ACCT303 - Strategic Management Accounting

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

ACCT204 Management Accounting

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Strategic management accounting includes not only internal information but also external economic information when analysing and preparing financial information. Including external economic information can help companies plan for changes in the business marketplace outside of the company’s control, such as competitors entering the market or the threat of substitute goods and services competing for the company’s market share. This unit builds upon the core of management accounting issues and control systems learned in an earlier unit. This unit delves into complex management accounting areas and provides students with the expert skills needed for decision support and managerial control in contemporary society. Students will learn practical techniques and skills, including activity-based budgeting and management, capital budgeting, inventory management, issues of centralisation and decentralisation, and performance measurement and capacity problems that will enable them to provide valuable, ethical information and guidance for firms. The aim of this unit is to further develop decision-making skills and promote the common good in various contexts globally.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - reflect on how strategic management accounting practices can allow staff to work conscientiously, and so contribute their talents to the common good (GA2, GA5)

LO2 - critically analyse and apply management accounting information techniques in assisting, or potentially modifying, a range of managerial decisions (GA4, GA5)

LO3 - evaluate a range of management control techniques, budgeting strategies, financial and non-financial performance measures, and their potential behavioural impact on organisational effectiveness and efficiency (GA5, GA8)

LO4 - evaluate research relating to managerial accounting decision making using business information systems (GA5, GA10)

LO5 - solve advanced management accounting problems using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software using problem solving and judgement skills (GA5, GA6) 

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

• analysing business strategy and managerial accounting information systems
• management control techniques and their application to budgeting
• strategic accounting management and the common good
• financial performance reports and transfer pricing
• financial performance measures for investment centres and reward systems.
• recognise the various purposes of performance measurement systems and the role of these systems in enhancing customer values and shareholder values
• problem solving in the strategic context
• manage suppliers and customers
• manage costs and quality
• use the activity-based management to reduce costs and increase customer values
• digital technology and information
• sustainability and management accounting to ensure solidarity
• cost volume profit analysis
• operational and strategic decision making using management accounting information

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

ACU’s teaching policy focuses on learning outcomes for students. Our teaching aims to engage students as active participants in the learning process while acknowledging that all learning must involve a complex interplay of active and receptive processes, the constructing of meaning for oneself, and learning from others. ACU promotes and facilitates learning that is autonomous and self-motivated, is characterised by the individual taking satisfaction in the mastering of content and skills and is critical, looking beneath the surface level of information for the meaning and significance of what is being studied.

The schedule of the workshop is designed in such a way that students can achieve intended learning outcomes sequentially. Teaching and learning activities will apply the experiential learning model, which encourages students to apply higher order thinking. The unit ensures that learning activities involve real-world scenarios that in turn assist with ‘real-world’ preparedness. The unit also uses a scaffolding technique that builds a student’s skills and prepares them for the next phase of the learning process.

This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise. It is up to individual students to ensure that the out of class study is adequate for the optimal learning outcomes and successes.

Mode of delivery: This unit is offered in different modes. These are: “Attendance” mode, “Blended” mode and “Online” mode. This unit is offered in three modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants and maximise effective participation for isolated and/or marginalised groups.

Attendance Mode

In a weekly attendance mode, students will require face-to-face attendance in specific physical location/s. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.

Blended Mode

In a blended mode, students will require intermittent face-to-face attendance determined by the School. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.

Online Mode

In an Online mode, students are given the opportunity to attend facilitated synchronous online seminar classes with other students and participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge, while developing their knowledge. Students are required to participate in a series of online interactive workshops which include activities, knowledge checks, discussion and interactive sessions. This approach allows flexibility for students and facilitates learning and participation for students with a preference for virtual learning.

Assessment strategy and rationale

Assessments are used primarily to foster learning. ACU adopts a constructivist approach to learning which seeks alignment between the fundamental purpose of each unit, the learning outcomes, teaching and learning strategy, assessment and the learning environment. In order to pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall score of at least 50%. Using constructive alignment, the assessment tasks are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.

Assessment 1 is designed to determine the extent to which students understand and appreciate key areas of advanced management accounting practice apply in the real-world.

Assessment 2 is designed for students to draw on their evaluation skills to conduct research and apply different accounting techniques and tools in a real case study. It also requires students to demonstrate their problem solving and decision-making skills.

Assessment 3 is designed to evaluate various organisational case studies and evaluate strategic management accounting decision making using the theoretical and analytical tools learned in this unit, taking into account different organisational contexts and the common good.

Overview of assessments

Attendance;

Blended

Online

Representative texts and references

Representative Texts:

Bhimani, A, Horngren, CT, Datar, SM & Rajan, MV 2015, Management and cost accounting, 6th edn, Pearson. 

Eldenburg, LG, Brooks, A, Oliver, J, Vesty, G, Dormer, R. & Murthy, V 2017, Management accounting, 3rd edn, Milton: John Wiley & Sons.  

Langfield-Smith K, Smith, D, Andon, P, Hilton, R & Thorne, H 2018, Management accounting: Information for managing and creating value + Connect Online, 8th edn, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde.  

Hilton, RW & Platt, DE 2016, Managerial accounting: creating value in a dynamic business environment, 11th edn, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde. 

Winston, W 2017, Microsoft Excel data analysis and business modelling, 5th edn, Pearson Education. 

Recommended References:

Clerkin B, & Quinn,M .2021, Institutional agents missing in action?: Management accounting at non-governmental organisations, Critical Perspectives on Accounting (forthcoming) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2020.102276

Hadid, W & Al-Sayed, M 2021, Management accountants and strategic management accounting: The role of organizational culture and information systems, Management Accounting Research, 50, 100725 pp. 1-17. Jan Endrikat,J, Guenther,T.W, Titus, R 2020, Consequences of Strategic Performance Measurement Systems: A Meta-Analytic Review, Journal of Management Accounting Research,32 (1),pp. 103–136.

 McPhail, K & Ferguson, J 2016, The past, the present and the future of accounting for human rights, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 29 (4), pp. 526-541

Xinning Xiao & Shailer, G 2021, Stakeholders’ perceptions of factors affecting the credibility of sustainability reports, 2021, The British Accounting Review (forthcoming), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2021.101002