Management Accounting: Job Search, Skills, Challenges, and Course Outcomes

This article discusses job search, skills, challenges, and course outcomes related to management accounting. It covers the common requirements, responsibilities, and less common skills required for cost and management accounting positions. The article also highlights the challenges faced by management accountants and specific topics covered under ACCT 6004.

Running head: MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
Management accounting
Name of the student
Name of the university
Student ID
Author note

1MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
Table of Contents
Task 1 – Data collection.............................................................................................................2
Task 2 – data analysis................................................................................................................7
Task 3 – final report.................................................................................................................12
Part 1....................................................................................................................................12
Part 2....................................................................................................................................13
Reference..................................................................................................................................16

2MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
Task 1 – Data collection
N
o
Position
Title
Sector
Industry or
Governme
nt
Position
description
Date
listed
Website address Search word(s)
or phrases
1. Managemen
t accountant
Industry –
JCDecaux
Australia
Main
objective is
to track,
forecast,
record and
monitor
expenses
associated
with capex
7th
April
2018
Jobsearch.gov.au Positions for
accountant
2. Managemen
t accountant
Industry –
Acqua
Bathrooms
Report to the
director and
deliver the
executive
team with
various
business
analyses and
improvement
for
26th
March
2018
Jobsearch.gov.au Positions for
accountant

3MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
management
decision
making
3. Senior
management
accountant
Industry -
Maxxia
Able to
implement
the ongoing
maintenance
of
forecasting,
budgeting
and reporting
platform
26th
March
Applydirect.com.a
u
Management
accountant
4 Managemen
t accountant
Industry –
Metro trains
Enthusiastic
management
accountant to
help in
analysis and
planning the
financial
aspects
5th
April
Applydirect.com.a
u
Management
accountant
5. Cost
accountant
Industry –
Junior first
movers
Primary
responsibility
is to assist the
management
with the
21st
March
Adzuna.com.au Cost accountant

4MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
performance
based
reporting for
finance that
includes cost
management,
forecasting,
pricing, and
strategic
financial
planning
6. Cost
accountant
Industry –
MPAU
Finance
Budget vs
actual costing
analysis,
Opex and
Capex
analysis and
tracking,
accurate
annual
forecasting
and
budgeting
25th
March
Adzuna.com.au Cost accountant
7. Cost
accountant
Industry -
Brandt
Ongoing
analysis for
21st
March
adzuna.com.au Cost accountant

5MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
the product
costing for
providing
accurate and
meaningful
cost related
information
to all
management
level.
8 Managemen
t accountant
Industry –
Michael
Page
Annual
budgeting,
maintenance
of monthly
performance
report,
providing
strategic
analysis
7th
April
Seek.com.au Management
accountant
9. Managemen
t accountant
Industry –
Gates
Australia
Pty Ltd
Reporting on
Hyperion
financial
management
system,
supporting
6th
April
Seek.com.au Management
accountant

6MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
the budgeting
procedure
and
forecasting
monthly
rolling,
reporting on
tax pack
10
.
Managemen
t accountant
Industry –
Capstone
recruitment
group Pty
Ltd
To provide
well
informed and
timely advise
to director
regarding
various
aspects of
branch
functions and
roles,
budgeting
and
forecasting
6th
April
Seek.com.au Management
accountant

7MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
Task 2 – data analysis
No Position title Position
requirement
Cost or management
accounting criteria
required or position
Alignment with
learning outcomes of
ACCT 6004
1. Management
accountant
Main objective
is to track,
forecast, record
and monitor
expenses
associated with
capex
Able to provide
accurate, pro-active
financial advice to the
management for
supporting business
growth and meeting the
legal requirements
Learning outcomes 3,4,5
and 6
2. Management
accountant
Report to the
director and
deliver the
executive team
with various
business
analyses and
improvement
for
management
decision
making
Pricing, assets
valuation, cost
management, budgetary
system and forecasting
Learning outcomes 3,4,5
6 and 7
3. Senior Able to implement the Learning outcomes 3,4,5

8MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
management
accountant
ongoing maintenance of
forecasting, budgeting
and reporting platform
and 6
4. Management
Accountant -
Infrastructure
Enthusiastic
management
accountant to
help in analysis
and planning
the financial
aspects
Tertiary qualification in
accounting or
management.
Demonstrated
experience in business
partnering
Learning outcomes 3,4,5,
6 and 7
5. Cost accountant Primary
responsibility
is to assist the
management
with the
performance
based reporting
for finance that
includes cost
management,
forecasting,
pricing, and
strategic
financial
planning
Advanced skills for
excel, job costing
experience,
management accounting
experience, accounting
or business degree
Learning outcomes 3,4,5
and 6

9MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
6. Budget vs
actual costing
analysis, Opex
and Capex
analysis and
tracking,
accurate
annual
forecasting and
budgeting
Must have 3-5 years
experience in similar
type of cost accountant
role. Must be CPA/CA
qualified and shall be
experienced in
manufacturing
organization.
Learning outcomes 3,4,5
and 6
7. Cost accountant Ongoing
analysis for the
product costing
for providing
accurate and
meaningful
cost related
information to
all
management
level.
Must have minimum 3
years of experience and
shall be progressively
responsible along with a
professional designation
for accounting
Learning outcomes 3,4,5
and 6
8 Management
accountant
Annual
budgeting,
maintenance of
monthly
CA/CPA qualified,
excellent knowledge of
excel, exposure to ERP
system
Learning outcomes 3,4,5
and 6

10MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
performance
report,
providing
strategic
analysis
9. Management
accountant
Reporting on
Hyperion
financial
management
system,
supporting the
budgeting
procedure and
forecasting
monthly
rolling,
reporting on
tax pack
Must have a degree in
accounting preferable
CA/CPA and shall be
highly proficient in
Microsoft suite,
particularly power point
and excel
Learning outcomes
2,3,4,5 and 6
10 Management
accountant
To provide
well informed
and timely
advise to
director
regarding
various aspects
Highly developed skills
regarding
organizational
information and strong
knowledge for
assurance processes and
procedures
Learning outcomes
2,3,4,5 and 6

11MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
of branch
functions and
roles,
budgeting and
forecasting

12MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
Task 3 – final report
Part 1
 Job websites where the positions were found are –
1. Jobsearch.gov.au
2. Applydirect.com.au
3. Adzuna.com.au
4. Seek.com.au
 All of the above positions for cost accountant or management accountant were found
in various industries like health sector, construction sector and finance sector. None of
the above mentioned positions were found for government sector.
 Out of the 10 positions found above total 8 positions were for management accountant
and rest 2 positions were for cost accountant. Therefore, out of the searched positions
maximum were for management accountant post.
 Common requirement were ability to perform annual budgeting, maintenance of
monthly performance report, providing strategic analysis. Selection criteria for the
posts were professional accountant degree and experience in similar posts. Common
responsibilities were to assist the management with the performance based reporting
for finance that includes cost management, forecasting, pricing, and strategic financial
planning
 Common requirement were ability to perform annual budgeting, maintenance of
monthly performance report, providing strategic analysis. Selection criteria for the
posts were professional accountant degree and experience in similar posts. Common
responsibilities were to assist the management with the performance based reporting

13MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
for finance that includes cost management, forecasting, pricing, and strategic financial
planning and degree in preferably CA or CPA.
Part 2
2. Cost and management skills
 The most common cost and management accounting knowledge and skills required
for the above mentioned positions are Annual budgeting, maintenance of monthly
performance report, providing strategic analysis (Alviniussen & Jankensgard, 2015).
 This knowledge is required as through the budget preparation and analysis the
company can analyse the performance of the company and can compare it with the
actual result. Further, the budget is the planned expenses and revenues that allows to
allocate the funds for particular purposes (Eldenburg et al., 2016). This is further
required as the financial reports and statements are important for analysing the
financial health of the business. These are also crucial for obtaining finance, making
proper business related decisions and setting goals. Cost accountant or management
accountants are the persons who can make the necessary analysis with the available
information and can assist is preparing the financial statement of the company.
3. Less common management and cost accounting skills
 Preparation of Hyperion Financial Management was the less common skills required
for the cost and management accounting posts.
 This skill was least required as compared to the other as the Hyperion Financial
management provides the financial reporting and consolidation that allows reporting
and consolidating the financial results rapidly, reducing the compliance cost, meeting
the requirements of global regulations and providing confidence with the numbers.
However, the system is not very common and not used by many companies yet.

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Therefore, this skills requirement are still less as compared to the skills of Annual
budgeting, maintenance of monthly performance report, providing strategic analysis
4. Challenges faced by management accountants
Management accounting is the function related to internal business that identifies the
internal cost for the purpose of decision making. Production and manufacturing companies
frequently use the management accounting for allocating the production cost to services or
goods produced by the company (Brooks, 2015). However, the management accounting faces
various challenges while performing their responsibilities. They are –
 Facts – challenges involved with management accounting are associated with
recording, collecting and reporting the financial information gathered from various
departments or divisions. Further, the cost allocation requires information regarding.
However, this information is required from various departments and it is not always
possible to collect the exact information from all the required sources (Schuster,
2015).
 Features – budgeting is the crucial tool used by the management accountant and it is
used for planning the annual budget. However, this is challenging for the management
accountants as they have to review the historical information for preparing the
accurate budget for the upcoming financial years (Fullerton, Kennedy & Widener,
2013).
 Time frame – while recording the financial information management accountant does
not depend on the individual period of accounting. It is the continuous procedures that
shall be managed properly by the employees and owners. Further, the financial
information shall be separated carefully for ensuring that valid, timely and relevant
information is considered for management reports (Hilton & Platt, 2013).
5. Specific topics under ACCT 6004

15MANAGEMNET ACCOUNTING
 Various topics learnt under AACT 6004 are the as follows –
 Explaining the importance and nature of management accounting and the current
responsibilities and roles of management accountants
 Analysing and identifying organizational and ethical issues
 Identifying and categorizing the nature of different costs, cost behaviour and cost
objectives
 Applying techniques of cost accounting for calculating the cost object and analysing it
 Applying cost information to planning, decision making and controlling
 Critically evaluating qualitative and quantitative costing information for management
decision making
 Subject outcomes are entirely aligned with the job requirements as the learning
outcomes of ACCT 6004 are completely based on the cost and management
accounting and the above mentioned jobs are also found in respect of cost and
management accounting.
6. As per my view the crucial requirement of cist management that have not been taught
under the course of ACCT 6004 is the cost allocation process like traditional method or
activity based costing. According to my knowledge, if the cost accountant or
management accountant knows the allocation method of resources they will be in better
position to allocate the cost appropriate manner. Therefore, it should have been covered
under the subject ACCT 6004

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Reference
Alviniussen, A., & Jankensgard, H. (2015). Enterprise risk budgeting: bringing risk
management into the financial planning process.
Brooks, R. (2015). Financial management: core concepts. Pearson.
Eldenburg, L. G., Wolcott, S. K., Chen, L. H., & Cook, G. (2016). Cost management:
Measuring, monitoring, and motivating performance. Wiley Global Education.
Fullerton, R. R., Kennedy, F. A., & Widener, S. K. (2013). Management accounting and
control practices in a lean manufacturing environment. Accounting, Organizations
and Society, 38(1), 50-71.
Hilton, R. W., & Platt, D. E. (2013). Managerial accounting: creating value in a dynamic
business environment. McGraw-Hill Education.
Schuster, P. (2015). Cost and Management Accounting. In Transfer Prices and Management
Accounting (pp. 1-4). Springer, Cham.

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