Management Accounting Research Trends

This assignment delves into contemporary research within the field of management accounting. It examines various perspectives, including practical applications reflected in job advertisements, the influence of upper echelon theory, multi-criteria decision-making frameworks, and the role of routines in shaping management accounting practices. The provided sources encompass a range of academic journals, books, and online resources, offering insights into the evolution and future directions of management accounting research.

Management Accounting

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Management accounting and essential requirement of different types of management
accounting systems......................................................................................................................3
M1 Advantages of management accounting systems and their application................................4
P2 Methods that are used for management accounting reporting...............................................5
D1 Evaluation of how management accounting systems and reports are integrated..................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Preparation of income statement using marginal and absorption costing..............................7
M2 Application of various management accounting techniques..............................................10
D2 Accurate interpretation of the data by production of the reports........................................11
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
P4 Planning tools that can be used for Budgetary Control. .....................................................11
M3 Different types of planning tools and their application in the preparation of budgets.......13
P5 Adoption of management accounting systems to respond to financial problems................13
M4 Role of management accounting in sustainable success....................................................14
D3 Solving of financial problems by using planning tools.......................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Management accounting is the process by which organisation goals and objectives that
are decided can be achieved (Ajibolade, Arowomole and Ojikutu, 2010). For this purpose it will
include various processes to be undertaken which will include identification, measurement,
analysation of the relevant information, and than on that basis interpretation will be carried out
and all the findings will be required to be communicated so that the goals can be achieved. The
main purpose of management accounting is to provide the required information to the managers
which will be helpful for them in their decision making process. This form of accounting focuses
on helping the internal managers of the company and in this no information is provided to the
outside parties. In this assignment various aspects in relation to management accounting such as
meaning of management accounting, types of management accounting systems, different
budgetary control techniques and costing methods will be discussed with reference Sollatek. This
company was founded in 1983 and is involved in manufacturing of products which are helpful in
protecting electrical and electronic equipments.
TASK 1
P1 Management accounting and essential requirement of different types of management
accounting systems.
In a business there are various decisions that are required to be taken for the attainment of
the objectives and goals that are set by the company (Albelda, 2011). In order to achieve this
sollatek will be required to prepare various reports that will help the management in acquiring all
the financial and statistical information on the timely basis and in accurate manner which will
help them in performing various decisions. This process of preparation of reports is known as
management accounting. These reports are made just for internal use and will not be provided to
anyone for external use. They will show various amounts in relation to cash available,
outstanding debts, sales revenue, variance analysis and many other figures. The main areas in
which management accounting can be used are risk management, performance management and
strategic management. There are different types of management accounting systems that can be
used by Sollatek which are described below :
1. Throughput Accounting : - In the production process of sollatek there are various
constraints that will be present and will be required to be identified. In the process of

throughput accounting focus will be given on identification of such constraints only. The
constraints can be various such as insufficiency of labour , material or any other facility.
These constraints are reduced in this system and this is achieved by increasing the
volume of production by which the per unit cost of the product will get reduced.
2. Lean accounting : - In case of lean accounting instead of giving importance to cost the
main focus is kept on formulation of different strategies that will be helpful in reduction
of cost (Arroyo, 2012). The objective of cost reduction will be achieved by reducing the
level of wastage that takes place in the production process carried on by sollatek. There
are various such irrelevant cost that can be eliminated from the production process and
for that purpose information will be required that will be available with the help of this
system. The information will be provided by the accountants on the immediate effect.
3. Traditional management accounting Systems : - the main focus of this system is on
tracking of the cost and that can be achieved by the use of various methods that will
include methods such as job order costing or process costing. With the help of these
methods the manner in which various cost are required to be allocated will be
determined. Job costing will be used in the case where individual allocation is possible
whereas process costing will be required where there are many processes involved in
production of the product.
4. Transfer Pricing : - in the system of transfer pricing cost of the product will be
calculated on the basis of the movement of the goods that takes place during the
production from the different departments included in production system (Bodie, 2013).
Variable cost and opportunity cost are the two main cost that are involved in the system
of transfer pricing. There will be addition at each stage and so the cost will also increase
in small portions.
A part from these there are various other management accounting systems which are available
and can be used. They include cost accounting systems, job order costing, inventory management
system and price optimisation systems.
Cost accounting method – It is the process of accounting in which recording of various
operations are done according to their actual cost incurred. It is a continuous process in which
recording, classification, analysing and summarising of various entries are made which is utilised
to manage the various activities of the given entity.

