This report evaluates the case study of Cucumber Ltd on the basis of information provided. It discusses the role of management accounting, capital investment appraisal techniques, business plan and budget, and balanced scorecard approach.
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Managing Operations and Finance 1
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Executive Summary This report is undertaken to evaluate the case study of Cucumber Ltd on the basis of information provided. It is a Smartphone company that is planning for gaining future expansion in the next three eyras and is considering the execution of its expansion plan by selection of a proposal from the four proposals provided with the use of capital investment techniques. It has also discussed the role of business plan and budgets in examining the effectiveness of operation for an organization. Also, it has developed and presented a balance scorecard on the basis of information provided within the case. 2
Contents Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2 Introduction......................................................................................................................................4 Part 1: Role of Management accounting in the management process.............................................4 Part 2: Application of capital investment appraisal techniques in the case the organization..........6 Part 3: Importance of Business Plan and Budget in the case organization......................................8 Part 4: Critically discussion of the usefulness of Balanced Scorecard Approach and development of Balance Scorecard forCucumber Ltd.......................................................................................10 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11 References......................................................................................................................................12 3
Introduction Thisreport is developed for carrying out an analysis of the case study of Cucumber Ltd, a smart phone company, that is planning to expand its business in the future context. The analysis is undertaken by examination of the role of management accounting process and adopting the sue of capital investment appraisal techniques for selecting an adequate project for supporting company future expansion pan, IT is followed by examining the role of business plan and budget in operational management in the context of the case study. Lastly, the usefulness of balance scorecard has been discussing along with its preparation for Cucumber Ltd on the basis of the information presented within the case study. Part 1: Role of Management accounting in the management process Management accounting refers to the processes used for tracking the internal cost of business processes that enables the management in taking decisions related to production and otheroperationalactivities.Itreferstotheaccountingprocessesthatareundertakenby management for identifying, measuring and interpreting the financial data gathered for the purpose of planning and control. The role of management accounting is preparation and presentation of relevant and useful financial data before the management for guiding in decision- making process and achieving the stated organizational goals. It implies to integrating the use of actual financial information and estimated data that assist managers to make decisions regarding carrying out daily operations and planning for promoting the future organizational growth (Ghanbari and Vaseli, 2015). The different management accounting tools that are used by the business managers in managing and controlling the different operational activities are activity- based costing, target costing, Kaizen costing, JIT, six sigma, total quality management and others. The role of management accounting is becoming highly important within an organization to enhance its operational efficiency. The use of budgeting and other control techniques in management accounting enables in developing an understanding of the future target and goals to be achieved and thus assisting the management in strategic planning. The process of management accounting is significantly different from that of financial accounting and the basic differences between them can be depicted by the use of following table: Comparison BasisFinancial AccountingManagement Accounting MeaningTheaccountingsystem emphasis on development and presentationoffinancial statement to the external users ofanorganizationfor providingthefinancial informationtoassistinthe This accounting system refers to developing and presenting thefinancialinformationto themanagersforassisting themtodevelopfuture strategies and plan to promote its growth and development 4
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decision-making process Objective Todepictfinancial informationtotheexternal usersforassistingthemin their decision-making process To depict financial and non- financialinformationtothe business managers for taking effective decisions Time Frame & Format Thefinancialreportsare developed on an annual basis in a specified format The management reports are developedasperthe organizational needs and the formatofthereportisnot specified Users Thefinancialreportsare developed for external users The management reports are developedonlytheneedof internal management The different techniques that can be used for analyzing and examination of the different models of costing to be used in operational management can be discussed as follows: Marginal Costing: This type of costing technique can be used by the business managers for gaining an examination of the different types of variable costs allocated to the operational process of an organization. This includes examining the variable costs incurred by an organization in different activities of production such as direct materials, direct labor and other overheads costs. The technique is useful for achieving distinction between the fixed and variable costs. Thus, it can be used for selecting an adequate model of costing to be used for operational management within businesses by identifying the difference between fixed and variable costs. Absorption Costing: The method is generally used by the business managers when the production method involves consumption of both fixed and variable costs. The technique can be used for selecting the model of costing when the operational process of a company involves the utilization of full costs. Standard Costing: The technique can be used by business managers when the cost involved in production process of a company can be predicted in advance on the basis of predetermined standards. The standard costs are compared with the actual costs in a periodic manner for taking adequate measures to reduce the possibility of occurrence of any type of error. 5
