Management accounting and decision making Essay Example for Free

Management accounting and decision making Essay According to Burger (2008) â€Å"Accounting is the language of business. A lot of people think its just numbers, but its really a lot more than that. There are a lot of areas outside of numbers that need to be looked at, processes and procedures, what the tone of the company is. Accounting will take you in just about any direction in a company. ~ Wade Becker, CPA, Beard, Miller Co. The job description of many professions is changing nowadays. The skills to perform a certain job require more skills to perform a particular job. If an example of Information Technology is to be taken then it is realized that once they were left to do IT related jobs or make computers work however, in today’s world IT professionals are now moving into higher level management positions which require them to perform many other tasks which may not be directly related to the their profession. Therefore, a stereotypical role of an accountant was once considered a â€Å"number person† but today’s era demands accounting professional to own and use interactive and communication skills to help with the decision making process across all areas of a business. In a managerial accounting world all professionals must communicate their ideas to other companies using ways which are tactful and effective. Siegel (2000) states that â€Å"Management accountants should be great communicators.† Durry C (1992) believes that management accounting is â€Å"concerned with providing information to managers –that is people inside an organization who direct and control the operations.† In the 19th Century financial accounting was considered to be the need of a society which later evolved to Management accounting. Management accounting became a prerequisite for more detailed information for stock control, product costing and decisions affecting the future. Accou nting is facing numerous challenges, as Elkington (1998) states â€Å"business people must increasingly recognise that the challenge now is to help to deliver simultaneously economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity.† All this is making business managers to re-examine the practices that are currently led. Cokins G and Hicks D believe that Managerial accounting is part of an organisations management information system. To follow any business or an organisation aim managers engage in activities which involve an effective cost model as it can be a great asset to an organisation. A business or projects to be a success or failure three things need to be considered, for  example, cost, schedule and performance. A project should be continued within the means provided otherwise stakeholders struggle to finance the project and its abandoned. A success of a manager is when appropriate tools are employed and sound safe decisions are made and follow on with applying substantial level of expertise to have effective cost management. The world today is surrounded by increasingly advanced technology such as computer assisted manufacturing and flexible manufacturing systems. According to Cokins and Hicks organizations to compete effectively need to understand the cost of each product or element of their value chain from product design and purchase of material therefore internal cost is very important as mentioned in Cokins and Hicks article because it becomes critical for competitive action and increasing shareholders wealth in the current globally competitive economy. Management accounting systems are the benefactors of the precarious internal cost information. There has been few criticisms leading to the literature of Management accounting system and it has been labeled outdated and there has been criticisms linked to its consistency as it has been thought that it does not provide consistent information with the current strategic management paradigm. Cokins and Hicks believe that systems designs elements should capture the fundamental technology, promote a business based on effective cost model, quality and lead time. Precise and appropriate cost information is critical to management’s decision making procedures (Cokins and Hicks) and the literature being studied reveals Management accounting system reflects the organizational complications of the current world however traditional Management accounting systems do not replicate current organizational era as all costing procedures were designed around late nineteenth century. In traditional era product line diversity was not very common and cost of materials and direct labour were the main components of production cost but the environment today is surrounded around advanced technology and automation and that has led the prime cost to be the overhead component. The overhead costs are altering product cost because of the old management accounting system techniques. Management accounting needs a unique set of skills and behaviour. According to Cokins and Hicks Accounting Management framework gives business a planned approach to address all factors that will manage accounts interface and todays reality. Cooper and Kaplan believe there are six critical factors which play a crucial role  in Accounting Management framework which also backs Cokins and Hicks journal being studied for this assignment. The first one is organizational structure. It includes factors such as whom and how you manage accounts, why and how you organize around them. The second account management success factor is people as they need the appropriate skills, knowledge and skills to experience and perform the role. The third factor is tools and technology as it must support the account management processes and must balance â€Å"help† as â€Å"control.