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There has been a lot of excitement surrounding the global electric vehicle (EV) market in the last decade. The emergence of companies such as Tesla in the United States and [...]

Customer sentiment analysis is one of many areas where NLP can be applied for transformative business gains. Not all data is created equal. Structured data exists in a predefined format [...]

The experience of Denmark-based manufacturer LINAK makes a strong case for using both activity-based costing and value-stream costing. Could a similar approach be right for your company? Like in most [...]

The article offers a look into the updated revenue recognition guidance under the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 606, Revenue From Contracts with Customers, issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). It explains the application of the guidance to long-term contracts and demonstrates accounting techniques for a long-term contract under the old ad new ASC revenue guidance using several scenarios. It also discusses the benefits and risks of ASC 606.

2022 STUDENT CASE COMPETITION The Student Case Competition is sponsored annually by IMA[R] to provide an opportunity for students to interpret, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate a solution to a [...]

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dublin Airport had more than 2,000 departures each week to about 200 global destinations. In 2019, 32.9 million passengers passed through its gates and 50 [...]

A quiz is presented regarding the revenue recognition rules, Revenues from Contracts with Customers in the U.S. that will be implemented starting the 2018 annual reporting period.

The article explains how accountants can be more accurate and gain greater understanding of variances by adding organic growth, inorganic growth, and capacity costs into budgets. It discusses how the impact of new investments and the performance of current portfolios can be be emphasized when growth and capacity costs are considered.

Management accountants and finance professionals have long served as stewards of accounting information, responsible for overseeing financial reporting and providing assurance around that reporting. More recently, that role has evolved. [...]

With the economic turmoil brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, it has never been more important for companies to understand the intricacies of their business, the frailty or strength of [...]

The management accounting community hasn't yet seen a detente between the acolytes of traditional standard costing and those of activity-based costing (ABC). The standard cost loyalists have considered ABC to [...]

The article presents a blueprint for continuous accounting that replaces manual accounting practices with speed, automation, and flexibility.

Much has been written about the benefits of Lean manufacturing and practices such as Just-in-Time (JIT) production, total quality management (TQM), and total preventative maintenance (TPM). A Lean manufacturer operates [...]

Intangible ASSETS are a primary driver of value creation in companies, but with only rare exceptions, the values of intangible assets are notoriously difficult to measure. Intangible assets are considered [...]

In my previous experience as a supervisory accounting professional and my current role as an accounting professor, I've reviewed numerous financial and other reports and have observed that accounting students [...]

The article discusses fair value accounting and Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 157. Concerns about SFAS No. 157 include the rule's effectiveness for financial statements from specific years, the complexity of the fair value accounting, and the cost of implementing fair value measurements in the United States. Three fair value inputs that form a measurement hierarchy are mentioned.

The article focuses on the creation of key performance indicators (KPI) programs to improve corporate financial operations as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley law. KPI programs are especially useful in accounting purchase-to-pay, the operations involving purchasing, accounts payable, and expense management. Developing a KPI requires selecting the elements of the financial system that most directly effect performance and creating benchmarks for their effectiveness.

The article compares the cost accounting practices known as "resource consumption accounting" (RCA) in use in Germany and the methods used by most U.S. firms businesses report a far higher level of satisfaction with their costing methods than do U.S. firms. German firms also employ management accounting more frequently. U.S. firms do not expect to change their methods due to the costs and disruptions involved.

The article is about how Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children implemented a new accounting system that provides relevant information for operations managers using elements of Grenzplankostenrechnung (GPK) and activity-based costing (ABC). The author explains how the GPK/ABC system worked at the hospital and how it can work for other nonaccountant operational managers.

It was 2013, and Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, had one of the top-ranked accounting programs in the country. Competition to get into the program was fierce, and [...]

Two years ago, IMA[R] (Institute of Management Accountants) Louisville (Ky.) Chapter board member Kristina Merrill and Chapter President Dennis Harding met for lunch to ponder over ideas to better drive [...]

One question that seems to challenge every accounting instructor is 'How do I get my students engaged in class?' A second and even more important question is 'How can I [...]

The article discusses the outlook for change in management accounting in the United States. The International Federation of Accountants supports the method of optimized deployment of resources. The book "Relevance Lost," by Robert S. Kaplan and H. Thomas Johnson--which focused on the statutory requirements of financial reporting--and various accounting methods are mentioned such as activity-based costing, Resource Consumption Accounting, and German cost accounting methods. INSET: What About Activity-Based Costing?.

One of the major tax benefits of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-136) was the modification of the net operating loss rules. In [...]

The article highlights the technological trends in management accounting as of January 2014. These include business analytics embedded in enterprise performance management (EPM), coexisting and improved management accounting methods, the use of information technology and shared services as a business tool and the importance of having skills and competency with behavioral cost management. Other topics discussed include barriers to the use of EPM and categories of accounting.

ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONALS responsible for financial reporting are partnering with sustainable business or corporate social responsibility teams, human resources, and investor relations to implement new U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) [...]

The article discusses manufacturing drawback rulings in the United States. Three major types of drawbacks--which are a refund of customs duty or tax--are direct identification manufacturing, substitution manufacturing, and rejected merchandise. Appendix A and Appendix B of Customs Regulations Part 191 are mentioned, as well as Section 1313 (a) (b) (c), of Title 19, United States Code (19 USC) and the four accounting methods used for drawbacks. INSET: DRAWBACK BEGUN IN 1789.

