Purpose of management accounting. The essence and purpose of management accounting Management accounting

In the conditions of developing market relations in our country, the enterprise has become legally and economically independent. Effective management production activity of an enterprise increasingly depends on the level information support its individual divisions and services. As practice shows, enterprises with complex production structure, are in dire need of operational economic and financial information that helps optimize costs and financial results and make informed management decisions. The information necessary for the operational management of an enterprise is contained in the management accounting system, which is considered one of the new and promising areas of accounting practice.

In domestic accounting theory and practice, the concept of “management accounting” appeared relatively recently, while in the West it has been used for more than half a century.

In Western countries, accounting is traditionally divided into two subsystems - financial and management accounting, which is due to the difference in the goals and objectives of external and internal accounting.

The financial accounting system generates information about the organization’s income and expenses, accounts receivable and payable, financial investments, the state of sources of financing, relations with the state regarding the payment of taxes, etc. The consumers of this information are mainly users external to the enterprise: tax authorities , banks, exchanges, other financial institutions, as well as suppliers, buyers, potential and actual investors, and employees of the enterprise. Financial statements are not a trade secret, are open for publication and, in certain cases, must be certified by an independent auditor or audit firm.

The management accounting system generates information about expenses, income and performance results in the analytical sections necessary for management purposes. At the same time, the management of the enterprise independently decides in what sections to classify management objects and how to carry out their accounting. Management accounting information is intended for management and managers of the enterprise; it is a trade secret and is strictly confidential. Issues of organizing management accounting are practically not regulated by legislators

Today, it is generally accepted that tax accounting into an independent direction of accounting activities. Article 313 ch. 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation defines the purpose of tax accounting as “the formation of complete and reliable information on the accounting procedure for tax purposes of business transactions.” When implementing this type of accounting, an organization must be guided by a specially developed accounting policy for tax purposes and use analytical registers (in some cases different from financial accounting registers).

Despite the fact that the primary base of all three types of accounting (financial, managerial and tax) should be the same, each fact economic activity classified and reflected by them in their own way, in accordance with the requirements of this type of accounting. These are completely different areas of accounting activity, differing in their own goals, objectives and final information results, which is confirmed by the data in Table. eleven.

Criterion Accounting Management Accounting Tax accounting

Mandatory

Necessarily Not necessary

Necessarily

Preparation of financial

documents for external

users

Information Support

intra-company management

Checking for correctness

completeness and timeliness

calculation and payment of taxes to the budget

Rules of conduct

Based on generally accepted

principles

Accounting principles are formed

organization independently,

based on goals and objectives

intra-company management

The basic accounting principle is

ensuring continuous

reflection of economic facts

activities entailing

change in tax amount

Users

information

External and internal

users

accounting information

Various levels

intra-company management

External and internal users

Main internal

document defining

order of conduct

Accounting policies for

purposes of maintaining

financial accounting

Accounting policies for purposes

conducting management

Accounting policies for purposes

tax accounting

Grouping principle

expenses

By economic elements By costing items

By economic elements

Main accounting object

and reporting

Organization as

entity

Structural units

organizations

Organization as

entity

Periodicity

representation

reporting

The law is established

telny normative

As necessary, in accordance with

message with the principles of purpose

consistency and economy

As the tax season ends

Using the method

double entry

Necessarily

Possible, but not necessary

Not provided

It should be noted that the official definition of management accounting in legislative acts, included in the system regulatory regulation Russian Federation, No. In our opinion, this is correct, since the organization of management accounting is an internal matter of each enterprise, the state cannot oblige enterprises to maintain management accounting or prescribe uniform rules for its maintenance. Thus, the established Western practice of management accounting indicates the non-interference of the state in this area. However, the definition of management accounting as a separate type, having theoretical and practical significance, requiring study by appropriate specialists, is very important. A significant step in this direction can be considered the appearance of the term “management accounting” in the official training and certification program professional accountants, as well as in the state educational standard higher professional education in the specialty “Accounting, analysis and audit”.

Currently working expert advice on problems of management accounting at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation.

Management accounting can be defined as an independent direction accounting organizations providing information support for the management system entrepreneurial activity. This process includes identifying, measuring, recording, collecting, storing, protecting, analyzing, preparing, interpreting, transmitting and receiving information necessary for the management apparatus to perform its functions. Management accounting is an important element of an organization's management system and operates in parallel with the financial accounting system.