† The fourth one is compensations structures as they can inhibit change or accelerate adoption. The fifth account management success factors are processes and methodologies as they should align with the customer, drive growth and opportunity plan and the last factor channels and alliances must be managed effectively through the account manager interface.it is up to an organization to structure their useful employees around their key customers and that can create a deep impact on their performance. First few deliberate decisions need to be taken in terms of placement of accounts management resources such as market and territory. Cokins and Hicks believe management team need to plan using methodology a number of factors to create a ranking based on the business goal for the affiliation and ability to deliver. Once these methodologies are selected they can play a vital role in team structure and it will help to deal with issues such as ownership or shareholders Cokins and Hicks discuss the difference between cost accounting and managerial accounting and the strength of their article is that managerial accounting is tied with GAAP whereas cost accounting is used within a business to manage that particular business. Accounting standards of a country provide guidelines to an accountant so they can be used while reporting economic transactions of a business. United Kingdom accounting has improved a lot as mentioned in the journal being studied for this particular assignment. Managers have immense pressure to improve financial management practices to improve service to the community and it is not only done on national level. Managerial accountants have to keep accountant standards fair globally and that is mainly done through Accounting Standards Committee. â€Å"What gets measured gets managed, What needs managed gets measured† (Peter Drucker) famous quotes has cause many criticisms but if the practices and development mentioned in Cokins and Hicks journal are to be analyzed, one can conclude this quote has some truth. Managers of a business  often use this quote indicates that active management of businesses should be given importance instead of accountability to gain desired goals. It w ill lead to survive in today’s world of information age competition therefore businesses should ensure they are using management systems resulting from their strengths. Any business main task is to develop an active measurement system as it is main part of the management process. Good management practices lead to using certain measures to plan, implement and improve certain aspects of an organization. According to Kaplan, (1994) measurement is a difficult task because it is not related to science so there are no facts and does not have rules between variables. Furthermore, systems which are used by management accountants will make sure that actions are taken according to the strategies and objectives developed. There has been an immense amount of research on management accountants and the research evidence has proved that businesses which are using a developed measurement system are developing and gaining profits therefore, Gates (1991) states â€Å"an organizations objectives and severity of measures, varies, depending on people, culture and past experiences of the organization.† The management accountant was developed after 1980s and it was seen a golden era in management accounting research as it saw new techniques and practices beneficial to the management accounting. One of the techniques developed in 80s was strategic management accounting and some of the processes which fall under the category of strategic management accounting are activity based costing and balance scorecard. The balance scorecard emerged after it was realized that there is a need of an integrated system which can be used to measure both financial and non-financial performances. It helps companies to view their performances on a regular basis and it gave a clear view of what should be measured in order to balance a particular business financial perspectives. The balance score card consists of four functions known as learning and growth perspective. It means how to achieve a certain organizations goals and how will a business will sustain its ability to change and improve. the second perspective is financial and its aim is to succeed financially and is mainly concerned with making a good impression to shareholders. Another perspective is based on customers as they can determine sales and to achieve business goals a good impression is to be made upon customers. The last perspective is known as internal business  processes. It mainly deals with how to satisfy customers and shareholders and what business processes must a certain business excel as. (Kaplan and Norton:1996) Balance scorecard is one of the necessities for any organization and it is used by the management to accomplish vision and strategies of an organization and it has few other benefits too such as, making sure managers are managing every single variable within an organization and are not working upon favoritism. If more developments are to be discussed and strength of Cokins and Hicks journal than one must not forget one of the major development in an accounting field known as Activity-based costing. Kaplan and Cooper gave this idea a new beginning as it was not very well known in previous years. According to Kaplan (1996) manufacturing costs are determined by amount of â€Å"activities† and the key to effective cost control is maintaining the effectiveness of the act ivities ABC recognizes better cost pools for indirect costs and then implies cost drivers to relate the expenses in the cost pools to activities of an organization. ABC has become more popular in recent years but faces a lot of criticisms too due to the fact that sometimes businesses face difficulties in implementing this technique. ABC is enhanced further by Activity-based management as they believe in planning and measurement and class them as key factors in a competitive business environment. To conclude, If an organization has accounts managers or not a success can only be achieved if a successful profile is valued. It can be done through an industry as it will help determine to what extent an account manager is an industry expert and the second is through customers as it is vital for an accountant to understand the businesses being worked upon. The profession Accountancy has seen many developments and criticisms however, since 1980s there has been many changes in management accountancy. The new changes are focusing on measurement tools within a business to manage its aims and objectives. Management techniques are discussed briefly in this essay and they emphasize on Cokins and Hicks journal that management decisions can be made better by using effective management measurement tools and it leads to improving the management of an organization. There can be problem with new measurement techniques as nothing in life comes with a guarantee however, new ideas can be used on the basis of guess work and the new contributions could be a way forward.

