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The article offers a preview of the 2024 Virtual Annual Meeting of Members of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), which will he held on June 26.

The article discusses how management accountants can help their organizations achieve their climate change and environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting initiatives through carbon accounting. Cited are the requirements of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), the understanding of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions required by carbon accounting, and how to operationalize carbon accounting to align with financial reporting.

The article examines the ways on how three areas of strategic management can elevate the sustainability accounting of an organization. Cited are how to integrate balanced scorecard (BSC) strategy maps to navigate internal and external sustainability accounting, the insights of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) on sustainability reporting, and the benefits of integrating strategic management and sustainability accounting.

A list of the 389 members of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) who became certified management accountants (CMA) between March 1 and March 31, 2024 is presented, including Ahmed Ibrahim Mohamed Abdelwahed, Akhila Thomas Abraham and Audrey Reyes Abulencia.

The article offers step-by-step instructions for building a scatter chart in Excel that have the labels in the chart match the fill color of the cell which can be accomplished through a Visual Basic Application (VBA) macro.

The article discusses the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Management Accounting Competency Framework that can help management accountants and financial professionals elevate their environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting efforts. Cited are the benefits of the framework besides supporting the delivery of external corporate reporting, the key components of the framework, and its intersection with ESG reporting.

An interview with Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) president and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike DePrisco is presented. Among the issues he discussed include what he considers to be the most rewarding part of his first year at IMA, the changes he has implemented to better position IMA to meet the needs of accounting and finance professionals worldwide, and the strategic initiatives that he and the IMA Global Board of Directors have planned to meet the challenges of the future.

The article offers step-by-step instructions for filling quarters in Excel using built-in custom lists.

A list of Institute of Management Accountant (IMA) members who became Certified Management Accountants (CMA) between February 1 and February 29, 2024 is presented, including Ahmed Abdelhamid, Mahek Agarwal and Shriyam Agrawal.

The article discusses how the governing bodies of an organization can handle organizational strategic conflicts. Topics mentioned include the need to form ethical frameworks that incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to streamline decision making, the advantages of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and the use of recommend, agree, perform, input and decide model to determine its roles in decision making process.

The article discusses a research study on the performance-based wage for managers. Topics mentioned include the advantages and risk of performance-based pay, a description of high-relative salary scenarios, the task complexity associated with performance-based pay, and the criteria for relative pay success.

The article explores the role of value drivers, which represent the key influencing factors of a business model, in financial planning. It explains the duality of value drivers and their benefits to companies operating within a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment. It describes the implementation of a predictive driver-based planning and forecasting solution by multinational crystal jewelry designer Swarovski.

The article announces that the Institute of Management Accountant (IMA) Committee on Ethics and Strategic Finance is inviting submissions for the 2025 Curt Verschoor Ethics Feature of the Year.

The article discusses how collaboration with cross-functional colleagues can help chief financial officers (CFOs) in managing supply chain disruptions and improve operations. Topics include factors that are qualified to tackle supply chain challenges and create opportunities for building a stronger supply chain and stories of how CFOs and their teams can effectively partner with their cross-functional colleagues in supply chain management to mitigate disruption and build stronger operations.

An interview with finance leaders Bonnie Chan and Deidra Merriwether on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) best practices in 2023 is presented. When asked on accounting professionals' possible contribution to DE&I initiatives, Merriwether states that everyone in the profession has a role to play, with organizations needing to make DE&I progress. Chan notes that finance leaders can help in data collection challenges. She cites progress in exposing young people early to DE&I in accounting.

The article discusses factors to be considered by businesses planning to offer green incentives to managers and employees to promote greater environmental performance in line with the organizations' strategic goals. It describes reasons for using green incentives as well as challenges in implementing environmental metrics in incentive systems. It examines the conditions for companies to use monetary incentives linked to environmental goals, including reductions of carbon dioxide emissions.

The author discusses her use of Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) materials to supplement and enrich an undergraduate cost accounting class, where the course content is largely standardized across institutions and well supported by textbooks and publishers' materials. Topics include practical details of the course, categories she made for IMA materials, and examples of online courses used in Spring 2023.

The authors describes the innovation they made in teaching management accounting competencies. They discuss how the students' desire to give each other real-time feedback following presentations allowed them to increase their communication skills and their collaboration and motivation skills; the use of cases, podcasts, and articles to deepen students' understanding of reporting and control, technology and analytics; and the use of resources to enrich and enhance the course curriculum.