The main objects of management accounting are expenses (costs, expenses) and income of enterprises, as well as results as a comparison of income and expenses. In addition, management accounting necessarily highlights such objects as responsibility centers and an internal reporting system. In management accounting, a center of responsibility is understood as a structural unit of an organization, headed by a manager who controls costs, income and funds invested in this segment of the business - an indicator determined for this unit by management.

The purpose of management accounting is to assist managers in making effective management decisions- is implemented in its tasks, namely:

  1. generation of reliable and complete information about intra-business processes and performance results and provision of this information to the management of the enterprise through the preparation of internal management reporting;
  2. planning and control economic efficiency activities of the enterprise and its responsibility centers;
  3. calculation of the actual cost of products (works, services) and determination of deviations from established norms, standards, estimates;
  4. analysis of deviations from planned results and identification of causes of deviations;
  5. ensuring control over the availability and movement of property, material, monetary and labor resources;
  6. formation information base for decision making;
  7. identifying reserves for increasing the efficiency of the enterprise.

The methods used in management accounting are very diverse, since it combines the methods of many disciplines: accounting (operational, accounting, statistical), analysis, strategic and operational planning and management, enterprise economics, statistics, mathematics, etc.

In considering the role of management accounting in an enterprise, it should be noted that historically it has often been of secondary importance to financial accounting, and in many organizations it is still little more than a by-product of the financial reporting process. However, growth in the scale of business, changes in technology, and increased educational levels of managers over recent decades have intensified the development of management accounting, leading to its widespread recognition as a field of study distinct from financial accounting. Looking into the future, we can expect an even greater increase in this role.

To determine the place of management accounting in the enterprise management system, we will consider it in more detail.

An enterprise management system, like any other management system, can be presented as a combination of a management subject, a management object and their relationships. The control subject produces control action in the form of commands and signals that are transmitted to the control object. The control object perceives the control action and acts in accordance with the control signal transmitted to it. The subject of control learns that the object has accepted the control action and responded to it using feedback.

In the enterprise management system, the subjects of management are managers, managers of all levels of management, vested with certain decision-making powers. Objects of management are various resources of the company: employees, means and objects of labor, scientific, technical and information potential of the enterprise. The main objects of management in the management accounting system are income and expenses, as well as the centers of responsibility of the enterprise.

Management influences are implemented with the help of basic management functions, the interrelation and interaction of which form a closed repeating management cycle: -» analysis -» planning -» organization -» accounting -» control -» regulation -» analysis... The decision-making function in the management cycle under consideration is not highlighted separately, since it is a connecting management function, i.e. its presence is implied at all stages management cycle. The place of management accounting is manifested at the stage of preparation and adoption of management decisions; Thus, management accounting is involved in all management functions.

Market relations require new approaches to organizing intra-company management. In a rapidly changing market environment, the flow of information increases significantly, which must be processed in order to make the only correct management decision. The spectrum is expanding management tasks, decided by production managers. There is a need for the division of all powers, including in terms of making management decisions.

A tool for a systematic approach to understanding the subject matter of management accounting could be a “management” matrix (Table 1. 2), based on the principle that the management system is a set of, on the one hand, management objects, and on the other, those implemented in relation to these objects management functions. The rows of this matrix correspond to certain management objects, and the columns correspond to certain management functions. Thus, each field of the matrix will reflect how a certain management function is implemented in relation to a certain control object.

Objects/Control Functions Planning Control Making decisions Analysis
Structural units
Resources
Processes
Indicators

Table. 1. 2. “Management” matrix

Of course it doesn't exist standard set management functions and management objects. Each user of the matrices creates the list of functions and management objects he needs, based on his own tasks, preferences, and established practice. Therefore, shown in Fig. 1. 2 list of management objects and management functions is one of possible options. By forming one or another set of matrix fields, it becomes possible to consciously discuss any management theory or concept.

The division of the organization into centers of responsibility and their ranking is called the organizational structure of the enterprise. The administration decides which segment to grant certain powers, how to distribute responsibilities between performers, what the hierarchical management structure of the organization should look like - in other words, it establishes organizational structure enterprises.

Management accounting is designed to accumulate not only quantitative, but also qualitative information about the activities of the organization’s segments. The latter are not static. Business development, as a rule, is accompanied by the expansion of existing production facilities, conservation of unpromising segments, the emergence of new areas of activity, etc. Changes,

What is happening in business activities must be accompanied by adequate changes in the management accounting system. In other words, management accounting must be dynamic to the same extent that the business of a commercial organization is dynamic.

