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Management accounting uses the following methods. Setting up management accounting: step by step

The purpose of the existence of any enterprise is to maximize profit at minimized costs. Therefore, all activities in the enterprise. Even if they do not directly generate income, they are aimed at achieving this goal in an indirect way. Accounting and reporting carry, first of all, information and management functions, which affects the system of planning, control and cost analysis, and hence the optimization of the financial results of the company.

Consider what management accounting is, for what purposes it is used, and what are the nuances of its organization in the enterprise.

What is management accounting

Management accounting is originally a part that helps keep information related to management under control. AT further development this direction is beyond the scope of accounting, since the accounting data for financial transactions that have already taken place and recorded in the relevant documents are insufficient for operational planning and control of business management.

For the operational management of any organization and especially the adoption financial solutions it is necessary not only to have all the completeness of information, but also to receive it in a timely manner and systematically update, that is, to streamline this process. That's what the system is for. management accounting.

Management Accounting can be defined as a regulated system of all processes affecting the management of the organization (identification, analysis, evaluation, registration, planning, control, etc.) by using the capabilities of accounting and reporting.

REFERENCE! The result of management accounting should be such a system for obtaining information that at any time gives a complete picture of the following items:

  • what is the financial condition of the business;
  • what means can be used to increase profits and minimize costs;
  • how exactly to dispose of the resources at its disposal.

Who is management accounting information intended for?

Information, the possession of which provides the ability to manage the organization, cannot be publicly available. Operational decision-making that directly regulates the functioning of the business structure is available only to the management. Therefore, the main recipients of data obtained in the course of management accounting are:

  • direct management of various levels;
  • representatives financial positions in the company;
  • some internal users.

In the vast majority of cases, management information is not intended for external counterparties of the organization (partners, creditors, investors, shareholders, etc.). Often it constitutes the concept of a trade secret and is protected from disclosure by law.

What does management accounting do

The subject of this type of accounting is a system of data and possible forecasts. The requirements for the information that should result from such accounting are quite strict:

  • adequacy– data received responsible person, should be enough to make a business decision;
  • brevity- excessive volume complicates the process of analysis and selection of the optimal path;
  • efficiency– the timeliness of information is even more important than the absolute accuracy of the data (for example, if we are talking about immediate action in case of a loss, it is not so important whether they amounted to 12 or 15%, it is much more significant that this factor was reported on time);
  • authenticity as opposed to accuracy required condition, since decisions crucial for the organization should not be based on false assumptions and erroneous data.

Choosing the optimal management accounting method

How to organize the information system is decided individually at each enterprise. Unlike financial or accounting, the law does not regulate the procedure so strictly management analysis business processes in the enterprise.

Methods are determined by the tasks that are set for management accounting, the main of which is the definition of cost (to reduce costs and simultaneously increase profits). To do this, you can choose from various ways those that are most suitable for the features of functioning this enterprise and give the most complete picture without undue interference with the work itself.

  1. Finding the breakeven point- "going to zero", after reaching which revenues will begin to prevail over costs.
  2. Planning various budgets– optimal distribution various kinds resources, especially financial ones.
  3. Process costing- used in production cycles when products for the most part the same type and the result can be correlated with the time of work.
  4. Custom Method- calculation of the cost project, it is convenient to use it for one-time work, when the work does not fit into existing technological lines.
  5. Transverse method- used in industries that are characterized by cycles (repartitions) production processes, each of which can be analyzed separately.
  6. Normative cost accounting- an approximate (normative) cost rate is established and the maximum allowable size of deviations in one direction and the other (overspending, waste or savings, optimization) is calculated.
  7. Inventory-index accounting of expenses– analysis of inventory data at the end of the accounting period.
  8. Direct costing- separation of overhead costs from production costs when determining the cost.

IMPORTANT! Management accounting is not the same as accounting and financial accounting. For completeness of information, not only data on the financial condition of the company are used, but also various factors that are not directly related to finance, which constitute only the main basis of management accounting.

Principles of management accounting

Developed on the basis of the experience of Anglo-American and French management systems.

