Managerial accounting is concerned with providing information to managers--that is, people inside an organization who direct and control its operations, In contrast, financial accounting is concerned with porviding infromation to stockholders, creditors, and others who are outside an organization. Managerial accounting provides the essential data that are needed to run organizations. Financial accounting provides the essential data that are used by outsiders to judge a company's past financial performance.
Managerial accountants prepare a variety of reports. Some reports focus on how well managers of business units have performed--comparing actual results to plans and to benchmarks. Some reports provide timely, frequent updates on key indicators such as orders received, order backlog, capacity utilization, and sales. Other analytical reports are prepared as needed to investigate specific problems such as a decline in the profitability of a product line. And yet other reports analyqze a developing business situation or opportunity. In contrast, financial accounting is oriented toward producing a limited set of specific prescribed annual and quarterly financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
Because it is manager oriented, any study of managerial accounting must be preceded by some understanding of what managers do, the information managers need, and the general business environment. Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to briefly examine these subjects.
Chapter 1 Managerial Accounting and the Business Environment
Chapter 2 Cost Terms, Concepts, and Classifications
Chapter 3 Systems Design: Job-Order Costing
Chapter 4 Systems Design: Process Costing
Chapter 5 Cost Behavior: Analysis and Use
Chapter 6 Cost-Volume-Profit Relationships
Chapter 7 Variable Costing: A Tool for Management
Chapter 8 Activity-Based Costing: A Tool to Aid Decision Making
Chapter 9 Profit Planning
Chapter 10 Standard Costs and the Balanced Scorecard
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