The existing organizational structure of the enterprise should be regularly analyzed and revised taking into account the changes occurring in its economic activities (mastering the production of new types of products, changes in technology, change of managers, etc.) and the achievements of scientific and technological progress. When improving the organizational structure of an enterprise, it is necessary to accordingly change approaches to compiling internal reporting and assessing the performance of departments.

The criteria used in assessing the performance of departments can be divided into two large groups: financial and non-financial indicators. Determining the optimal balance between financial and non-financial criteria for evaluating activities is one of the main tasks facing the administration of any enterprise. In the practice of countries with market economies, four financial indicators are most often used: profit; return on assets; residual profit; economic added value. Examples of non-financial indicators include the presence of invention, the quality of products (services) provided to buyers (customers), and the level of satisfaction of buyers and customers with service. These factors also need to be understood, improved and assessed.

Determining an informative and manageable set of financial and non-financial performance evaluation criteria is one of the main problems management control facing the company administration. In solving this problem, it is first necessary to understand the key differences between financial and non-financial criteria.

Firstly, there are much more non-financial criteria for evaluating activities than financial ones, which in most cases are regulated, standardized and closely related to each other. In the area of ​​non-financial criteria for assessing the performance of departments, there is no such harmony. There are many criteria for assessing the quality of processes and products: speed of order execution; meeting the requirements of quality standards; matching or exceeding the performance of competitors, etc. Previously, such an indicator as the level of customer satisfaction was not taken into account. Today there are numerous marketing research gave reason to talk about the existence of a connection between customer satisfaction and profitability: almost all large Western companies analyze the level of customer satisfaction with service and compare the results with those of their competitors.

Secondly, the connection is not financial indicators with the final results of a company's activities can only be determined on the basis of statistical data, the collection of which may take several months or even years. The quality of a division's products and satisfaction with how a transaction was handled may affect a customer's willingness to enter into new transactions with that division, which in turn will affect the segment's future financial performance. However, it is quite difficult to establish the presence and degree of relationship between non-financial indicators and, for example, the size of a unit’s income, since they are separated by a time lag.

Thirdly, non-financial criteria tend to lose their representativeness as they are used. In other words, over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to objectively evaluate the performance of a unit using the same non-financial criterion. This is due to the fact that over time, the values ​​of non-financial indicators reach almost the maximum possible level and (or) the differences between the non-financial indicators of the departments being compared become insignificant.

The development of non-financial criteria is a complex task, but without its solution it is not easy to do strategic planning activities of segments. If, with the help of financial indicators, the company's management is able to assess the results of the past activities of the division, then non-financial criteria allow us to predict the results of the future work of the segment.

Management accounting tasks place increased demands on qualifications and circles job responsibilities management accounting specialist.

Typically, a management accounting specialist performs the following responsibilities:

  • coordination of goals and plans of departments and the enterprise as a whole;
  • assistance to management in achieving the goals of the enterprise;
  • organizing work to create and maintain a management accounting system;
  • uninterrupted implementation of planning processes and monitoring the economic results of the enterprise;
  • ensuring transparency regarding costs and results for the enterprise as a whole, as well as for individual divisions and products;
  • creation of a methodological and instrumental base for managing the profitability and liquidity of an enterprise;
  • development of materials for making management decisions and presenting them to the management of the enterprise;
  • consulting managers on choosing the most effective options for action, assistance in managing costs and results.

These functions show the important role a management accountant plays in making management decisions.

A responsible role involves vesting a management accounting specialist with certain specific rights, for example:

  • access to all information, including confidential information;
  • the right to prepare one’s own opinion with analytically justified reservations;
  • the right to defer a decision for the purpose of its professional preparation.

Since the management accountant has wide range duties and special rights, when appointed to this position, sufficient high requirements To theoretical preparation and practical skills in the field of management accounting.

So, management accounting is a system of accounting, planning, control, analysis of income, expenses and results of economic activity in the necessary analytical sections, prompt adoption of various management decisions in order to optimize financial results activities of the enterprise in the short and long term.

Accounting was originally intended to manage business activities.

