Question

Describe what management accounting is and it's role in assisting decision making for managers, in contrast to financial accounting?

Answer 1

Answer)

Managerial accounting is the practice of identifying, measuring, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating financial information to managers for the pursuit of an organization's goals. It varies from financial accounting because the intended purpose of managerial accounting is to assist users internal to the company in making well-informed business decisions.

Managerial accounting involves the presentation of financial information for internal purposes to be used by management in making key business decisions.

Techniques used by managerial accountants are not dictated by accounting standards, unlike financial accounting.

The presentation of managerial accounting data can be modified to meet the specific needs of its end-user.

Managerial accounting encompasses many facets of accounting, including product costing, budgeting, forecasting, and various financial analysis.

it's role in assisting decision making for managers, in contrast to financial accounting?

Managerial accounting is much different from financial accounting. Also known as management accounting or cost accounting, managerial accounting provides information to managers and other users within the company in order to make more informed decisions. The overriding roles of managers (planning, controlling, and evaluating) lead to the distinction between financial and managerial accounting. The main objective of management accounting is to provide useful information to managers to assist them in the planning, controlling, and evaluating roles.

Financial accounting provides information to enable stockholders, creditors, and other stakeholders to make informed decisions. This information can be used to evaluate and make decisions for an individual company or to compare two or more companies. However, the information provided by financial accounting is primarily historical and therefore is not sufficient and is often synthesized too late to be overly useful to management. Managerial accounting has a more specific focus, and the information is more detailed and timelier. Managerial accounting is not governed by GAAP, so there is unending flexibility in the types of reports and information gathered. Managerial accountants regularly calculate and manage “what-if” scenarios to help managers make decisions and plan for future business needs.

Financial accounting information is communicated through reporting, such as the financial statements. The financial statements typically include a balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, retained earnings statement, and footnotes. Managerial accounting information is communicated through reporting as well. However, the reports are more detailed and more specific and can be customized. One example of a managerial accounting report is a budget analysis (variance report) as shown in (Figure).