ACCT6004 Management Accounting: Final Report - Aligning Skills for Job Success

This report analyzes the skills and knowledge required for cost and management accounting roles, drawing on job postings and the insights gained from ACCT6004. It explores the most common and less common skills, identifies challenges faced by accountants, and reflects on how ACCT6004 prepares students for these roles. The report also discusses the importance of incorporating additional skills like leadership, problem-solving, and decision-making into the curriculum.

ACCT6004 MANAGEMENT
ACCOUNTING
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Contents
Final Report:...............................................................................................................................3
Part 1:.........................................................................................................................................3
Summarizing the position:.........................................................................................................3
Part 2:.........................................................................................................................................4
2: Description of most common and required cost and management accounting skills:...........4
3. Less common skills and knowledge required in cost and management accounting:.............4
4. Draw practical findings for identifying challenges for cost and management accounting
skills and knowledge:.................................................................................................................5
5. What have you learnt in ACCT6004 for the alignment with cost and management
knowledge and skills to acquire the job position?.....................................................................5
6. Reflection of research:...........................................................................................................5
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Final Report:
Part 1:
Summarizing the position:
The job requirements have been founded and fulfilled using various websites such as
"seek.com", "careerone.com", "adzuna.com" & jobsearch.goc.com etc in order to acquire and
meet the requirement. Most of the position was related to Cost accountant, management
accountant and management business analyst. Most of the job positions enquiry was related
to manufacturing industry but there was two or three job enquiry from local manufacturing
government industry. The common requirements to fulfil job position were that person
should possess CA, CIMA qualification, highly qualified interpersonal and communication
skills, ability to handle business and financial analysis responsibilities. Selection criteria
cover common enquiries such as requirement of 5 years plus of experience in manufacturing
management field, highly qualified SAP using ability, knowledge of managing Ad-hoc
Management Accounting responsibilities. The specific individual should possess the
qualification of cost-benefit analysis, business analysis, financial forecasting, and tertiary
qualification with relevant experience of transferable skills and excellent organisational
working experience. The major common requirement related to cost and management
accounting position was supporting audit procedure, focusing customer orientation objectives
and service management unit requirement etc. The person should be able to manage, prepare,
develop and monitor annual budget related to accounting process of the company. Job
position is required to possess both CA and CPA qualified and professional accounting body
possession.
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Part 2:
2: Description of most common and required cost and management
accounting skills:
The most common skills and knowledge required for cost and management accounting are
the qualification of CA, CPA and CIMA certification, expert and advanced knowledge of
Microsoft Office, spreadsheets and Power Point etc. That particular person should possess
maximum five years of experience with transferable and interpersonal skills, Ad-hoc
management and accounting duties and knowledge of business analysis and financial
forecasting. Excellent communication skills, knowledge of budgeting planning and control is
necessary.
These knowledge and skills are required in order to adapt management accountant role. These
points will give an opportunity to work and experience with multinational companies and
industrial leaders. It will provide a high job profile lead and streamlined opportunity to
possess bug business projects and processes.
3. Less common skills and knowledge required in cost and
management accounting:
Less common skills and knowledge are:
 Identification of cost reduction opportunities
 Knowledge of SAP and MIS systems.
 Knowledge of supporting auditing process.
 Collaboration with customers and stakeholders
 NPV and ROI investment activity skills
The reason for fewer skill points are not mentioned in part 2 (2):
These above-mentioned points are not sought in part 2 (2) because they were not in high
demand and substitutes for such requirements are also availed in the market and in the
organisation. Above mentioned knowledge can provide an opportunity to get promoted and
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high pay scale job but these are less required skills comparison to highly required skills
mentioned in part 2.
4. Draw practical findings for identifying challenges for cost and
management accounting skills and knowledge:
Apart from cost and management accounting skills and knowledge, accountants have to face
many challenges, especially related to the core competencies in finance and accounting
department, customer’s oriented activities and calls for huge and broader opportunity and
responsibilities. Sometimes size and nature of the business, business ownership, profitability
and authority driven process affects knowledge and experience of accountants. Changes in
business environment, traditional management and accounting systems adopted by business
organisations, business operations and production related information highly affect the
personal perspective and skills of accountants.
5. What have you learnt in ACCT6004 for the alignment with cost and
management knowledge and skills to acquire the job position?
Through ACCT6004, it has been observed and analysed about changes in budgets and
business performance. It provides knowledge of changes in budget and accounting strategies
and their impacts on business decisions. A proper use of management accounting and
planning tools and their implication for getting a perfect solution of business problems can be
evaluated from the studies of ACCT6004. These kinds of knowledge help in managing and
aligning with various job positions. ACCT6004 allows the job recruiters to manage and
monitor essential points and requirements of a business. It makes recruitment and selections
easy by evaluating and analysing changes in business environment.
6. Reflection of research:
Cost and management skills are the concepts of evaluating projects in project management in
which individual needs to master. The person should have mastery in cost analysis, business
analysis, cost-benefit evaluation and management of cost project efficiency. An accountant
should be expert in managing whole resources such as workforce, material, equipment and
services. They should be focused on cost base-line of each project to get accurate data
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analysis, the collection of data and evaluation of work through quantitative and non-
quantitative measurement. ACCT6004 includes many features and knowledge of cost and
management accountants that help in making successful alignment with job requirements,
these are: - proper use of budget, knowledge of cost and business analysis process and skills
of AD-hoc management and accounting duties. There are many skills and knowledge that are
necessary but not acknowledged and provided in ACCT6004. Importance of management
accounting systems, knowledge of auditing reporting and customers handling procedure are
not included in ACCT6004. Nor all but some of the specific knowledge and studies of
management skills should be included in ACCT6004, these management skills are
overlapped with leadership skills, problem-solving skills, decision-making ability, and
capability of planning, delegation and controlling changes. Yes, these skills and knowledge
should include in ACCT6004 to build teamwork, job independence and managing reliability
in business operations.
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