In the modern understanding, management accounting is a system that ensures the receipt and supply of information necessary for the functioning of the management system at the enterprise. These functions are partially performed by production and accounting. Information generated in accounting, production and management accounting systems is designed to reduce the degree of uncertainty inherent in market business conditions. The purpose of management accounting is to provide managers of an organization with the information necessary to control the efficiency of production and economic activities, solve internal problems of managing the company, search for and justify management decisions.

2. Financial accounting is mandatory for an enterprise, management accounting is not. The obligation to maintain financial records using ledger accounts is defined federal law of the Russian Federation, which applies to all organizations located on the territory of the Russian Federation. The question of whether to maintain management accounting at an enterprise or not is decided by the organization itself. Collection and processing of information for management are considered appropriate if its value for management is higher than the costs of obtaining the relevant data.

3. Financial accounting covers all business transactions, all activities of the enterprise, its property, liabilities and settlements. But this is an accounting of fact; accounting does not include forecast or expected values. Management accounting is primarily cost-benefit calculation; identifying deviations from the optimal use of economic resources. Both types of accounting for management include calculated, expected, forecast, and planned values.

4. Financial accounting must be carried out in accordance with the regulatory documents of the Government of the Russian Federation and the bodies that are granted the right to regulate accounting. Violation of financial accounting methodology is subject to liability under the law. The methodology and organization of management accounting are not regulated by government agencies and legislation. Management accounting is carried out according to the rules established by the organization itself, taking into account the specifics of its activities and the peculiarities of solving certain management problems. There are no restrictions on the choice of management accounting systems. Its methodological basis is decision theory.

5. Users of financial accounting and reporting information are mainly owners, creditors, investors, tax authorities, extra-budgetary funds, government bodies, i.e. external consumers. Their personal composition is unknown to the enterprise, and everyone is presented with the same data contained in the financial statements. Management accounting information is intended for enterprise leaders (managers) of different levels of authority and responsibility. Naturally, each of them needs an individual list of management credentials that corresponds to their rights and responsibilities.


6. Financial accounting is carried out by double entry on interconnected accounting accounts. Management accounting may or may not adhere to this principle in whole or in part. Measurement and assessment of income, costs, assets without using a system of special management accounting accounts is carried out using statistical methods of accumulation, sampling, comparison, etc. If management accounting uses a system of accounts, they must differ from financial accounting accounts in form and substance, but be interconnected with them methodologically.

7. Financial accounting is carried out for the enterprise as a whole, considering it as a single economic complex. Costs and results of operations, settlements with suppliers and customers, taxes and other obligatory payments, reserves and target revenues are taken into account in amounts generalized for the organization, without breakdown by type of activity, structural divisions, etc. Management accounting is carried out by market sectors, places where costs are generated, centers of responsibility, causes and culprits of deviations, and only for senior management its data is generalized for the entire enterprise.

8. Not only the content is different, but also the frequency and timing of reporting. In financial accounting, reporting can be compiled based on the total for a month, quarter, year, and the time of its submission - after several days, weeks, months. In management accounting, the frequency of presentation of relevant data is daily, weekly, monthly; part of the reporting data is generated as needed or by a certain, predetermined deadline. A common requirement for accounting data for management is its efficiency, the generation of information according to the principle “the faster, the better.”

9. Financial accounting information characterizes the result of accomplished facts and business transactions over the past period of time, reflects them on the “as it was” principle. Management accounting data is focused on deciding “how it should be” and monitoring the implementation of the decision made.

Discipline: Accounting, statistics
Kind of work: Essay
Topic: The essence and purpose of management accounting

________________________________________________________________________________________

COURSE WORK

BY DISCIPLINE

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

ESSENCE AND PURPOSE

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

1.1. Basic concepts of management accounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.2. Relationship between management accounting and financial accounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3. Purpose of management accounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.4. Organizational aspects management accounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2. Practical part:

2.1. Calculation of deviations in production output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.2. Calculation of cost variances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

1. THEORETICAL PART

1.1. Basic concepts of management accounting.

Management accounting is an accounting subsystem that, within one organization, provides its management apparatus with information used for planning, directing and monitoring the activities of the organization. This process includes identifying, measuring, collecting, analyzing, preparing, interpreting, transmitting and receiving information necessary for management to perform its functions.

Information is facts, data, observational results, etc., that is, everything that in some way expands our knowledge. The number 1000, taken by itself, is not information, but the statement that the organization employs 1000 people can already be considered as such.