  1. Communication. Only communication at all levels allows managers to get a systematic picture of the data about the organization.
  2. Relevance. Management must be provided with information that matches the request, that is, the data must meet the current needs of the management.
  3. Analysis. It is not enough to obtain the necessary data, it is necessary to interpret them correctly and draw conclusions, that is, to translate the information into specific management decisions, as well as predict their possible consequences.
  4. Confidence. Since management information is information that is closed to a wide range of people, it is impossible to operate it without a certain level of trust and protection of the data received.

How to build management accounting

If a company, as part of improving management efficiency, wants to implement a management accounting system, it will have to go through a series of successive stages.

You will have to start by defining the basis of management data, that is, the specific financial base. In domestic companies, the primacy of management accounting is a rather rare phenomenon, therefore, most often it has to be built on the basis of an already functioning financial accounting system. In such cases it is necessary:

  • clearly state the current situation (number of reports, their information content, analytics features, efficiency of information generation, etc.);
  • predict the planned organization of accounting (reports on managerial needs instead of typical ones, changing the system of performance indicators, optimizing information, operating not only with past data, but also with forecasts).

Implementation prospects

A system that has proven its effectiveness at the entrepreneurial level can be successfully implemented at the state level. At the present stage of development of domestic entrepreneurship, its implementation is typical only for large organizations, especially those with foreign investment. The cost and underdevelopment of the process of implementing management accounting sometimes scare away medium and small businesses.

However, a system that has proven its effectiveness at the entrepreneurial level can be successfully implemented at the state level as well. To do this, you need to solve a number of primary tasks:

  • development of methodological base of management accounting;
  • regulation of the basic rules and norms of such accounting (by analogy with accounting and financial);
  • approval of the regulatory legal framework;
  • popularization of this form of accounting for business leaders and state assistance in its implementation.

Management accounting is the main source of economic information for the implementation of an effective management system at the stages of forecasting, planning and doing business. In other words, the management accounting system is nothing more than the strategy and tactics of the functioning of an economic entity.

The information provided by management accounting should be focused on meeting the needs of both strategic and current management, as well as optimizing the use of resources and providing an objective assessment of the performance of units and individual managers.

Tactics management accounting consists in the organization, accounting, control, motivation, analysis and regulation of previously made decisions, as well as responsibility for their implementation.

Strategy management accounting - a system of analysis, forecasting, planning and coordination management decisions that determine the future development of the company.

Management accounting links the management process with the accounting process.

The subject of management was the process of influencing an object or management process in order to organize and coordinate people's activities in order to achieve maximum efficiency production.

Subject management accounting can be called information support for making current and developing short-term management decisions in order to extract planned benefits from the ordinary activities of an economic entity.

The content of an object is revealed by its objects. So, objects management accounting recognizes the facts of economic life associated with the costs (expenses) of the enterprise, the volume of activities, the income of the organization, as well as the results of all stages of reproduction (circulation of capital). In addition, in management accounting, such accounting objects as facts of economic life that describe the activities of individual structural divisions including responsibility centers. The carrier of the final information of management accounting is internal management reporting.

Management accounting objects are reflected through a set of techniques and methods that form the basis of the management accounting method.

Management accounting method. It is a set of ordered techniques and methods information support current management of the organization in order to extract economic benefits. If the method of management accounting is considered as a system, then the techniques and methods that form it can be represented as its elements.

In management accounting, all elements of the financial accounting method are used, such as documentation and inventory, valuation and costing, accounts and double entry, balance sheet generalization and reporting. Along with them, management accounting can use statistical methods, economic analysis, economic and mathematical methods, etc. (Fig. 1.5):

  • documentation - primary documents, machine media, reflecting production activities enterprises;
  • inventory - a way to identify the actual state of an object. With the help of inventory, deviations from the credentials are determined;

Rice. 1.5.