Invisible Man Essay: Race, Blindness, and Monstrosity -- Invisible Ma

Race, Blindness, and Monstrosity in Invisible Man      Ã‚  Ã‚   I'd like to read Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man as the odyssey of one man's search for identity.   Try this scenario: the narrator is briefly an academic, then a factory worker, and then a socialist politico.   None of these "careers" works out for him.   Yet the narrator's time with the so-called Brotherhood, the socialist group that recruits him, comprises a good deal of the novel.   The narrator thinks he's found himself through the Brotherhood.   He's the next Booker T. Washington and the new voice of his people.   The work he's doing will finally garner him acceptance.   He's home.    It's a nice scenario, but the narrator realizes his journey must continue when Jack, the leader of the Brotherhood:    'Now see here,' he began, leaping to his feet to lean across the table, and I spun my chair half around on its hind legs as he came between me and the light, gripping the edge of the table, sputtering and lapsing into a foreign language, choking and coughing and shaking his head as I balanced on my toes, set to propel myself forward; seeing him above me and the others behind him as suddenly something seemed to erupt out of his face . . ."   (Ellison, Invisible Man, 409).    The careful bureaucracy gives way to rage; he regresses, spitting and swearing in a foreign tongue, leaning forward as if to attack the narrator.   And the eruption?   Jack is a Cyclops, the one-eyed mythological giant of terror and lawlessness:    I stared into his face, feeling a sense of outrage.   His left eye had collapsed, a line of raw redness showing where the lid refused to close, and his gaze had lost its command.   I looked from his face to the glass, thinking he's disem... ...Citizen is a rowdy drunk that no one listens to.   Yet Jack is a brother, or, as Invisible Man puts it, the great white father.   He's not such an easy enemy to defeat, and the problem won't just go away.   The map of racism, blindness, and monstrosity that Ellison draws is incomplete because the monster is never defeated.   Perhaps this too is characteristically American.   Ellison's evolved Cyclops has staying power.   He's grown resistant to the hero's tricks and, though blind, he will thrive.   Ellison's Odysseus is doomed to wander longer than eleven years.    [1] This is the Gaelic word for "nonsense".    Works Cited Ellison, Ralph.   Invisible Man.   New York: Random House, New American Library, 1952. Homer.   The Odyssey, translated Richmond Lattimore.   New York: Harper Collins, 1991. Joyce, James.   Ulysses.   New York: Random House, 1990.   

President Obama: Analysis of the 2014 State of the Union Address-Job Security and Future Essay