Job costing – It is a different method in which recording of different entries are done according
to the cost of different jobs as distinct job incurs different cost and therefore through this cost of
each job can be identified.
Inventory management system – It is a method through which the total stock is maintained so
that both the situations of excess and deficit can be avoided as this has major impact on the total
productivity.
Prize optimization – Through this method of accounting management reach to the best price
which it can offer in the market as maximum care has to be given before fixing the price of the
commodity so that customers can accept the same.
M1 Advantages of management accounting systems and their application.
There are various benefits that company receives form management accounting systems.
Some of them are :
Reduction in expenses : With the help of management accounting systems Sollatek will be able
to know about those activities that are relevant and by this the expenditure that is incurred in
relation to irrelevant activities can be eliminated.
Making Decisions : The information that will be available with the use of various management
accounting systems will be helpful for managers to make correct decisions and by this if any
loopholes are present than they will be identified and removed.
P2 Methods that are used for management accounting reporting.
A part from normal financial statements there are prepared by every organisation there
are various other reports that are also required to be made and that includes the following reports
which are described below :
 Performance reports : It is important for Sollatek to measure its performance and this
can be achieved only with the help of performance reports (Chenhall, 2012). For the
preparation of report it will be required that the actual and budgeted figures that are
available in the budget should be compared and on that basis variances will be required to
be identified. These variances will be considered by the management in the preparation of
new budgets. The performance can be evaluated with the help of performance report and
any limitation that are found in the report will have to be removed in order to improve the
overall performance of the company.

 Job Costing Reports : there are various costs that are involved in production of a
product such as production cost, labour cost, overhead cost and many other costs. For the
purpose of determination of the cost of the final product it will be required that all these
costs should be taken into consideration (France, 2010). By following this process the
total cost that have been incurred in the whole production process will be determined and
than with the help of it the cost of each product will be ascertained and that that will be
possible by dividing this total cost with the number of total products that have been
manufactured in the company. Than this report will be prepared with the help of the
information that has been collected and it will be beneficial for sollatek as with the help
of it managers will be able to compare the cost and selling price and on that basis they
will be able to control the profits of the company.
 Variable Analysis Reports : In the production of a product there are various costs that
are incurred and one such cost is variable cost. It is that cost which is never fixed and it
depends on the number of units produced which mean it changes with change in single
unit in production. The profits of the company will be affected to a great extent due to
this cost and due to this reason it is necessary that this report should be prepared.
Management will study the report and with the help of it they will be able to improve the
profit levels of Sollatek.
 Budgets : Budgets are most important in the management accounting as with the help of
it variances can be determined by comparing the actual figures with that of the budgeted
figures (Hiebl, 2014). For the preparation of the budget it will be required by the
company to take into consideration the past details or the previous budgets. Together with
the past budgets they are also required to use the variances that have been calculated and
the projections that have been made in relation to the future should also be considered.
All the targets are mentioned in the budget which are required to be achieved by the
company and so in order to achieve the targets it will be needed that all the amounts
mentioned in the budget should taken care of while performing the activities in the
company.
 Inventory control Reports : In the production process inventory plays the most
important role so it will be needed that all the aspects in relation to it should be taken care
of and mentioned in this report. If there is any wastage that has been noticed than it

should be taken into consideration and reason of it should be identified and measures
should be taken to remove them. Sollatek will determine the inventory level which is
required to be maintained in order to avoid the problem of shortage or excess stock due to
which no irrelevant cost will be incurred and the profits of the company will be
maximised.
D1 Evaluation of how management accounting systems and reports are integrated.
Management accounting systems and management accounting reports are integrated as
with the help of various systems Sollatek will be able to collect the information which will be
further analysed and than that information will be required to be included in the reports (Hülle,
Kaspar and Möller, 2011). Both these will be beneficial for the company as with the help of them
it will be possible to find out the shortcomings and than on their identification management will
be able to make correct decision and also measures can be taken to overcome those
shortcomings. By performing all this the overall performance of the company will be increased.
TASK 2
P3 Preparation of income statement using marginal and absorption costing.
Absorption Costing : By using absorption costing it will be possible to ascertain the cost
of the product. In this costing method the cost of the product will be calculated taking into
consideration all the costs that have been incurred in relation to that product. It is immaterial in
this form of costing that whether the cost that has been incurred is fixed cost or a variable cost as
both will be included in the cost (Kaplan and Atkinson, 2015). The total cost that will be
ascertained by this method will be divided among all the units that have been manufactured. The
major advantage of using absorption costing is that in this while valuing inventory an element of
fixed overhead is also included in it and also the cost is controlled by analysing the over or under
absorption of overheads.
Marginal costing : in the case of marginal costing the cost of the product will change
with the change in single unit of production. This will be due to the reason that in this variable
cost are taken into consideration (Zang, 2011). while calculation of the marginal cost of any
product the cost that are directly related to the product such as direct material, direct labour or
the variable cost associated with that product will be taken into consideration. In this method
firstly contribution will be determined by deducting variable cost from the selling price and than

