Course Description

The successful management of a business depends on having a successful business strategy. Consequently, the strategic evaluation of organizational issues entails the analysis of a range of diverse factors.

The existing and latent needs of the customer, the nature of product markets, changes in economic circumstances and altering social factors affect the way in which organizations can be reactive or proactive. Such observations have triggered calls for more strategically extensive management accounting thinking.

Strategic Management Accounting is a form of management accounting in which emphasis is placed on information which relates to factors external to the firm, as well as non-financial information and internally generated information.

This seminar is to place management accounting within the context of the strategic management of a business and to provide a practical, yet academically rigorous,  framework for applying management accounting techniques and concepts in this competitive environment.

Course Objective

Participants gain the insights they need to win in the global marketplace. Key subjects that the seminar addresses include:

·         Relevant information for strategic decision making

·         Management use of advanced and strategic management accounting information

·         Strategic planning for business success

·         Cost management and Strategy

·         Different Approaches to Costing

·         Product costing in multinational firms

·         Cost Planning and Budgeting

·         Decision Making with Relevance Costs and a Strategic Emphasis

·         Performance measurement and balanced score card

·         A new role for the management accountant

·         Designing strategic management accounting systems

·         Operating strategic management accounting systems

Who Should  attend?

Financial and non-Financial managers from all functions of an enterprise will benefit from this intensive seminar which teaches the key concepts and techniques of advanced and strategic management accounting covered in international MBA programmes. In detail:

·         Operational and Production Managers

·         Marketing managers

·         Managers with direct financial responsibilities

·         Executives

·         Cost and management accountant

·         Financial planners and cost analysts

·         Senior managers who supervise people with financial responsibilities

·         Financial and budget controllers who are moving to wider responsibilities

·         Managers who need to know more about business planning, budgeting, costing terms and techniques.

·         Managers who have to plan, cost and budget new business ventures.

·         Managers and Supervisors from every business discipline and department who have to run departments and plan, cost and budget during their business lives.

·         First appointment managers on fast-track development programmes

·         Managers who require a refresher programme on the topic or who would benefit from having an opportunity to consider new ideas and methods

Course Outline

DAY 1

– Management and Cost management Fundamentals

A review of key cost concepts

·         The accountant’s role in the organization

·         An introduction to cost terms and purposes

·         The use of cost management information

·         Creating cost-aware organizations

·         Review of some key cost concepts

·         Product vs. Period costs

·         Direct and Indirect Costs

·         Cost behavior: Fixed and Variable Costs

·         Problems and Examples

Different Approached to Planning and Budgeting

·         Fixed and flexed budget (static and flexible budget)

·         Rolling budget

·         Zero based budgeting

·         Activity based budgeting

·         Master budget

·         From costing to budget: interpreting variances (variance analysis)

·         Integrate continuous improvement into variance analysis.

·         Problems, Case Study and Exercises

DAY 2

– Traditional and Activity-based Approaches to Costing

·         Absorption (Full) vs. Variable costing

·         Under-costing and over-costing: the consequences for profitability

·         How to refine a costing system?

·         Activity-based costing (ABC) and cost-management (ABM)

·         Cost hierarchy & Cost drivers

·         Linking resources, activities and management

·         Introducing Activity-based management (ABM)

·         Linkages between ABM and ABC – monitoring value creation

·         Problems, Case Study and Examples

DAY 3

--Other Advanced Approaches to Costing

·         Job-costing systems

·         Process costing systems

·         Cost allocation

·         Cost allocation: joint-cost situation

·         Quality and strategic cost management: the concept of TQM

·         Problems, Case Study and Exercises

DAY 4

– Cost Planning and Pricing Decisions: Life-Cycle-Costing, Target costing and Target Pricing

·         Linking process development to costing

·         Costing and pricing for short run

·         Costing and pricing for ling run

·         Target costing, target pricing and its implications

·         Three major influences on pricing decisions

·         Distinguish between cost incurrence and locked-in costs

·         Cost plus approach to pricing

·         Customer profitability analysis

·         Life cycle product budgeting and costing to assist in pricing decison

·         Problems, Case study and Examples

Day 5:

--Management Control Systems and Performance Issues: the concept of balanced score card

·         Strategic investment units

·         Control systems and transfer pricing

·         Market based transfer pricing

·         Cost based transfer pricing

·         Negotiated transfer pricing

·         Control systems and performance measurement

·         New role for managers and management accountants in designing incentive systems

·         Different performance measures

·         Financial and non-financial performance measures

·         Designing an accounting-based performance measure

·         Understand ROI, RI and EVA

·         Strategic performance measurement: Balanced scorecared

·         Value change analysis

·         Problems, Case study and Examples