Part 2: Application of capital investment appraisal techniques in the case the organization Capital investment appraisal is the most important management accounting technique and it is formally known as capital budgeting. This technique is used mainly at the time of planning phase of project investment appraisal and it helps in evaluating the feasibility of project financially. Capital investment appraisal evaluates the investment projects of the company through various investment appraisal techniques such as net present value, payback period and internal rate of return. In the given case scenario Cucumber Limited is considering to expand its production line of current products. There are total four products proposals have been submitted for the evaluation purpose and among that only one need to be accepted due to constraint of funds. The detailed information of all the four projects have been summarized in below table and it has been evaluated through using the capital investment techniques (McWatters and Zimmerman, 2015). Investment Proposals ItemsProposal 1Proposal 2Proposal 3Proposal 4 Amount in £ Millions Initial Investment£24.00£19.00£16.00£32.00 Residual Value£-£-£-£8.00 Sale Value equal to Residual value£-£-£-£8.00 Investment Proposals ItemsProposal 1Proposal 2Proposal 3Proposal 4 Amount in £ Millions Cash Inflows in year 1£16.00£2.00£6.00£6.00 Cash Inflows in year 2£12.00£8.00£8.00£10.00 Cash Inflows in year 3£8.00£8.00£6.00£18.00 Cash Inflows in year 4£4.00£12.00£6.00£16.00 Cash Inflows in year 5-£8.00£10.00£4.00£12.00 InformationCash flow at year 5 includes sale value of fixed assets Cash Inflows in year 5 without the residual value -£8.00£10.00£4.00£4.00 Statement of Cash Flows for all the investment proposals Statement of Cash Flows for all investment proposals ItemsProposal 1Proposal 2Proposal 3Proposal 4 Year 0-£24.00-£19.00-£16.00-£32.00 6
Year 1£16.00£2.00£6.00£6.00 Year 2£12.00£8.00£8.00£10.00 Year 3£8.00£8.00£6.00£18.00 Year 4£4.00£12.00£6.00£16.00 Year 5-£8.00£10.00£4.00£12.00 (Lalli, 2011) Application of Payback Period Application of Payback Period ItemsCumulative Cash Flows Proposal 1Proposal 2Proposal 3Proposal 4 Year 0-£24.00-£19.00-£16.00-£32.00 Year 1-£8.00-£17.00-£10.00-£26.00 Year 2£4.00-£9.00-£2.00-£16.00 Year 3£12.00-£1.00£4.00£2.00 Year 4£16.00£11.00£10.00£18.00 Year 5£8.00£21.00£14.00£30.00 Payback Period1.673.082.332.89 Payback Period 1 year 8 months 3 years 1 month 2 years 4 months 2 years 5 months Application of Net Present Value Application of Net Present Value Method ItemsProposal 1Proposal 2Proposal 3Proposal 4 Cost of Capital10%10%10%10% Present Value of Cash flows @ 10% Year 0-£24.00-£19.00-£16.00-£32.00 Year 1£14.56£1.82£5.46£5.46 Year 2£9.96£6.64£6.64£8.30 Year 3£6.00£6.00£4.50£13.50 Year 4£2.72£8.16£4.08£10.88 Year 5-£4.96£6.20£2.48£7.44 Net Present Value£4.28£9.82£7.16£13.58 Application of Internal Rate of Return Application of Internal Rate of Return ItemsProposal 1Proposal 2Proposal 3Proposal 4 Rate of Return10%10%10%10% Present Value of Cash flows @ 10% Year 0-£24.00-£19.00-£16.00-£32.00 Year 1£14.56£1.82£5.46£5.46 7
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Year 2£9.96£6.64£6.64£8.30 Year 3£6.00£6.00£4.50£13.50 Year 4£2.72£8.16£4.08£10.88 Year 5-£4.96£6.20£2.48£7.44 Net Present Value£4.28£9.82£7.16£13.58 Rate of Return30%30%30%30% Present Value of Cash flows @ 30% Year 0-£24.00-£19.00-£16.00-£32.00 Year 1£12.32£1.54£4.62£4.62 Year 2£7.08£4.72£4.72£5.90 Year 3£3.68£3.68£2.76£8.28 Year 4£1.40£4.20£2.10£5.60 Year 5-£2.16£2.70£1.08£3.24 Net Present Value-£1.68-£2.16-£0.72-£4.36 Internal Rate of Return24.36%26.39%28.17%25.14% (Lalli, 2011) It can be stated on the basis of payback period proposal 1 can be accepted as it has lower payback period among all four proposed investment proposals. This is because payback period refers to the time required for a capital investment project to recover its initial investment or reaching the break-even point. Thus, proposal 1 is recommended to be accepted on the basis of payback period as it requires significantly less time for recovering the initial investment incurred. However, on the NPV method proposal 4 is considered to be accepted as it is having the highest net present value. This is because projects having positive NPV can be accepted but proposal 4 having highest NPV will provides maximum returns and hence it is recommend to be accepted. On the other hand, on the basis of IRR method the proposal 3 having highest IRR is supposed to be accepted as its rate of return is higher among all four proposals. Recommendation: On the basis of critical analysis of capital investment appraisal techniques, it can be said that it is favorable to invest in proposal 4 as it is having highest NPV and also good internal rate of return. NPV can be regarded as superior method to select the feasibility of project as it helps in determining the future profitability of a project. Part 3: Importance of Business Plan and Budget in the case organization Business plan refers to set of documents in prescribed format that lays down the strategic objectives of the senior management at one place. It is not possible for senior management to communicate every objectives and strategic plan needs to follow to achieve the short and long term objectives of the company. At this stage business plan provide a proper solution to the senior management as it helps to communicate the strategic steps and guidelines need to follow for achieving the operational objectives (Moles and Kidwekk, 2011). 8
