Management Accounting : A Business Planning Approach

Designed for use in introductory or graduate-level managerial accounting courses, this text applies an objective-based approach to managerial accounting topics. Unlike traditional cost-accounting texts, Management Accounting emphasizes the critical role that information plays in decision making, strategy execution, and overall enhancement of a firm's value. Through problem-based learning and the business planning model (BPM), Management Accounting develops in students those competencies expected of today's business professionals. This innovative pedagogical approach stresses the understanding and application of the basic business process; risk assessment and its relation to business strategy; critical thinking, reasoning, and analysis; oral and written communication skills; and techniques for team building. Each chapter includes mini-cases, exercises, and problems built around the challenges faced by managers today. An integrated text-long continuing example of a fictitious service business, C&F Enterprises, simulates the actual strategic planning process, as well as resource management and performance measurement activities commonly found in business practice. Business Beacons boxed features provide a bridge from chapter concepts to contemporary business examples by highlighting actual companies and linking managerial accounting topics to real-world examples. Each chapter concludes with a Business Planning Application, an optional module that allows students to engage in a semester-long business planning simulation.