral resistance to change