after this the fixed cost will be considered and deducted from the contribution in order to arrive
at the final profit that is earned by the company.
There are various differences that can be noticed between marginal and absorption costing and
some of them are specified in the below presented comparison table :
Basis Absorption costing Marginal costing
Meaning In this method the cost of
product is determined by
dividing the total amount of
cost to the various cost centres
(Kinney, Raiborn and
Poznanski, 2011).
It is a decision making
technique which will be used
by Sollatek as by this the total
cost that have been incurred in
the production of a product
will be determined.
Classification of overheads In this overheads are classified
as administration, production
and selling and distribution
overheads.
In this overheads are classified
in two categories that are fixed
and variable overheads.
Recognition of cost In this method fixed cost and
variable cost both will be
treated as product cost.
In this variable cost will be
treated as product cost and
fixed cost will be treated as
period cost.
Measurement of profitability In this as the fixed cost is
considered so the profitability
will be affected.
In order to measure the
profitability, profit volume
ratio is used.
Unit cost The factor that affect the cost
per unit in this case is the
variance in the opening and the
closing stock.
In this the variance between
the opening and closing stock
has no impact on the cost of
the product.
Selling price £35
Unit Costs
Direct materials £6

Direct Labour £5
Variable Production overhead £2
Variable sales overhead £1
Budgeted production for the period is 600 units
Fixed costs for the month are given below
Budgeted Cost Actual Cost
Production overhead £1,800 £2,000
Administration cost £800 £700
Selling Cost £400 £600
Calculation of net profit under Absorption costing system
Working Note 1: Calculate full production cost
Direct material £6
Direct labour £5
Variable cost £3
Fixed cost £5
Total £19
Working Note 2: Calculate value of inventory and production
Opening inventory Production Closing inventory
0 700*19 = £13300 100*19 = £1900
Working Note 3: under/ over absorbed fixed production overhead
Actual fixed production: £3300
Fixed overhead: £3500
Total £200(over absorbed)
Income Statement
Particulars Amount Amount
Sales (600*35) 21000

Less: Cost of Sales:
Opening inventory
Production
Closing inventory
(Under)/ Over absorbed fixed prod. O/h
Gross Profit
Less Expenses
Variable sales
Fixed administration
Fixed selling
Nil
13300
(1900)
1800
700
600
(11400)
200
9800
(3100)
Net Profit 6700
Calculation of net profit under marginal costing system
Working Note 1: Calculate variable production cost £
Direct material 6
Direct labour 5
Variable production O/H 3
Variable production cost 14
Working Note 2: Calculate value of inventory and production
Opening inventory Production Closing inventory
0 700*14 = 9800 100*14 = 1400
Income statements under marginal costing system
Particulars Amount Amount
Sales (600*35)
Less:Variable costs
Opening inventory Nil
21000

Production
Closing inventory
Variable sales
Contribution
Less:Fixed costs
Fixed Production overhead
Administration cost
Selling cost
9800
(1400)
2000
700
600
(8400)
(1800)
10800
(3300)
Net Profit 7500
M2 Application of various management accounting techniques.
Making of the correct and appropriate decisions is of great importance for any company
so in order to achieve this it will be required by the management that various techniques that are
available should be used as with the help of this it will be possible that the accounts of the
company will be managed. The techniques that will be used in this process are known as
management accounting techniques. It is necessary that a plan is formulated which will specify
that what is to be done by the company and what all are the objectives that are required to be
achieved in order to make the business a success and for this purpose budget can be prepared
which is also a management accounting technique.
D2 Accurate interpretation of the data by production of the reports.
In the above mentioned problem it can be ascertained that the major difference that exists
between absorption costing and marginal costing is due to the different methods of allocation of
the fixed overheads. In case of marginal costing the fixed overheads are not allocated whereas in
case of absorption costing fixed overheads are considered while calculating the amount of profit.
The profits that are obtained by application of both the methods are different and this can also be
verified with the above mentioned problem as in that also the profits are different by both
methods which are 6700 in case of absorption costing and 7500 in case of marginal costing. It
can be seen that profit in absorption is less than that of marginal because in absorption fixed
overheads are allocated.