managerial

  • grouping and generalization- a method of study that allows you to accumulate and systematize information in the context of certain characteristics for evaluating performance and for making management decisions; generalization - recording data in the form of a table with their subsequent analysis;
  • control accounts - data storage. The system of control accounts allows you to establish the completeness and correctness of accounts, to systematize data according to a certain attribute;
  • rationing - the process of scientifically based calculation of optimal norms and standards, aimed at ensuring effective use all types of resources and finding ways for the most productive transformation of costs into products;
  • planning - bringing the company's capabilities in line with market conditions, solving the problems of the future period;
  • limiting - control system material costs based on a system of norms and standards. The limit sets the norms for the consumption of resources per unit of output and affects the formation of material costs;
  • analysis - the interdependence and interrelationship between departments for the implementation of established tasks, deviations and causes that caused changes in the results and production efficiency are identified;
  • economic statistical methods - search and justification of ways to improve production efficiency, rational use resources, ensuring the competitiveness of enterprises in the conditions market economy. On their basis, with the help of modern computer technologies, data are obtained for analysis. production systems, predicting their behavior in case of possible changes in the production situation and developing managerial decisions to achieve the goals;
  • statistical methods - use of information about the past successful experience of a number of organizations in any field of activity;
  • the control - completes the planning and analysis process, identifies and eliminates emerging deviations.

All elements of the method act interrelatedly and are aimed at

solving managerial problems.

The principles applicable in management accounting include the following (Fig. 1.6):

Completeness of information presentation

Efficiency of information submission

Usefulness of the information provided

The principle of isolation

Comparability principle

The principle of intelligibility

Principle of confidentiality

Flexibility of the management accounting system

Predictability of the management accounting system

Cost-effectiveness of the information provided

The principle of delegation of responsibility and motivation of performers

Deviation control principle

The principle of controllability of indicators of internal reporting

Rice. 1.6. Principles of management accounting

  • completeness of information presentation. Information relating to the accounting and management problem should be as complete as possible in order for the decisions made on its basis to be as effective as possible. The principle of reliability is closely intertwined with the principle of completeness, which requires the maximum validity of the information used to make decisions;
  • promptness in the provision of information. Information should be provided promptly, as needed;
  • usefulness of the information provided. It involves the use of those methods of planning, accounting and analysis that provide useful information, and therefore their choice depends on the management tasks being solved;
  • the principle of isolation. Requires consideration of each economic entity separately from others. In management accounting, when solving specific problems, the enterprise is considered separately not only as a whole, but also its individual divisions;
  • principle of comparability. The same indicators for different periods of time should be formed in accordance with the same principles;
  • the principle of clarity. The information presented in any accounting document should be understandable to the user of this document. In the case of management accounting, we can say that the information prepared for the manager, who will make any decisions on it, must be presented in such a form that the manager understands what the document contains. The information must be relevant, i.e. should relate to the problem of interest to the manager and not be overloaded with unnecessary details;
  • the principle of confidentiality. Separate management accounting;
  • flexibility of the management accounting system. Manifested in the adaptability of the management accounting system to individual characteristics companies. Assumes the improvement of management accounting as changes occur in entrepreneurial activity;
  • predictability of the management accounting system. Means the focus of the management accounting system on optimizing the performance of business segments by predicting their future income and expenses;
  • cost-effectiveness of the information provided. It is never discussed with respect to financial accounting, since, due to its strict external regulation of financial accounting, it is mandatory for the organization. The cost of maintaining a management accounting system should be significantly less than the cost of its operation. Information exchange of accounting and management data should bring benefits to the organization in the form of a reduction in transaction and other costs;
  • principle of delegation of responsibility and performer motivation. Redistribution of responsibility between the leaders of various hierarchical levels of management and the choice of performance evaluation criteria that maximize their motivation;
  • deviation control principle. Internal reporting should contain information on deviations of actual indicators from planned ones, which makes it possible to establish responsibility for unfavorable deviations that have arisen and promptly eliminate their causes;
  • the principle of controllability of indicators of internal reporting.

Separate reporting on indicators controlled and not controlled by the head of the business segment.

Compliance with the principles listed above allows you to build a management accounting system that is as close as possible to main goal this type of activity.

The concept and the need to highlight this type of accounting appeared in 1972 in America. Management accounting is developing everywhere today, it is designed to collect, register, summarize and provide management with complete information about economic activity.

Based on the data received in the reports, the heads of various departments carry out work planning, control the execution of the planned and make important strategic decisions.

What are the primary objectives of management accounting?

