Introduction

The purpose of management accounting in the organization is to support competitive decision making by collecting, processing, and communicating information that helps management plan, control, and evaluate business processes and company strategy. The interesting thing about management accounting is that it is rare to find an individual within a company with the title of “management accountant.” Often many individuals function as accountants within the organization, but these individuals typically operate as financial accountants, costs accountants, tax accountants, or internal auditors. However, the ability to develop and use good management accounting is actually an important ability for many individuals, including
The financial strength of the organization must be prominent on the agenda of management. Innovative measures must be instituted and operations streamlined. Competitive prices must be adopted by the organization. Data on other competing products must be collected and carefully analyzed before investment decisions are taken. Cost benefit analysis is also important in the adoption of a particular method of production (labour or machines), make or buy decisions, inventory management and outsourcing. Management accounting provides the necessary data for these very essential decisions to be made.
Assisting Managers in Directing and Controlling Operational Activities
Operational activities form an integral part of the manufacturing process. The control function enables the operational managers ensure that activities conform to set standards. Detailed reports of various kinds prepared by the management accountant provide feedback as to whether the set standards are being met. Controlling is very essential in inventory control, total quality management and benchmarking in manufacturing firms. A performance report compares budgeted to actual results. In a manufacturing firm performance reports will indicate where some parts of production activities are not proceeding as planned so that corrective measures are instituted to reduce losses. E.g. measures of