In the course of daily activities in an organization, a significant amount of operational information arises. This is the source material for the final information reflected in financial and management accounting. For a manager, any information is important, regardless of whether it is an object of accounting or not, whether it is quantifiable or not. A rumor that a large customer is not satisfied with the quality of the organization's products and is ready to look for another supplier; information that is not an object of accounting and control cannot be quantified, but it is definitely important information. It is necessary to identify the main differences between the information required for management accounting and other types of information, in particular from the information used in financial accounting.

In Western practice, external consumers of information about an organization use three main financial documents to make decisions: a balance sheet, a profit and loss statement, and a statement of asset movements. These documents, while intended for shareholders, creditors, and other interested parties outside the organization, are also useful to the organization's managers. Using this information for management purposes is absolutely essential. However, the management apparatus also needs much more detailed information than that contained in the listed financial documents.

We are talking about operational information that provides the initial data for generating management accounting information. Most of the operational information in the normal course of business is not of direct interest to the leaders of the organization. They are not interested in how many parts the turner produced in one working day, and what specific amount of money was received yesterday into the organization’s account. These facts must be documented, but these documents will be operated at the primary levels of management rather than at the level of management of the organization. Managers are not interested in “snatched” details, but in generalized information obtained from primary accounting documents.

1.2. Relationship between management accounting and financial accounting.

IN foreign countries Usually a distinction is made between financial and management accounting.

Financial accounting covers information that is not only used for internal management, but also communicated to counterparties (third party users).

Management accounting covers all types of accounting information necessary for management within the organization itself. Part general sphere Management accounting is production accounting, which usually refers to the accounting of production costs and the analysis of data on savings or overruns in comparison with data for previous periods, forecasts and standards. The main goal of management accounting is to provide information to managers responsible for achieving specific production indicators. The process for preparing such information may differ significantly from that used in financial accounting. Let us explain what has been said in Fig. 1, which shows the relationship between these types of accounting.

Rice. . Management accounting versus financial accounting:

A production accounting;

B financial accounting (for internal management);

B financial accounting in the narrow sense (for external users);

Г tax calculations based on financial accounting (for tax authorities).

1.3. Purpose of management accounting.

Studying the features of management accounting allows us to conclude that it serves for:


providing the necessary information to the administration for production management and decision-making for the future;
calculation of the actual cost of products (works and services) and deviations from established norms, standards, estimates;
determining financial results for sold products or their groups, new technological solutions, responsibility centers and other positions.

The concept of management accounting is not yet used in domestic practice. Many of its elements are included in our accounting (accounting for production costs and calculating production costs); operational accounting (operational reporting); economic analysis(analysis of product costs, justification of decisions made, assessment of the implementation of planned targets, etc.). At the same time, domestic accounting practice is not yet linked to marketing, deviations of actual costs from forecast ones are not determined, such a category as the future ruble is not used, etc.

1.4. Organizational aspects of management accounting.

Organization of management (including production) accounting is an internal matter. The administration of the organization decides for itself how to classify costs, how much to detail where costs arise and how to link them with responsibility centers, how to keep records of actual or planned (standard), full or partial (variable, direct, limited) costs.

The diversity of organizations, determined by forms of ownership, economic, legal, technical, technological and other factors, as well as the competence of managers and their need for one or another management information, determine the diversity of specific forms of organization of management accounting.

Let us present the main factors influencing the choice of a management accounting subsystem, and the main, from our point of view, characteristics of the classification of these subsystems, as well as their structure in Fig. 2.

Rice. . The main factors for choosing a management accounting subsystem and

signs of classification of these subsystems.

In Western accounting practice, two options are used for the connection between managerial (sometimes called production or analytical) and financial accounting.

This connection is carried out using control accounts, which are the expense and income accounts of financial accounting. If there is direct correspondence between management (production) accounting accounts and control accounts, they speak of an integrated (monistic, single-circle) accounting subsystem, that is we're talking about about the first communication option.

If the management accounting subsystem is autonomous (closed), then paired control accounts of the same name are used, known as reflected, mirror accounts, or screen accounts. This is the second option.

The most important characteristic of Western management accounting systems is the efficiency of cost accounting. From this point of view, cost accounting is divided into accounting for actual (past) costs and cost accounting according to the “standard-cost” system. The “standard-cost” system includes the development of standards for labor costs, materials, overhead costs, the preparation of standard (normative) calculations and accounting of actual costs, highlighting deviations from standards (norms).