Typically, the following tasks are distinguished:

  • accounting for the availability and movement of all available resources, providing complete information about them to the managers of the organization;
  • accounting for receipts and expenditures, revealing deviations from established norms, for individual divisions and for the whole enterprise;
  • calculation of indicators of the real cost of goods, detection of deviations from the standards and the plan;
  • analysis and control over financial and economic activities, plans for its further development;
  • forecasting likely external impacts based on an analysis of past years and the general state of the country's economy;
  • providing reports on financial results related to the introduction of new technologies, the sale of products, etc.;
  • reporting on all areas of activity to top management, on the basis of which further decisions are made.

From the above, it is clear that management accounting covers all the economic information of an enterprise, from data tax accounting, audit materials to reports from specialists regarding the production and marketing of goods and services. Properly organized management leads to good performance in the work of all parts of the company.

Management accounting methods as a necessary toolkit

To perform all the tasks facing the staff in collecting, processing, analyzing and providing useful management information on the results of economic activity, a wide range of different methods are used.

There are the following methods of management accounting:

  • documentation, all primary documents, are the main source of data for management accounting;
  • inventory- a way to help determine the state of economic objects at the moment;
  • classification collected information for making managerial decisions;
  • control accounts, records of transactions for a certain period, helping to verify the reliability of financial accounting;
  • planning, an ongoing process that correlates the capabilities of the organization with the conditions offered by the market;
  • rationing- calculation of standards for cost control and their transformation into the final product;
  • setting a limit on material costs;
  • activity analysis is important method accounting, because it allows you to identify the causes of deviations;
  • the control- a process to eliminate all identified deficiencies.

Using the double entry method in management accounting

No company can manage in its activities without accounting, reflecting financial condition. Management accounting is closely related to it by the double entry method and the information obtained in the reports.

All operations on the movement of material assets are reflected in the accounts, the basis for the entry are primary documents. In this case, each operation, according to the double-entry rule, is reflected in the debit of one account and in the credit of another for the same amount.

abc method in management accounting

As you know, costs are divided into direct and indirect, the profitability of both a separate type of product and the activity as a whole depends on their correct accounting and distribution for a product (service).

Quite popular today is developed in the 80s. ABC cost accounting method (activity based costing), which features a different distribution of overhead costs, i.e. specific operations and processes that require additional costs are determined. This accurate information helps managers make decisions about increasing production. profitable goods or abandon unprofitable ones.

Pricing Methods

When setting the selling price for a product (work), the main role is played by costing, which is calculated using one of the following methods:

  • absorption costing, according to this method, the costs are distributed between the balances in the warehouse and the goods sold;
  • direct costing, here the costs are divided into fixed and variable, and the constants are fully attributed to the sold product (service).

Basically, organizations use direct costing, taking into account and planning only variable costs, it becomes much easier to control and manage production costs, and the cost price becomes transparent due to a significant reduction in items.

The totality of various techniques and methods by which objects of management accounting are reflected in the information system of an enterprise is called management accounting method . It consists of the following elements: documentation; inventory; grade; grouping and generalization into control accounts; planning; rationing and limitation; analysis; the control.

Documentation - primary documents and machine storage media that guarantee management accounting a fairly complete reflection of the production activities of the enterprise. Primary accounting in the general accounting system is the main source of information for financial and management accounting.

With regard to the specifics of the enterprise, an integrated approach to the organization of primary accounting provides:

    further improvement of operational calendar planning, operational control and dispatching of the production process;

    development and implementation of a single workflow for financial and management accounting, streamlining and unification of primary documentation;

    strict control over the expenditure of material and labor resources, for compliance with the size of wages, write-off of materials according to the quantity of manufactured products;

    the safety of blanks, parts, assemblies and semi-finished products in the process of their movement through the stages of processing, consumption and storage;

    improvement of the organization of warehouse accounting of parts, assemblies and assembly units through the equipment special places storage, provision with modern weighing and analytical devices;

    fastening for officials individual teams (teams, sections) of functions for registration of accounting documentation or collection of information from machine devices, increasing personal responsibility for the correctness of registration and completeness of information collection;

    reliability and timeliness of information about production through the use of balance sheets for accounting for the movement of parts, semi-finished products in managerial and financial accounting in the form of consolidated documents;

    transition to mechanized collection, transmission and processing of information on the movement of parts, assemblies and semi-finished products to be obtained on the basis of primary accounting of the resulting information using personal computers at different levels of management;

    timely and complete verification of operational accounting data during a certain reporting period in comparison with the actual state, size and completeness of work in progress using inventory, which at the same time allows improving information base production planning and rationing of stocks at the places of occurrence and backlogs 2 .