The article focuses on James Alderson, former chief financial officer at Quorom Health Group Inc., a former division of HCA Healthcare Corp. It states that in 1990, Alderson was told by Quorum to create a secret set of accounting books to defraud the government. It mentions he was fired after questioning the accounting methods and filed suit under the U.S. False Claims Act in 1993. It comments that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 provides some protection for whistleblowers.

The article presents research on accounting methods in which earnings per share (EPS) reports in corporate financial statements are distorted EPS through rounding numbers upward. Research finding more than 50 percent of EPS numbers were rounded up is discussed. It is found that small accounting firms were more likely to be the auditors of companies who rounded up EPA. It is proposed that accounting law require firms with EPS of less than $1 report the number with three decimal places.

The article discusses multinational company Archer Daniels Midland's (ADM's) experience of preparing for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). ADM's diagnostic project used to develop plans for the firm's conversion from U.S. accounting standards to IFRS is discussed. Accounting methods for consolidation, depreciation, impairment, and fixed assets are mentioned.

The article refers to a controversy in the United States concerning the accounting treatment for stock options. The issues are how earnings are presented to investors and affect their evaluation of equity value, as well as the potential for shareholder dilution of equity when stock options are exercised. Two sources of confusion in the debate over stock options are: the relevant dates in the option's life and the different accounting methods used by firms to report finance and income-tax calculations. Relevant dates include the grant date where there is no earnings impact, vesting date where there is disclosure in a footnote, and exercise date where the option becomes an expense for tax purposes. The cash flow approach to equity valuation is mentioned.

The article focuses on the organisation Institute of Management Accountants' (IMA) Technology Solutions and Practices Committee. It mentions how the committee helps in keeping its members informed about the latest development in accounting technologies and their impact on accounting practices. The article discusses about TechTalk webinar series, discussions on technology-related developments, and how the committee help in improving the job experience of accountants.

Resource consumption accounting can provide accurate, equitable performance measures and highlight deviations for you to investigate and correct. This is the second in a series of two articles on the [...]

If you work for a public company, you're likely discussing--and perhaps actively gearing up for--the substantial changes associated with adopting or endorsing International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and converging them [...]

How leading companies manage product development. Wouldn't it be nice if you could prevent your company from making a $300 million mistake? In 1988, Ford would have appreciated knowing that [...]

The article presents information about flexible margin costing (GPK). Flexible margin costing is a cost accounting system used by many firms in German-speaking countries. GPK is essentially about marginal costing instead of full costing, short-term decision support instead of long-term, and cost centers instead of activities and processes. Analysts speculate that combining activity-based costing with GPK can add relevance to a firm's accounting system.

It's the classic 'either/or' proposition in manufacturing settings, where assembly practices generally follow one of two tracks: job or process. The difference between the two is the ability to trace [...]

All accounting systems require processes and procedures to make sure information is received and processed on a timely basis, recorded accurately, approved as designated in company policies, and finally recorded [...]

THE INTERNATIONAL ETHICS STANDARDS BOARD for Accountants (IESBA) recently restructured and revised its Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. While the IESBA Code isn't specifically geared toward management accounting and [...]

If you've been a devoted reader of The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal over the last few years, you've undoubtedly read many articles about companies buying back [...]

The article focuses on German cost accounting and discusses how it has evolved over the years, more specifically how it has changed with the merging of activity-based accounting practices. The article reviews the history of Grenzplankostenrechnung (GPK), defines it, outlines its roots and how it grew, and presents a series of lessons learned from GPK implementation. More recently, GPK has adopted project-based costing, and the article discusses the benefits of this adoption. INSET: A Note from Paul Sharman.

The article discusses the German cost accounting (GPK) system, which is based on flexible standard costing and a contribution margin accounting method. The GPK cost-center structure has some characteristics of the activity-based costing system that is used in the United States. GPK is most effective in repetitive manufacturing or routinized service industries. Examples are given of cost allocation for budgeting. INSETS: Objectives of Management Accounting;Who Is Using German Cost Accounting Systems?.

A soldier falls injured behind enemy lines and can't be located, his life hanging in the balance. A newborn is abducted from a hospital--her parents, law enforcement, and medical personnel [...]

Gilda makes tortillas at her home--and sells them there. Some say they are the best tortillas in the area. She cooks early in the day, but by late in the [...]

Internal Control may well be the watchword of the financial community this decade. Enron, HealthSouth, and WorldCom focused investors' attention on the accuracy of financial statements, particularly fixed assets, which [...]

This is the second of three articles based on the recently completed study by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA®) of the state of management accounting in China. The study [...]

While merger-and-acquisition activity has slowed dramatically over the past 18 months, strategic acquisitions continue, and many companies are now faced with the challenge of integrating businesses acquired earlier. After the [...]

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has long believed that fair value accounting is the most relevant basis of accounting and has had a long-stated goal of having it as [...]

The Lean Revolution is off and running! But before we get too far in transforming businesses, especially the management accounting support for Lean (aka Lean Accounting or LA), it's important [...]

Greetings from the world of professional advocacy. Many developments have materialized since my first article appeared in the August 2006 issue of Strategic Finance. When I began my career with [...]