Content

This course is an intermediate management accounting course, which should ideally be followed after having covered basic concepts of management accounting. Having taken an introduction course in financial accounting is helpful but not required. The course focuses on two pillars. As a first pillar, the course introduces an economic based perspective for understanding the use of management accounting systems in organizations. People need to make decisions in the best interest of the organizations but interest of employees do not always align with interests of the firm. From a control perspective, different management accounting systems might be more affective in aligning such goals (incentive mechanisms such as EVA, budgeting, Balanced scorecard etc.). Another big pillar is how management accounting information should be distributed or measured to improve decision making within firms (cost accounting, quality costing, etc.). The course offers in-depth discussions a series of management accounting systems, ranging from the more established techniques in management accounting to more recently developed practices. The course aims at developing an analytical and critical mind towards these management accounting practices and their impact on corporate policies. Research based learning is incorporated in each lecture. Students should reflect on a research-based paper that relates to the course content. In addition components of research based learning are introduced in a team based assignment and participation in an individual research study.

Topics include, among other things the nature of costs, theory and methods of cost allocation, capital budgeting, organizational architecture, responsibility centers etc. It also focuses on strategic uses of management accounting information in a changing environment.

Course material

• Zimmerman, Accounting for decision-making and control, McGraw-Hill, 2014 (8th edition). All exercise numbers are drawn from this edition Changes to these exercises or materials for these exercises will be announced in due course.
• Additional materials in the form of background cases and research articles (downloadable via the library databases or Toledo; Note the contents of the lecture overview can be updated. Check Toledo for updates each week.