Inventory - a way to identify the actual state of the object. With the help of inventory, deviations from the credentials are determined: either unaccounted for values, or losses, shortages, theft. Inventory contributes to the safety of material assets, control over their use, establishing the completeness and reliability of accounting information.

Grouping and valuation, use of control accounts - a method of studying that allows you to accumulate and systematize information about the object. The main features of the grouping of management accounting objects are: the specifics of production activities, the technological and organizational structure of the enterprise, the organization of management, the target functions of the management system. Grouped information about the object allows you to effectively use it to evaluate performance and draw the necessary and reasonable conclusions for making operational and strategic decisions.

control account - this is the final account, where entries are made according to the total amounts of transactions of a given period.

Planning, rationing and limiting - are part of the enterprise management system.

Planning - a continuous cyclical process aimed at bringing the company's capabilities in line with market conditions. It is about solving the problems of the future. Planning is effective only when it is based on statistical research and analysis of the results of economic activity.

Rationing - the process of scientifically based calculation of optimal norms and standards aimed at ensuring the efficient use of all types of resources and finding ways for the most productive transformation of costs into output. The complex of norms and standards is the normative economy of the enterprise, which covers all areas of its activity.

Limitation - the first stage of control over material costs, based on the system of norms of stocks and costs. Limit - the establishment of the boundaries of the issuance, based on the norms. The limiting system should consist not only of the calculation of the limit for the release of materials by the workshop, but also of accounting and control operations. Therefore, in the management accounting system, limiting is assigned the role of operational information that allows you to actively influence the formation of material costs.

Analysis - in the process of analysis, deviations and causes that caused changes in the results and production efficiency are identified, and appropriate management decisions are made.

The control - the final process of planning and analysis, directing the activities of the enterprise to the fulfillment of previously established tasks, allowing to reveal and eliminate emerging deviations. The basis of the control system is Feedback, which provides reliable, necessary and appropriate information for the implementation of control and measurement activities. Exist different systems and types of control. They are constantly changing, have distinctive features in each enterprise, reflecting its specific field of activity.

All elements of the method do not operate in isolation from each other, but in a system of organizing internal economic relations aimed at solving management goals.

However, in contrast to financial accounting, where the procedure for applying these methods is defined by law, and in the management accounting system, they become a management tool provided that they are used in multiple ways. For example, property valuation in the management accounting system can be carried out at investment, market, insurance, book and liquidation value. The choice of one or another evaluation method in the management accounting system depends on the tasks facing the manager. It is known, for example, that an undervaluation of fixed assets leads to a reduction in property tax with an increase in income tax. Therefore, when making a decision on the reduction of the main manager, he must evaluate which ratio of these two taxes is more beneficial for the enterprise. An increase in the cost of fixed assets leads to an increase in equity capital, an improvement in financial stability indicators, but the profitability of production decreases. Conversely, an undervaluation of fixed assets increases profitability. In addition, in organizations that use a costly pricing mechanism, the consequence of an undervaluation of fixed assets is a decrease in the total cost of production, its price and, possibly, an increase in the positive cash flow of the organization.

In addition to accounting methods, management accounting uses a set of methods of statistics, economic analysis, as well as economic and mathematical methods. The possibilities of using statistical methods for forecasting purposes, deeply developed by a number of domestic authors, have long been successfully used in economic practice domestic enterprises. In the conditions of anti-crisis management of production and economic activities of organizations, one of the leading sections of complex economic analysis, parametric analysis, is of particular relevance.

With the development of information technologies, various intellectual systems are becoming more and more in demand, allowing, for example, to analyze the results of the financial and economic activities of an organization, assess its financial condition, carry out an examination of investment projects, manage business processes (purchases, sales, etc.), model them. The existing scientific developments in this area should also find wide practical application in management accounting.