Management accounting subsystems used in Western industrial enterprises, are characterized by many features that can be used as the basis for their classification. One of the signs is the complete inclusion of costs in the cost of production. Here we can talk about two subsystems (methods) of management accounting: the subsystem full inclusion costs in the cost of products (works, services), that is, traditional accounting of the full cost, and the subsystem of incomplete, limited inclusion of costs in the cost according to some criterion, for example, based on the dependence of costs on production volume, that is, “direct costing”.

Since such a feature of the organization of management accounting as full cost accounting, or “direct costing,” is significant and affects the organization of almost all elements of the management accounting subsystem, they are diverse and determined by many factors.

Western management accounting systems, due to their diversity, are difficult to compare with domestic accounting. Let's do this in the context of the most significant features.

The Western accounting system in an organization, as already mentioned, is usually divided into closely interconnected financial (external) and managerial (internal) subsystems. Until now, there has been no such division of accounting in domestic accounting, but this will become necessary in the future. Domestic accounting is an integrated system organized in a unified system of accounts. In a certain sense, we can talk about an analogy between the domestic accounting system and the option of integrating financial and production accounting in the West.

Main organizational issue in management accounting there is a need to detail the Chart of Accounts. To solve financial accounting problems, greater detail is not required. For example, for financial accounting purposes only, all sales may be credited to a single Sales Revenue account and debited to the Cash, Bank, or Accounts Receivable accounts. However, this will make it difficult to analyze sales by product type, profit center, shipping point, or individual customer.

The types of analyzes that management seeks to perform more or less regularly determine the detail of the chart of accounts. Essentially, it depends on the “detailed extensions” that are required for each cost, income or asset item.

Example. On December 30, 1999, one of the divisions of Sizy Smoke JSC consumed raw materials and supplies in the amount of 100,000 rubles. for production specific product. One of the following questions may be asked about the event:


What specific materials were used?
What type of product did the product belong to?
In which department were the materials used?

The first question relates to more detailed description elements of cost, the second to the distribution of costs by type of product, the third to the determination of centers of responsibility. The answer to each of the questions requires detailed data on the costs of raw materials and supplies.

The formal answer to all three questions suggests that the chart of accounts should contain as an itemized account “Materials X used in item Y produced in department Z.” If Sizy Smoke JSC uses 1000 types of raw materials for 100 goods produced in 30 responsibility centers, then this may require 3 million (1000 100 30) detailed invoices related to one general category material, as well as to the category "unfinished production".

If a JSC wants to have data on types of products and responsibility centers for any date, then the structure of accounts should be detailed for all of the above items.

Many organizations really need detailed information on all three dimensions, so this example does not exaggerate the actual use of itemized accounts"building blocks" in large organizations.

The accounting database must be expanded if the organization needs to separate the elements of fixed and variable costs. It should be noted that semi-variable costs can also be divided into fixed and variable. This extension may be necessary if an organization continually requires short-term opportunity cost analysis or in-house income reporting that separates fixed and variable costs. In the future, the chart of accounts can be expanded if the organization wants to identify in its account structure the costs according to their control in the responsibility center where they arose (or to which they are assigned).

There is no “right” level of detail for an account structure. Management must conduct its own cost-benefit analysis. Organizations suffer from under- rather than over-detailed accounting databases. In many cases, after the computerization of the database, organizations did not revise their charts of accounts. Despite the commonly recognized need for greater detail today, the total cost of rework computer programs may not be appropriate for more detailed accounting. There are also examples of unreasonably expensive computer systems whose creators focused on providing the most detailed information for all kinds of analysis instead of simply choosing a data structure that is used more or less regularly.

Detailed accounting information can play a critical role in full cost analysis or alternative cost analysis. In the process of management control, it is equally important to know the behavior of costs. Every existing or proposed management control system must be tested for fitness for purpose. To do this you need to answer the following questions:


How will managers be encouraged to act to achieve the interests of the organization?
Are these actions consistent with the overall interests of the organization?

Organizations are sometimes unable to answer these questions, particularly when setting transfer pricing policies or measuring the rate of return on investment (RII) for different investment centers. This underestimation often leads to undesirable consequences.

