Mid-Term Flashcards
(213 cards)
Accounting
process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgements and decisions by users of the information.
Why managers use accounting information
assists with decision making and control activities.
Why shareholders use accounting information
knowledge on investment value and income earned.
Why employees use accounting information
knowledge on firm ability to meet wage demands.
Why creditors/suppliers use accounting information
knowledge on firm ability to meet financial obligations
Why government agencies use financial information
details on sales activity, profits, investments, stocks, dividends, proportion of profits absorbed by taxation. this is used to determine polices to manage economy.
Model of decision making process (7 steps)
1 - clarify problem
2 - specify decision criteria
3 - identify alternative courses of action
4 - collect information about cost and benefits
5 - compare alternative cost and benefits
6 - select course of action
7 - evaluate decision effectiveness
Tactical decisions
short-term and don’t require significant changes in capacity related resources.
Long-term decisions
more strategic in nature and involve changes in capacity related resources.
Impacts of changing business environment on management accounting (5)
- global competition
- changing product life cycles
- advances in technology (manufacturing and information)
- environmental and sustainability issues
- greater pressure for higher standards of ethical behaviour
Competitive advantage in today’s environment (4)
- cost efficiency
- quality control
- time management
- innovation and continuous improvement
Functions of management accounting (3)
1 - allocate costs between goods sold and fully/party goods unsold.
2 - provide relevant information on profitability analysis, product pricing, make or buy product mix and discontinuation.
3 - provide information for planning, control and performance measurement and continuous improvement. (periodic performance reports)
Cost object
any activity for which a seperate measurement of cost is required.
Cost collection system (2)
1 - accumulated costs by classifying them
2 - assigns costs to cost objects
Direct costs
Indirect costs
Direct - specifically and exclusively identified with a given cost object
Indirect - cannot be specifically and exclusively identified with a given cost object
Cost allocation
process of assigning costs to cost objects that involve the use of surrogate rather than direct measures.
Product costs
Period costs
Product costs - those attached to the products and included in the stock.
Period costs - not attached to the product and included in the inventory valuation.
Variable costs
vary in direct proportion with activity.
Fixed costs
remain constant over wide ranges of activity.
Semi fixed costs
fixed with activity levels but increase or decrease by some constant amount at critical activity levels.
Semi variable costs (mixed costs)
include both a fixed and variable component.
Relevant revenues/costs
Irrelevant revenues/costs
future costs and revenues that will be changed by a decision.
irrelevant costs/revenues which will not be changed by a decision.
Opportunity costs
a cost that measures the opportunity that is lost/sacrificed when the choice of one course of action requires that an alternative course of action be given up.
Unavoidable/avoidable costs
costs that can be saved by not adopting a given alternative, whereas unavoidable costs cannot be saved.