Holmes Institute HA2011 Management Accounting Reflective Journal

This reflective journal analyzes the student's learning experience in the HA2011 Management Accounting unit, focusing on Cost Volume Profit (CVP) analysis. The journal provides a detailed overview of CVP analysis, including its definition, applications, assumptions, and the calculation of break-even points. The student reflects on the advantages and disadvantages of CVP analysis, as well as the importance of identifying fixed and variable costs. Furthermore, the journal explores the student's group experiences, highlighting the development of teamwork, time management, and communication skills. The student also discusses the importance of attentive learning, non-technical skills, and the role of CVP analysis in financial planning and evaluation of investment proposals. The conclusion summarizes the key takeaways from the unit and emphasizes the value of CVP analysis as a decision-making tool.

Running Head: ACCOUNTING
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Management Accounting
Reflective Journal
(Student Details: )
2/1/2020

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Contents
Reflection: Cost Volume Profit (CVP) Analysis.......................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Reflection...................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Reflection: Cost Volume Profit (CVP) Analysis
Introduction
This reflective journal is based on learning acquired from the unit HA2011 Management
Accounting (MA). The key purpose of the discussion is to demonstrate a critical reflection of
my personal learning process, experienced during the MA unit. With the help of this
individual reflection, I will talk about Cost Volume Profit (CVP) Analysis as this topic
interested me the most from this management accounting unit. While providing the reasons
behind the above, I will also narrate my group experiences along with the learning through
them.
Reflection
During this unit, I have learned about so many accounting related topics, out of which CVP
analysis was one of the interesting topics for future academic development. To me, CVP
analysis refers to a decision tool that is typically used to define how variations in the volume,
as well as cost, affect an organization’s net income and operating income. While performing
the CVP analysis, I noticed that there were so many assumptions made. An example of such
an assumption was included variable costs per unit and the sales price per unit is constant. To
conduct the CVP analysis, the total fixed costs are divided by the contribution margin ratio.
In this way, based on (Bumann et al., 2012), I learned to calculate the break-even point of
sales in the form of total break-even dollars. I observed that in CVP analysis all the units
generated are assumed to be sold, as well as fixed costs should always be stable. My learning
related to CVP analysis suggest that CVP needs that all types of costs in a company are
identified either as fixed or variable. These costs may include selling, administrative and
manufacturing costs. I would like to mention that key calculative factors in the CVP analysis
include contribution margin ratio and contribution margin. One important fact about CVP
analysis is that it is used whenever an organization is attempting to define what level of sales
is essential for reaching a particular level of income, which is known as targeted income. The
key topics which were taught in this topic include graphing CVP relations, CVP for
management decisions, target net profits, CVP with multiple products, and financial planning
models.

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In this context, the importance of the chosen topic can be explained with the key advantages
of CVP analysis. Besides, CVP analysis always helps in identifying the break-even point
which is ultimately important for improving the overall sales and thereby revenue in a
business (Clayman et al., 2012). I also recognized that CVP analysis is useful for the
evaluation of investment proposals. Based on knowledge acquired from the MA module, I
can now say that CVP is the base for marketing and planning efforts. My personal
observations are suggesting that CVP analysis sets a base for budgeting. On the contrary,
there were some disadvantages realized by all of us group members (Forsyth, 2019).
On the other hand, I have experienced so many things as a group member in the group
assignment given during the MA unit. While learning into this unit, I have realized that
working in a team is the most important and essential thing ever. It is because when we work
within groups and overall development occur which allows us to grow personally and
professionally (Bodie, 2012). Based on experiences gained by working over a group
assignment, I believe that team-work evolved my personality as it made me learn skills like
time-management, conflict management, leadership skills, analytical skills, critical thinking
skills, problem-solving skills and many more. This MA unit made me cope up with the issues
and challenges arising due to group formation and working on a single project. In addition to
that, based on (Forsyth, 2019), I acted as an active group member who was very much
familiar with own role and responsibilities. According to me, this group allowed me to
address the hurdles and challenges came into the path of learning CVP analysis effectively.
Based on (Boud et al., 2013), I also believe that this group working made me learn self-
awareness as well as patience skills.
In this way, with the group assignment, I have learned a lot for both personal and professional
development. When I was learning CVP and break-even analysis, I got to learn effective
listening and verbal communication skills. Based on (Ash & Clayton, 2014), I learned that
attentive learning is important for learning any complex accounting concept. In addition to
that, the group learning taught me non-technical skills with technical skills. For example,
comforting skills is necessary for group members to interact with the whole group in an
effective way (Moon, 2013). The group learning improved my interpersonal skills as we all
know that a relationship within team members is a two-way procedure. From the academic
perspective, I learned that CVP analysis is highly important as it is needed to evaluate the
total amount of sales to the break-even point. In this context, group learning during this unit

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on CVP analysis made us realize the advantages and disadvantages of CVP analysis and
thereby management-accounting (Ehrhardt & Brigham, 2016).
Conclusion
In whole, this reflective discussion is made me realize that CVP analysis is a great decision
tool that is often used to calculate the changes in a firm’s sales volume affecting their
revenue, costs as well as profit. Post learning into the MA unit, I can now say that CVP
analysis offers information for effective decision-making for the company’s management
while determining the impact on revenue as well as costs quickly.

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References
Ash, S.L. & Clayton, P.H., 2014. The articulated learning: An approach to guided reflection
and assessment. Innovative Higher Education, pp.137-54.
Bodie, G., 2012. Listening as positive communication. The positive side of interpersonal
communication, pp.109-25.
Boud, D., Keogh, R. & Walker, D., 2013. Reflection: Turning experience into learning. UK:
Routledge.
Bumann, Mary & Sharon Younkin, 2012. Applying Self Efficacy Theory to Increase
Interpersonal Effectiveness in Teamwork. Journal of Invitational Theory & Practice, 18.
Clayman, M.R., Fridson, M.S. & Troughton, G.H., 2012. Corporate finance: a practical
approach. 2nd ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Ehrhardt, M. & Brigham, E., 2016. Corporate finance: A focused approach. UK: Cengage
Learning.
Forsyth, D.R., 2019. The Psychology of Groups. [Online] Available at:
https://nobaproject.com/modules/the-psychology-of-groups [Accessed 2019].
Moon, J.A., 2013. Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice.
London: Routledge.