TASK 3
P4 Planning tools that can be used for Budgetary Control.
The budget is considered as one of the major tools for the company as every company
plans for various operations according to the budget requirements and for this each and every
element of budget is taken into considerations and by the help of budget various operational,
managerial and technical aspects can be analysed for the effective development of products and
services (Macintosh and Quattrone, 2010). Budgets are the long term objectives that can be
evaluated at all the levels of operations that will help the organization to grow and develop on
the levels of successful growth and development.
Various objectives of Budget are : -
 Budget is prepared for long term purpose and it caters to all the requirements that are
being implemented at the level of development.
 Budget is prepared to check actual and necessary performance which are being analysed
so that if there is any disequilibrium between any of them then it can be over-crafted.
Advantages of Budgetary control are : -
 It provides all the strategic policies with future considerations.
 Employees development process takes place.
 It helps in attaining the targets of the organization at the best suitable level.
Disadvantages of Budgetary control are : -
 Provides economic pressure to all the employees of the organization.
 It tends to create a managerial conflict among the employees of the organization.
 Managers are made to form all the budgeted operations that include lot or high cost and
in making these types of operations an organization can suffer loss.
Different types of budgets are : -
Master Budget is the set of budgeted tools which helps any company to plan out operational
work in accordance with connected elements like sales, production cost, purchase incomes, etc.
and it includes all the practical aspects of making a budget that enables them to analyse all the
managerial and economical development (Quinn, 2011). The main advantage of master budget is
that while all the elements are included but they are coordinated in a proper way that enables the
development of managers in practical aspect. Disadvantage is that it always takes all the cost
related operations required for managerial development, not for individual development.

Operational Budget is the budget which is made so that an organization can attain all the
operations with regards to the ethical and managerial effects of working (Ward, 2012).
Advantage is that there all the operations that are being included in the company's policies are
operated at level of effective budgeting . Disadvantages caters to all the aspects that are only
analysed for the main purpose of budgeting not for any other purpose.
Cash Flow Budget helps the organizations to follow a systematic way of managing the tools and
techniques which are required for investors, stakeholders, management so that each and every
aspect of organizational development can be checked and if any way there is any problem in the
policies of the budget then management can control the operational and technical values and
elements that are essential for growth and development of organization (Renz, 2016). Advantage
is that it helps in systematic formulation of all the transactions which are being conducted.
Disadvantages means that it needs only financial related task not non financial tasks for
recording purpose.
Zero based Budget is the budget which analyses all the expenses which are arising from new
period and it needs cost related to that particular period. Advantages means that it records every
periodic transactions from zero level basis which mean that no historical data will be considered
in the preparation of this budget. Disadvantage includes that for the preparation of this budget
more employees will be required as in this all the information is required from the beginning so
it will increase the manpower requirement.
M3 Different types of planning tools and their application in the preparation of budgets.
1. Variances : While carrying out various activities there exists certain variances which will
be required to be considered by Sollatek in the process of preparation of budgets so it is
necessary that those deviations should be identified by the company.
2. Communication : the employees are the most essential part of the organisation as without
them it will not be possible for the company to achieve the targets that have been set by
the company. So in order to achieve all this it is necessary that all the plans and strategies
that have been prepared by the company should be communicated to them on the timely
basis and this will also work as motivation for the employees as they will feel that they
are important of the business.
3. Pricing Strategy : every company adopts different pricing strategies and it is important in
order to achieve the targets that have been set by them. It should always be considered

that the pricing strategy should be such which together with the company should be
beneficial for all.
P5 Adoption of management accounting systems to respond to financial problems.
In the process of management accounting all the information that will be available in
relation to the various operations that are performed the company will be required to be collected
and than they will be incorporated in the reports which will be than analysed by the management
as they will take the decisions on the basis of those reports (Salehi, Rostami and Mogadam,
2010). With the help of it company will be benefited as the decisions that will be taken will be
appropriate in context of sollatek. It will be possible to improve the performance of the company
as the reports that will be prepared and the analysis that will be done will be send to the higher
authorities who will take decision for the improvement on that basis. Plans and budgets will be
made with the help of various management accounting systems and than they will be compared
with the past data and also with the actual performance according to which the variance that will
be identified will be removed. The main advantage of management accounting is that in this
information is available on the timely basis and also that is accurate. Together with this there are
various other advantages also which will include reduction of the excess cost and expansion of
business. Different financial problems can be solved by adopting measures like benchmarking
budgetary control and doing the evaluation of total performance by comparing same with the set
standards. Through setting different budgets limits are set for various operations through which
the flow of cash can be controlled. There are various problems every business face and they have
different ways of dealing with it and that is presented in case of two companies given below:
Sollatek :
It uses budget to find out the variances and than take measures in order to remove those
variances. It uses those techniques which are less expensive and than also they are effective and
by using them actions can be taken for the expansion of the business (Setthasakko, 2010).
Unicorn Grocery :
It manufacture various types of products and for that it is required that prices should be
controlled which are done by it by using management accounting. It makes investment in the
correct areas which helps it to earn more profits and this is achieved with the help of budgets.

