Management Accounting

• Accounting for management- purpose and role of cost and management accounting,  Comparison between  financial accounting, cost accounting and management accounting.
• Distinction between data and information. Identify and explain the attributes of good information.
• Limitations ofmanagement information in providing guidance  for managerial decision-making.
• Sources of data- sources of information from within and outside the organisation (including government statistics,financial press, professional or trade associations, quotations and price list.
• Uses and limitations of published information/data Impact of general economic environment on costs/revenue          
• Sampling techniques (random,  systematic,  stratified, multistage,  cluster  and  quota),  identifying  appropriate sampling method in a specific situation.   

Presenting information

• Reports representing management information in suitable formats
• Present information using tables, charts and graphs (barcharts, line graphs, pie charts and scatter graphs)Interpret information presented in management reports

• Nature and purpose of budgeting Planning and control cycle in an organization Administrative procedures and stages used in the budgeting process
• Statistical techniques Advantages and disadvantages of using high low method to  estimate the fixed and variable element of costingScatter diagrams and lines of best fit.
• Analysis of cost data Concept, calculation and interpretation of correlation coefficient and coefficient of determination, Establish a linear function using regression analysis and interpret the result.
• Use linear regression coefficients to make forecasts of costsand revenues              .
• Advantages and disadvantages of linear regression analysis.       
• Product life cycle – Concept and importance                               
• Principles of time series analysis (cyclical, trend, seasonal variation   and   random   elements),   advantages   anddisadvantages, Moving  averages,  trend  analysis  using regression coefficients. Trend and seasonal variation (additive and multiplicative) to make budget forecasts, Purpose of index numbers, Calculate simple index numbers for one or more variables
• Computer spreadsheet system- role and features, applications and its use in cost and management accounting
• Budget preparationàConcept and importance of budget Prepare sales budgets, functional budgets (production, raw materials usage and purchases, labour, variable and fixed overheads),Cash budgets, Master budgets. Explain and illustrate  ‘what if’ analysis and scenario planning.
• Flexible budgets Importance,advantages and disadvantages of flexible budgets, Identify situations where fixed or flexible budgetary control would be appropriate. Fix a budget to a given level of volume

• Capital investment planning and control.
• Define and distinguish between capital and  revenue expenditure,
• Preparation of a capital expenditure budget, difference between simple and compound interest, and between nominal and effective interest rates
• Compounding and discounting distinction between cash flow and profit and the relevance of cash flow to capital investment appraisalcash flows for individual investment decision net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) methods of discounted cash flow Calculate NPV,IRRandpayback(discounted and non- discounted) Calculate NPV, IRR and payback (discounted and non- discounted)

• Calculate simple variances between flexedbudget, fixedbudget and actual sales, costs and profits
• Importance  of  variances, potential action to eliminate Variances
• Controllable and uncontrollable costs
• Control reports to management
• Behavioural aspects of budgeting, importance of motivation in  performance management,  factors  in  a  budgetary planning that influence motivation, Impact of targets upon motivation Managerial incentive schemes, advantages and disadvantages of a participative approach to budgeting, & top down, bottom up approaches to budgeting

STANDARD COSTING

• Standard costing systems- Purpose, principles and importance. Difference between standard, marginal and absorption costing standard cost per unit under absorption and marginal costing Calculation of Material, Labour and Overhead Varianceand its analysis,sales price and volume variance Interpret the variances,
• Explain factors to consider before investigating variances, explain possible causes and recommend control action. Explain the interrelationships between the variances
• Reconcile budgeted profit with actual profit under standard absorption costing
• Reconcile budgeted profit or contribution with actual profit or contribution under standard marginal costing

• Performance measurement overview, purpose of mission statements and their role in performance measurement.

• Purpose of strategic and operational and tactical objectives and their role in performance measurement
• Impact of economic and market conditions on performance measurement, impact of  government  regulation  on performance measurement.
• Measure of financial performance and non financial measures. Perspective of balance scorecard.
• Performance indicators for financial success, customer satisfaction, process efficiency and growth. CSF and KPI and their link to objectives.
• Profitability and service quality.
• Cost reduction and value enhancement.
• Value monitoring.
• Measuring performance in service sector.