Managing Operations and Finance

Managing Operations and Finance
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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.
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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 for Cucumber Ltd.......................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
This report 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
other operational activities. It refers to the accounting processes that are undertaken by
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 Basis Financial Accounting Management Accounting
Meaning The accounting system
emphasis on development and
presentation of financial
statement to the external users
of an organization for
providing the financial
information to assist in the
This accounting system refers
to developing and presenting
the financial information to
the managers for assisting
them to develop future
strategies and plan to promote
its growth and development
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