The development of information technologies makes it possible to use the results of research in the field of building simulation models that can solve weakly structured problems in the implementation of management accounting. Simulation modeling provides an opportunity to experiment with production and financial processes (existing or proposed) in cases where it is either impossible or impractical to do this on a real object. In the process of building a simulation model, regression and correlation types of analysis can be used. The scientific results available in this area will be in demand by management accounting.

Thus, the whole variety of the methods discussed above, integrating into single system, allows management accounting to effectively solve the tasks facing it - both retrospective, current, and predictive.

What is management accounting?

- this is the direction of accounting of the enterprise, which informationally supports the management system of its entrepreneurial activity.

The subject is analysis, accounting and planning, which are necessary to improve the performance of the enterprise.

The objects of management accounting include:

  • costs of responsibility centers;
  • income of responsibility centers;
  • results of responsibility centers.

In turn, objects have their own division, namely:

1. Production resources that provide reasonable labor for employees in the course of the enterprise's activities:

  • the main fund is the means of production (equipment, production facilities, etc.), their use and condition;
  • intangible assets are objects of investment in long term(land lease, licenses, standards, etc.);
  • material resources are direct objects of labor that are intended for processing with the help of means of labor in the production process;
  • labor resources - this is the volume of living labor that the enterprise has, its use in the process of activity and the result of labor.

2. Business processes and the results of these processes, which together constitute production activities.

Principles of management accounting

Management accounting is based on the following principles:

  • speed of providing information(involves lowering the requirements for the completeness of the information provided in favor of efficiency);
  • confidentiality of information(involves separate management accounting);
  • the usefulness of the information provided(involves the use of those methods of planning, analysis and accounting that make it possible to obtain useful information. Moreover, the choice of methods depends on the tasks being solved in the field of management.);
  • accounting system flexibility(assumes the adaptability of the system to the characteristics of the organization, its improvement in case of changes in the direction of entrepreneurial activity);
  • predictability of the accounting system(the focus of the accounting system on improving the performance of the enterprise by forecasting income and expenses);
  • cost-effectiveness of the information provided(management accounting should include only the information and reporting that are necessary for the implementation of management objectives);
  • delegation of motivation and responsibility of performers(this principle involves the redistribution of responsibility between the management of various levels, as well as the definition of performance evaluation criteria that would maximize motivation);
  • deviation management(the reporting of the enterprise should include information about the deviation of actual indicators from the planned ones. This makes it possible to establish responsibility for the deviations that have arisen and quickly eliminate the causes of their occurrence.);
  • controllability of internal reporting indicators(implies separate reporting by the head of the business segment of the enterprise on controlled and uncontrolled indicators);
  • timeliness of information provision(sometimes the completeness and documentary validity of business transactions may be ignored to ensure the timely provision of information).

Functions of management accounting

The principles of management accounting provide its functions:

  • operational accounting, analysis, control, planning and forecasting of the activities of responsibility centers;
  • creation of motivation mechanisms that allow harmonizing the goals and interests of the segments with the strategic and tactical goals of the enterprise;
  • providing information support in making management decisions that are aimed at obtaining maximum profit while maintaining the capital of the enterprise.

Components of the management accounting method

1. Documentation- primary documents that reflect economic activity enterprises. Primary accounting is the main source of information for management accounting.

2. Inventory is a way of determining the state of an object at a given moment.

3. Generalization of information and its grouping are effectively used in making strategic decisions ().

4. Control accounts- these are records of the total amounts of transactions of a certain period, which help to establish the reliability of the accounts.

5. Planning is a continuous process that compares market conditions and enterprise capabilities.

6. Rationing- this is the calculation of norms, which is aimed at turning costs into a product.

7. Limitation This is the control over material costs.

8. Analysis. This element should be subject to both the activities of the enterprise as a whole and its divisions separately. Based on the results of the analysis, deviations and their causes are determined.

9. Control- This is the final planning process, which allows you to eliminate the deviations that have arisen.

More material on this topic(article, practical experience of companies) you can find in the Management Accounting section of the portal library.