Management Accounting

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In managing their organizations, managers face important decisions on a daily basis. For example, they need to set the right prices for their products, plan the resources for the upcoming period, make investment decisions, and evaluate strategies. Thus, making and controlling these decisions is a fundamental feature of every manager’s job. In this course, students learn how (accounting) information can be used to advance managerial decision making and control. This course focusses on advanced cost accounting and cost management techniques. Some topics discussed are cutting-edge cost allocation methods (e.g., activity-based costing, time-driven activity based costing), transfer pricing and performance measurement, traditional and advanced budgeting techniques, as well as strategic performance measurement systems (e.g., Balanced Scorecard). In these topic areas, we also discuss how statistical analyses can be used to improve the decision making and control within organization.
A profound understanding of these topics is essential for a broad audience. First, future managers can use and request the necessary information to make better informed decisions. Second, future accountants and controllers know how to design the systems that will help their organizations to excel. Third, future employees understand the rationale behind the accounting systems used in their organizations and can act upon them.