Intro to management Accounting

In Management accounting or managerial accounting, managers use the provisions of accounting information in order to better inform themselves before they decide matters within their organizations, which aids their management and performance of control functions.The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) states that management accounting as practice extends to the following three areas:
Strategic management—advancing the role of the management accountant as a strategic partner in the organization.
Performance management—developing the practice of business decision-making and managing the performance of the organization.
Risk management—contributing to frameworks and practices for identifying, measuring, managing and reporting risks to the achievement of the objectives of the organization.
The Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) .states "A management accountant applies his or her professional knowledge and skill in the preparation and presentation of financial and other decision oriented information.
Differences between financial accountancy and management accounting
Management accounting information differs from financial accountancy information in several ways:
while shareholders, creditors, and public regulators use publicly reported financial accountancy information, only managers within the organization use the normally confidential management accounting information; while financial accountancy information is historical, management accounting information is primarily forward-looking; while financial accountancy information is case-based, management accounting information is model-based with a degree of abstraction in order to support generic decision making; while financial accountancy information is computed by reference to general financial accounting standards, management accounting information is computed by reference to the needs of managers, often using management information systems.
Financial accounting focuses on the company as a whole .
Management accounting provides detailed and disagregated information about products, individual activities, divisions, plants, operations and tasks.
Specific methodologiesActivity-based costing (ABC) Activity-based costingGrenzplankostenrechnung (GPK)Lean accounting (accounting for lean enterprise)Resource consumption accounting (RCA)Throughput accountingTransfer pricingListed below are the primary tasks/services performed by management accountants.
The degree of complexity relative to these activities are dependent on the experience level and abilities of any one individual.
Rate and volume analysis Business metrics development Price modeling Product profitability Geographic vs.
industry or client segment reporting Sales management scorecards Cost analysis Cost–benefit analysis Cost-volume-profit analysis Life cycle cost analysis Client profitability analysis IT cost transparency Capital budgeting Buy vs.
lease analysis Strategic planning Strategic management advice Internal financial presentation and communication Sales forecasting Financial forecasting Annual budgeting Cost allocation
Related qualifications
There are several related professional qualifications and certifications in the field of accountancy including:
Management Accountancy Qualifications CIMA ICMA ICAI CMA Other Professional Accountancy Qualifications Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, CIPFA Chartered Certified Accountant, (ACCA) Chartered Accountant, (CA) Certified Public Accountant, (CPA) American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA Australia) Chartered Global Management Accountant