Example. When measuring the NPI of an investment center, most organizations include fixed assets in total investments at net book value, that is, at historical cost minus accumulated depreciation. This practice can lead to an "automatic" increase in the NPI each year because the investment base (the denominator in the NPI fraction) becomes smaller due to the annual increase in accumulated depreciation,

Some critics do not approve of this NPI measurement scheme because investment center managers do not develop high level motivation to develop production modernization projects due to the fact that such a scheme usually causes a decrease in NPI in the event of the adoption of an important new project. Managers of investment centers cannot be sure that their leaders subsequently understand the essence of the main reasons for the apparent deterioration in the NPI performance of their investment centers.

In fact, an increase in NPI may also mean a physical reduction in fixed assets installed in a division, which ultimately leads to a reduction in the overall production capabilities of the division.

In any case, senior management is responsible for deciding how NPI should be measured. If undesirable consequences arise from a particular method, then the blame should not be placed on the investment manager, but on the senior management of the organization, which is responsible for choosing the method for assessing the NPI.

Another common mistake in management control is for managers to assume that unfavorable variances mean poor quality. management activities. The managerial ambitions of managers can suffer greatly if managers are given categorical orders from above to correct unfavorable deviations without having the opportunity to discuss with their superiors the reasons for these deviations. Managers of many organizations also suffer from the fact that their leaders pay too much attention to unfavorable deviations and leave almost no attention to favorable deviations.

These problems are not deficiencies in the control system design per se, but rather relate to management style. Once again, we recall that in the process of management control, behavioral reasoning is just as important as accounting reasoning. Thus, a conceptually sound management control system design will not be effective if managers feel that their leaders are evaluating their performance arbitrarily and unfairly, based only on accounting information by responsibility center.

2. PRACTICAL PART

2.1. Calculation of deviations in production output.

Firm A produces products C. During the reporting month, the firm’s activities are characterized by the following indicators (Table 1).

Company performance indicators

Unit price (EUR)

Number of products produced (pcs.)

Total cost (euros)

Normative value

Actual value

Using the table data, you need to calculate usage variances, price variances, and total variances.

Total deviation = (actual quantity of products produced x actual price) (standard quantity of products produced x standard price) = (620 x 10) (600 x 8) = 1400 euros1.

The total deviation can be decomposed into two parts:


price deviation;
deviation by... Pick up file

As a result of mastering this topic, the student should:

know

  • basic concepts of management accounting and its place in the accounting system;
  • features of the dissemination, implementation and consolidation of management accounting in Russia;

be able to

  • compare management and financial accounting, understand the relationship between these types of accounting;
  • justify the role of management accounting as an organization’s information system;

own

Ability to comparative analysis data various types accounting.

Management accounting in Russia

Scientific and technological progress and global competition have caused great changes in the institutional environment (both external and internal) in which accounting operates today. With transition Russian economy market relations, a need arose for trade secrets, which led to the active introduction of management accounting. However, the level of management accounting does not always meet the needs modern enterprise, and accounting (financial) accounting, focused on the preparation of external reporting and inextricably linked with the requirements of tax legislation, loses its information content and in some cases distorts the real situation in the organization. When setting up management accounting as an information system, heads of organizations experience difficulties associated with understanding the very essence of management accounting.

Management accounting can be characterized as a subsystem of an organization's accounting that collects, registers, summarizes and provides information about the economic activities of the organization as a whole and its structural divisions for management, planning, control, analysis and evaluation purposes.

Basic purpose Management accounting is the provision of information to the managers of the organization and its structural divisions for making appropriate management decisions. Item

management accounting - economic activities of an organization and its structural divisions. The elements that make up the accounting method (documentation, inventory, valuation, costing, accounts, double entry, balance sheet and other reporting) are used in both financial and management accounting, but in the latter they are not mandatory. In management accounting wide application found quantitative methods.

Management accounting as a subsystem of accounting has the same principles (assumptions) as financial accounting, namely:

  • the principle of property separation - the assets and liabilities of an organization exist separately from the assets and liabilities of the owners of this organization and the assets and liabilities of other organizations;
  • going concern principle - the organization will continue its activities for the foreseeable future and it has no intention or need to liquidate or significantly reduce its activities;
  • principle of consistency in applying accounting policies - accepted by the organization accounting policies are applied consistently from one reporting year to another;
  • the principle of temporal certainty of the facts of economic activity - the facts of the organization’s economic activity relate to the reporting period in which they took place, regardless of the actual time of receipt or payment Money related to these facts.

