Handbook Of Management Accounting

Management accounting or managerial accounting is concerned with the provisions and use of accounting information to managers within organizations, to provide them with the basis to make informed business decisions that will allow them to be better equipped in their management and control functions. Within the area of Management Accounting there are almost an infinite number of tools, methods, techniques and approaches floating around. The distinction between ‘traditional’ and ‘innovative’ accounting practices is perhaps best illustrated with the visual timeline of managerial costing approaches presented at the Institute of Management Accountants 2011 Annual Conference. Traditional Standard Costing (TSC), used in Cost Accounting dates back to the 1920’s and is a central method in management accounting practiced today because it is used for financial statement reporting for the valuation of Income Statement and Balance Sheet line items such as Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and Inventory valuation. Traditional Standard Costing must comply with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP US) and actually aligns itself more with answering Financial Accounting requirements rather than providing solutions for management accountants. Traditional approaches limit themselves by defining cost behaviour only in terms of production or sales volume. The book will be of use to the students, researchers and general readers of this subject.