In the given case scenario of Cucumber Limited is facing many issues due to poor communication between the senior management to the managers of each department. Through use of business plan this issue can be easily resolved as business plan contains all the information that manager needs to know for achieving all the objectives desired by the senior management. There are specific target set by CEO and other senior management of the company for the future years for the sustainable development of the business. For example, key financial target set by CEO is to achieve the return on capital employed of 18% and profit before tax of £ 5 million for each of the next three years. In order to achieve the target profit and target return on capital employed there is need to sold specific number of goods in each year but this information can be communicated if there is business plan at place and all the detailed information has been provided in it. Information that can be included in the business plan also includes requirement of specific staff such as direct manufacturing labour must be qualified at NVQ level 4 and all supervisor must be qualified to BSc level. There is other information that can be included in the businessplan.Keyrequirementthatmanagersshouldknowforachievingthebusiness objectives, it is important to look at the balance scorecard as the important component of the business plan (Clowes and Scriven, 2015). Budget is an important component of the business plan as it provides the detail information about the expenditure plan, level of sales required, budgetary sales unit required, financing planning and cash requirement. Cucumber Limited has already established budget plan but there are many issues that have been identified that requires improvement. There is some important information that needs to be communicated in the budgetary information. Information such as breakeven units required for achieving the profit target of £ 5 million must be included in the budgetary targets and all budgets should be developed through using number of units to be sold. Calculation of breakeven units FormulaFixed Cost/Contribution per unit Formula when specific target profit is given Fixed Cost+ Target Profit/Contribution per unit Selling Price per unit£150.00 Variable Cost per unit£100.00 Contribution per unit£50.00 Fixed Cost£1,500,000.00 Target Profit£5,000,000.00 Breakeven Units to achieve the target profit of £ 5 million130000.00 (Berman, 2015) 9
Areas need to be improved in budgetary control process: It is required to provide the variance report on 1 st day of next month for which report has been prepared.For example, for month of September, report must be given on 1st October. Variance report must be adjusted for number of units sold in respective month Below is the correct variance report for the September month: Productive ActivityBudgetBudgetActualVariance 30004000 4,000 units Costs£££% Materials3100041333.33390002333.33Favorable8% Supplies1100014666.67125002166.67Favorable20% Direct Labour900012000.0095002500.00Favorable28% Indirect labour50006666.6752001466.67Favorable29% Depreciation20002000.0020000.000% 0.00 Share of Sales costs25003333.332800533.33Favorable21% 0.00 Apportioned overhead1000013333.3315000-1666.67Adverse-17% Total7050093333.33860007333.33Favorable10% (Adler, 2013) Part 4: Critically discussion of the usefulness of Balanced Scorecard Approach and development of Balance Scorecard forCucumber Ltd The Balance Scorecard (BSC) is regarded as a strategic planning and management tool that can be used by businesses for measuring and monitoring their progress towards the achievement of the strategic targets. It evaluates the performance of an organization on the basis of four perspectives, that are, financial, customer, internal business and learning and growth perspectives. The BSC approach can be used by organizations for developing the long-term strategic goals and aligning them with short-term strategic plans. The business organizations can develop their key performance indicators on the basis of strategic goals and objectives created with the use of BSC approach. The businesses adopting the use of this management tool are also bale to develop and report higher quality of information to the management for aiding their decision-making. It can also enable the businesses to improve the transparency and reliability within their management reports and ensuring that information provided is trustworthy for developing the strategic plans of future business growth and development. It can also be regarded as an effective way for visualizing the financial as well as non-financial performance of a company before the senior management people and developing the long-term strategic goals. 10
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The balance scorecard developed for Cucumber Ltd on the basis of analyzing the information presented in the case consists of the following components: PerspectivesGeneric Measurements Financial Performance The key performance indicators used are of profitability, return on capital employed, and cost of production Analysis on the basis of standard targets that is the return on capital employed to be 18% within the next three years and profit before tax to be £5m and the fixed cost is estimated to be £1,500,000 for supporting its future expansion plans Customer Perspective Performance indicators of satisfaction level of customers assessed by customer rating. Analysis on the basis of standard targets of achieving the customer ratingtobeatleast80%toanalyzethelevelofcustomer satisfaction. Learningand growth perspective The analysis of employee training and knowledge needs necessary for driving the business growth and development. Analysis on the basis of the management criteria provided by manufacturing director that employees should be qualified to NVQ level 4 and supervisors to attain BSc (Hons) level. BusinessProcess Perspective Examination of its mission process that is to become a high quality supplier of innovative mobile products at affordable process to the customers and other support process. Analysis on the basis of innovation and employee retention Thecompanyinordertoachievethemissionstatementhas regarded the annual staff turnover to be 15% It is essential for retention the highly skilled employees to develop innovative products for meeting the customer requirements. Conclusion It can be said that effective application of costing techniques such as variance analysis, costmethods,budgetarycontrol,andmarginalcostingwillhelptoreviewthebusiness operational management plan and also guides with areas of improvement. 11
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