The article features the Master of Science in Strategic Finance (MSSF) degree being offered at the Indiana University Southeast which prepares students to be successful finance and accounting professionals. Topics discussed include the foundational and required courses for Master for Science in Accountancy (MSA), history of the MSSF degree, and Master of Business Administration (MBA) courses and concentrations.

The author talks about the dilemma faced by Liz Kane who worked at Break Free Renewal, Inc. (BFR) for the last 20 years, under new management. Kane has become worried about the credibility and reliability of the financial information being distributed to BFR's board of directors by BFR's chief executive officer (CEO), Sam Phillips. The company was managed by James Sims from 2003 to 2018 and was replaced by Phillips in 2018. The challenges faced by Kane under new management are discussed.

The article details a survey of financial managers on the direct and moderated effects of traditional versus contemporary management accounting practices on organizational performance and competitive advantage. The survey analyzed effects of traditional practices including capital budgeting, standard costing, variance analysis and return on investment, and contemporary practices including activity-based management, balanced scorecard, value chain analysis and strategic cost management.

The article discusses companies' need to be proactive in obtaining information form their business partners to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting regulations as of May 2023. Topics covered include the parameters set by regulations on business disclosures and their ESG efforts, and the assessment of supplier risk and its red flags. Also noted is the need for transparency and flexibility in engaging supplier cooperation.

The article analyzes the extent to which risk management help corporate decision makers deal with uncertainty, disruption and dilemmas. It discusses the conventional approach to risk management and qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. It proposes a consequence-conscious method of decision-making that involves considering possible disadvantages. It suggests paying attention to the mentality of team members, ethical considerations, competing interests, objectives and priorities.

In the article, the author discusses how integrated thinking for sustainable business management can be achieved by corporate and organizational leaders. Other topics include the growing focus by organizations on their sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs and issues, and the efforts to increase transparency on financial performance, corporate strategy, and nonfinancial performance.

The article presents updates on the adoption of Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) data analytics process model for specific technologies and business needs. Other topics include the iterative phases of CRISP-DM like data preparation, business understanding, and deployment/communication, and the importance of establishing a solid understanding of the business problem during CRISP-DM decision making.

The article proposes the adoption of an emergence-focused analytics approach in capital portfolio planning. It looks at traditional control-focused planning as a simple and cost-effective approach and considers whether it helps the organization's operating returns in the future. It expounds how emergence-focused management and analytics can assist leadership and management reach future returns in their risky project portfolios. It outlines steps for capital project portfolio analysis.

The article describes how management accountants, working alongside executive leadership, can play a valuable role in ensuring corporate compliance. Topics covered include strategies that will help management accountants contribute to the revamping of internal compliance programs, the characteristics of values-based compliance programs and the reasons why organizations struggle with compliance training.

The article discusses a survey of supervisors and subordinates to determine how performance evaluation systems can potentially lead to different assessments. Topics include two key elements of performance evaluation systems, a major problem with subjective evaluations, and key findings from the survey including the pros and cons that organizations should consider when designing their performance evaluation systems.

The article announces the winners of the 2022-2023 Lybrand Awards which recognize individuals who have made their exceptional contributions to the profession, including Lybrand Gold Medal for W. Eric Lee, Lybrand Silver Medal for Richard O'Hara, and Lybrand Bronze Medal for Margaret Shackell.

The article discusses the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) 2023 Accounting & Finance Conference (IMA23) held on June 11-14, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Highlights include the opening of the conference by IMA's President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mike DePrisco, the afternoon session "International Women's Panel: Navigating the Global Business World," and a trip to Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins baseball team.

The article discusses the importance of a strong understanding of data analytics' applications to the finance function for accounting leaders. Topics include types of data analytics, how to lead with data analytics, and data analytics and data visualization skills that leaders need including designing standard templates and using predictive and correlative analytics techniques to provide solutions.

The article discusses ways on how accountants can build their career in management accounting. Topics mentioned include the importance of enhancing self-awareness and social skills, the different types of relationships in business partnerships, some strategies to enhance communication skills, and a brief description of different types of social skills.