M4 Role of management accounting in sustainable success.
Sustainable success can be achieved by elimination of the risk and that can be achieved
by identification of risk and than taking measures in order to reduce it. It should be taken into
consideration that all the excess funds are invested in the most beneficial manner and all the
interest that is required to be paid by Sollatek is paid in appropriate and timely manner.
D3 Solving of financial problems by using planning tools.
There are various planning tools which can be used by Sollatek in order to solve the
financial problems that arise in the business. It should be identified that what are the potential
sources from where funds can be collected and also the place where they can be invested should
be identified with the help of which the overall performance of the company will be improved.
CONCLUSION
After summing up the report it has been interpreted that they have to adopt the
appropriate and relevant management accounting system so that they can manage or supervise all
the activities which will help in generating more and more revenues and according to that they
can attain the goals and objectives. They have to do proper reporting by using the appropriate
and relevant methods so that they can attain the success. The employees of Sollatek have to
calculate the cost by using or adopting the different techniques which helps in generating more
and more profit. They have to produce best and qualitative products and services which will
increase the sales and generate more revenue. They have to use relevant tools which are related
to different budgetary control to make or prepare the proper budgets and on the basis of that they
can estimation in attaining the goals and objectives.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ajibolade, S. O., Arowomole, S. S .A and Ojikutu, R.K., 2010. MANAGEMENT
ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS, PERCEIVED ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY
AND COMPANIES'PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA. International Journal of
Academic Research. 2(1).
Albelda, E., 2011. The role of management accounting practices as facilitators of the
environmental management: Evidence from EMAS organisations. Sustainability
Accounting, Management and Policy Journal. 2(1). pp.76-100.
Arroyo, P., 2012. Management accounting change and sustainability: an institutional
approach. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 8(3), pp.286-309.
Bodie, Z., 2013. Investments. McGraw-Hill.
Chenhall, R. H., 2012. Developing an organizational perspective to management
accounting. Journal of Management Accounting Research. 24(1). pp.65-76.
France, A., 2010. Management accounting practices reflected in job advertisements. Journal of
new business ideas & trends. 8(2). pp.41-57.
Hiebl, M. R., 2014. Upper echelons theory in management accounting and control
research. Journal of Management Control. 24(3). pp.223-240.
Hülle, J., Kaspar, R and Möller, K., 2011. Multiple Criteria Decision‐Making in Management
Accounting and Control‐State of the Art and Research Perspectives Based on a
Bibliometric Study. Journal of Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis. 18(5-6). pp.253-
265.
Kaplan, R .S and Atkinson, A. A., 2015. Advanced management accounting. PHI Learning.
Kinney, M. R., Raiborn, C .A and Poznanski, P .J., 2011. Cost accounting: Foundations and
evolutions. Issues in Accounting Education. 26(1). pp.257-258.
Macintosh, N.B and Quattrone, P., 2010. Management accounting and control systems: An
organizational and sociological approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Quinn, M., 2011. Routines in management accounting research: further exploration. Journal of
Accounting & Organizational Change. 7(4). pp.337-357.
Renz, D. O., 2016. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management. John
Wiley & Sons.

Salehi, M., Rostami, V and Mogadam, A., 2010. Usefulness of accounting information system in
emerging economy: Empirical evidence of Iran. International Journal of Economics
and Finance. 2(2). p.186.
Setthasakko, W., 2010. Barriers to the development of environmental management accounting:
An exploratory study of pulp and paper companies in Thailand. EuroMed Journal of
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Ward, K., 2012. Strategic management accounting. Routledge.
Zang, A .Y., 2011. Evidence on the trade-off between real activities manipulation and accrual-
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Online
Management Accounting Research Interest Group. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sbe/research/interest-groups/management-accounting/>.
[Accessed on 27th May 2017].
Management Accounting. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/wirtschaft/bwl3/English/MA_maacc.php>. [Accessed on 27th May
2017].