The State of the Union is an annual address the President of the United States delivers to a joint session of the United States Congress, and it’s now broadcasted on live television. It fulfills Article II; Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution—requiring the President to periodically give Congress information on the â€Å"State of the Union† and recommend any measures that he believes is necessary and expedient. The first State of the Union address was delivered by President George Washington on January 8, 1790, in New York City. The most recent address was delivered by President Barrack Obama on January 28, 2014, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives. Mr. Obama talks about various topics that America currently needs to focus on: improving American health care, enacting immigration reform, a smarter national security approach, moving America on from war, calling for Congress to allow more room for U.S. Diplomats to maneuverer and education imp rovements for American job in tomorrow’s economy. Jobs consequently affect everyone and these people need to be aware of what the president has in store for their current situation and stability. In his speech, Mr. Obama specifically focuses on jobs, job security and job improvements. President Obama begins this aspect of his State of the Union address by calling all business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders and law enforcement leaders—to repair the failing immigration system. He acknowledges how Democrats and Republicans, respectively, have already initiated the process to repair the immigration system and acknowledges that members of the House have intentions to follow suit of their Senate counterparts. According to Mr. Obama, independent economists have stated that our economy will improve expeditiously and will shrink the U.S. deficit by $1 trillion over the course of the next two decades. Obama says that immigrants play a vital role in the United States’ economy and growth; saying, â€Å"When people come here to fulfill their dreams — to study, invent, contribute to our culture — they make our country a more attractive place for business es to locate and create jobs for everybody.† (Barrack Obama. State of the Union. Washington, D.C. January 28, 2014) President Obama stresses the importance of have a plan in place by the end of 2014. However, Mr. Obama doesn’t just focus on immigrants realizing the â€Å"American Dream.† He has a vision for all Americans to have the necessary skills to  fill jobs. He talks about an inspiring woman, named Andra Rush; who had a vision to be an entrepreneur of her own auto parts manufacturing plant. She made a faithful call to the American Job Center, and received the workers that she needed to establish her company. Today, her company, Detroit Manufacturing Systems, has a workforce of 700 strong. Obama says this is the standard of â€Å"how it should be† for every American. President Obama made public that he called on Vice President Biden to lead America into a new, reformed training system. Vice President Biden is to ensure that every American has the opportunity to receive the necessary skills and training for a successful career. Mr. Obama gives Congress challenge—to concentrate on funding for proven programs. Mr. Obama publically displays his pleasure to Congress for letting unemployment insurance expire for an astounding 1.6 million people. He is convinced that if Americans had these benefits, they will be more readily to see k and gain employment. He tells of a letter a woman wrote to him and pleaded her case for unemployment insurance. She states that she’s never been dependent on government assistance, pays her taxes, and cares for her family and in time— confident that she’ll find a job. Obama demands that Congress to give hardworking Americans, like her, a fighting chance. He says he’s been asking C.E.O.s to give unemployed workers a fair chance for employment at their respective companies. He pleads with all business leaders to join him in the fight to end unemployment. Training children for â€Å"tomorrow’s workforce† is an essential part of the President’s speech. He believes that every child should be guaranteed access to a world-class education. He gives an inspirational story of a young immigrant boy, named Estiven Rodriguez. Estiven didn’t speak any English at the age of 9 when he moved to New York City. Obama praises Estiven because he not only shown perseverance through the language barrier, but he led his classmates on a journey to mail their college applications, having the love and support from parents and neighbors. Mr. Obama says proudly that Estiven is starting college in the fall. He proclaims that his administration, along with various government leaders, have already reformed how accessible student loans are readably available for aspiring college students. Obama states that all states should have a high standard in sending their children to college to pursue a successful career. He believes it is essenti al for schools to provide a more challenging curriculum to their students and  demands for parents to be more supportive for teachers—to help teachers find the most effective way to challenge their students to use their innermost thinking and problem solving. Obama stresses the importance it is to begin challenging children in the very beginning; by establishing high-quality pre-K guidelines. President Obama vows for the children to get quality pre-K then need. He reiterates his pledge that he guarantees high-speed internet access to 99% of the nation’s schools. He states proudly that over 15,000 schools and 20 million students will have that access over the next two years, without raising the national deficit. President Obama vows to help Americans, whom seem trapped by their delinquent student loan payments, to lower the monthly payment to 10% of their income. Mr. Obama makes a pledge to help American minorities and women obtain and maintain employment. He stresses how vital these Americans play a key role in the economy. Mr. Obama admits that it’s embarrassing that women only make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. He believes that both groups of people should have a fair shot to live the â€Å"American Dream† and not be discriminated against and calls for the rest of their counterparts to be unbiased. The president makes a proclamation that everyone should agree, despite their success, that no one should be subjected to raise a family in poverty. The pleas with employers to raise their wages—so families can strive and succeed. He then shifts his focus and calls for every mayor, governor and state legislator to no wait for Congress to initiate a move to raise the federal minimum wage. He praises corporations, as in Costco, who pay the employees high wages, and in turn see higher productivity and lower turnover ratio. Obama then claims that if an American is a federal contractor, they should not live in poverty, and vowed to hold an executive order to raise their wage to at least $10.10 per hour. President Obama proclaims he has a vision—for every American to strengthen their credit, reward their hard work and for them to have a strong, stable pension plan. This moves President Obama into the conclusion of his promises to Americans for tomorrow’s economy and workforce. He promises to help Americans save for retirement. He admits that most workers don’t have a pension plan and says that Social Security does little to relieve the stress for the elderly. He calls on the Treasury to create a new, innovative way to start their independent retirement savings—MyRA—which is a new savings bond that encourages people to build a  foundation, with no risk of losing what’s put in. He again calls on Congress to help him give fair tax breaks to everyone and to offer every American access to an automatic IRA. He concludes this portion of his speech by again making a vow that he wants to avoid another housing crisis and keep the dream alive for future Americans. President Barrack Obama has a broad, well-placed plan in effect. He stresses the importance of how vital each and every American plays a key role in the development of tomorrow’s economy. He wants to start from the beginning and train every American at an early age so th an America can thrive among world powers. He wants to do everything in his power to ensure that every American, regardless of race or sex, to have a fair shot at a successful future. Most importantly, he wants to ensure that every American should have the opportunity to earn a fair income during their working days and building for their future—American’s future.

William Blake And The French Revolution - 2017 Words

Since the beginning of modern times, the world has seen an arrival of conservative values in political theorists. Thomas J. J. Altizer believes radical theology is more silent than ever before and that, although William Blake was universally considered to be a madman in his time, his work as a poet and painter is widely recognised as a revolutionary visionary (Altizer, Pg. 33). It is clear that, had the French Revolution not happened, Blake probably would have been a mere poet and water colourist, with a turn to eccentricity. The French Revolution influenced many people all over the globe, including the radicals in London, to push and demand for immediate change. William Blake, a radical himself, was unable to stand by when the violation of rights and abuse of power was rampant and as a result he produced his revolutionary collection of poems ‘Songs of Innocence’ and ‘Songs of experience’. Blake realised that some of his radical beliefs, that were evident i n his work, were certainly going to be unpopular but he was determined to evoke immediate change by using his poetry as a weapon to force people to look at the world from many perspectives. The world in which Blake lived in was, for example; a world that thought to be proud in one’s achievements was sinful, or to give freely to the poor was frowned upon, as to do so might lead them to become discontent with their lot. It is apparent that Blake was risking everything, ready to appear before the world, preaching hisShow MoreRelated Essay of Comparison between The Tiger and The Lamb, poems by William Blake1506 Words   |  7 PagesEssay of Comparison between The Tiger and The Lamb, poems by William Blake The Tiger and The Lamb were poems by William Blake, a poet who lived in the 18th century. In this essay I am going to compare the two poems and examine links between them relating to rhymes, patterns and words used. 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