The article discusses the main components of a performance management system that are linked to organizational success. Topics mentioned include the definition of organizational purpose, mission, strategy, purpose-driven strategy, and performance management system, the importance of aligning organizational purpose with strategy, the role of performance measurement systems, and some recommendations for management accountants.

In the article, the authors discuss how small and medium enterprises (SME) can improve their revenue management processes to establish better customer value and improve their resilience during challenging times. Other topics include their study on how SMEs in Queensland's hotel industry transformed their revenue management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some tips like developing revenue management knowledge and capabilities, and reviewing one's revenue strategy.

The article offers strategies that management accountants can do to help their organizations remain competitive amidst challenging economic situations, particularly the proper use of data analytics. Also cited are how business resilience strategies can help businesses exploit unexpected opportunities and mitigate the adverse effects of threats, and the components of a profitability analytics framework like market strategy, revenue model, and revenue management.

The article discusses the need to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) accounting into the accounting curriculum in higher education to help address environmental challenges like climate change. Topics include the move by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) to include sustainability in its accreditation standards and the support shown by Babson College Professor on the proposal to include ESG in the curriculum.

The article focuses on the dilemma discussed at the "Ethics and Controls at Accountable Coffee Co" which won the Best Case Award in the 16th Annual Carl Menconi Case Writing Competition. Topics include the growth of Accountable Coffee as a coffee roaster, distributor and service provider; the mission of the company to focus on philantropic work as influenced by senior executive William D. Brewster; and the issue involving Brewster and his development of a new snack bar with Guatemalan farmers.

The article mentions the anniversary of the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) program from the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA), which was developed 50 years ago as of June 2022.

In the article, the author discusses how U.S. colleges and universities are teaching critical skills and knowledge to undergraduate accounting students like integrating content from the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) exam into the accounting curricula. Other topics include the demand for management accounting knowledge, and the efforts by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA) to improve the CMA exam.

The article discusses the potential benefits of pursuing the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certification program of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) and how companies like Owens Corning, Cummins, and Johnson & Johnson are supporting their employees who want to earn the credential. Topics include how Jennifer Wolfenbarger pursued the CMA program while working at Caterpillar and tips for companies in supporting staff seeking certification.

The article discusses the process in developing the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) examination. Also cited are the contributions of volunteers, independent contractors and Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA) staff in creating the multiple-choice and essay questions, and the steps like job analysis study, exam question development, and testing the questions.

The article discusses how small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) can successfully implement data analytics in their operations. Also cited are the need by SMEs to use technologies like text analyzers, visualization suites and web scrapers to compete effectively, and how SMEs can exploit their advanced Excel expertise to adopt data analytics.

The article discusses the digital transformation of sustainability data that finance and accounting professionals need to adopt to ensure that companies can make better and more accurate decisions and communicate business activities to stakeholders. Topics covered include how digital sustainability data can improve companies reporting and strategic planning, and the significance of digital transformation of sustainability information flows and data management.

The article discusses the Return Driven Strategy framework along with three management tools that can help companies develop and execute strategies aligned with sustainability and support the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. Topics covered include three sustainability strategy tool kit for chief financial officers (CFO) and management accountants, the advantages of e-liability accounting, and three areas where the framework can be applied to sustainability strategies.

The article discusses sustainable business management that can help companies create long-term value for all stakeholders. Topics covered include ways on how companies can integrate sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts into their strategies and processes, how sustainable business management affects the whole organization, and the challenge in switching to sustainable business management.

The article discusses evolving accounting competencies and the needed future skills for accountants as of February 2022. Topics covered include such skills' importance for entry-level accountants as the profession becomes involve in business strategy, and the need for management accounting courses. Also noted are the latter's course topics for strategic and tactical planning, and the assessment of management accounting competencies.

The article features the evolving views of chief finance officers (CFO) on their technology and data analytics usage and on risk management amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as of 2022. Topics discussed include organizations' use of hyperautomation to cut costs and optimize operations, the faster rate of technology product development, and the role of procurement in business recovery. Also noted is the vital forecasting on profitability and risk based on analytics and research.

The article discusses how management accountants can exploit the newly introduced sustainability standards as of October 2022 to improve their organizations' strategy, governance, risk management, and metrics. Other topics include the aims of strategic management, the developments in sustainability accounting, and the 7-step Strategic Risk Assessment like understanding the strategies of the organization and collecting data and views on sustainability risks and opportunities.