The following accounting requirements also apply to management accounting as a subsystem of accounting:

  • the requirement for complete reflection in accounting of all facts of economic activity;
  • requirement for timely reflection of facts of economic activity in accounting and financial statements;
  • the requirement of prudence, which consists in a greater willingness to recognize expenses and liabilities in accounting than possible income and assets;
  • the requirement of priority of content over form when reflecting facts of economic activity in accounting;
  • requirement of consistency or identity of analytical accounting data with turnovers and balances of synthetic accounting accounts;
  • the requirement for rational accounting, based on business conditions and the size of the organization.

At the same time, it cannot be said that at present there are two main approaches of Russian specialists to the issue of defining the concept of “management accounting”. The first coincides with the approach adopted in Western accounting practice, from where Russia largely borrowed management accounting methodology. Accounting in this case is considered as the relationship between the subsystems of financial and management accounting.

According to the second approach, accounting is primarily financial accounting, and management accounting is a system of intra-company management, including not only purely accounting issues in our traditional understanding, but also analysis, planning, forecasting, control, and modeling.

Such different perceptions of financial and management accounting were influenced by the Soviet accounting school, which largely shaped the way of thinking of Russian accounting specialists. During the establishment of Soviet power, even before the transition to a command-administrative economy (during the NEP), the functions of accounting services were significantly broader and were not limited to accounting itself. They were engaged in planning, analytical and financial work, which, after the creation of the State Planning Committee (1928), began to be transferred to planning and financial departments that were not part of the accounting department.

During the years of transition to market relations, when the command-administrative economy was abandoned, the role of planning in many organizations noticeably decreased. Planning departments began to disband, and, as a result, their employees were forced to retrain for other specialties, mainly accounting. This was explained, firstly, by the fact that accounting profession was the closest to planning. Secondly, in market conditions the number of legal entities, each of which required accountants. Refusal to plan led to difficulties in the organization's management system. It began to be replaced by various Western methods, for example, intra-company planning or budgeting, which, by the way, is in many ways reminiscent of the technical industrial financial plan known from Soviet times.

Accounting affiliation and cost calculation systems changed. In the accounting of the 30s. XX century Three successive approaches can be distinguished. At first, calculations were compiled statistically without direct connection with accounting data. Then, from 1934, calculations began to be carried out according to data from accounting registers. And finally, in 1938-1940. strict accounting calculations were introduced.

Despite the serious methodological development of issues related to the calculation of product costs for almost all sectors of the economy, in Soviet times actual calculations were not used in enterprise management. Accounting cost was part of the “cost” economy; the price of products was formed on the “cost plus” principle, i.e. as cost increased by a certain percentage of profit. In a market economy, costing has lost its role in accounting (financial) accounting. It has become the subject of management accounting, within which it is possible to provide calculation different types cost and generate confidential information to solve specific management problems.

Soviet specialists were well acquainted with many management accounting methods. For example, the normative method appeared in the USSR back in the 1930s. Then we were talking about building a Soviet accounting system. A system for calculating production costs based on standard costs was developed using some technical techniques of the standard-cost method. The same can be said about the system of in-plant cost accounting, which is very close to one of the forms of management accounting - American accounting by responsibility centers. Thus, the functions of management accounting in its modern understanding, even in Soviet accounting practice, were partly inherent in accounting and partly in other disciplines. This largely explains such different approaches to determining the place of management accounting in relation to financial accounting in our time.

In Western accounting, divided into subsystems of financial and management accounting, the concepts of “accounting” and “bookkeeping” are clearly distinguished. The latter is the process of accounting, a means of recording business transactions and storing accounting information. This mechanical and repetitive work is part of accounting, which involves creating an information system to satisfy the user. His the main objective- analysis, interpretation and use of information. As is obvious from the definition presented, in Western practice the concept of “accounting” is much broader than in ours. The accounting system provides information to the needs of management as a whole, i.e. both external and internal users. Much attention is paid to the use of the analytical capabilities of accounting as a source of information, methods and techniques for analyzing information for a variety of purposes.

In addition, in Western practice, accounting is not regulated as strictly as in Russia, but national and international accounting standards are also used. In fact, in Western practice, financial reporting is regulated, i.e. rules for the presentation and disclosure of information, rather than the procedure for its receipt and processing. At the same time, accounting itself is the prerogative of the organization in the West, in contrast to Russian practice, where the accounting process is regulated by the state through a large number of regulations and provisions. Therefore, Western companies have the opportunity to organize the accounting process in such a way as to most facilitate the flow of information in both financial and management accounting, in accordance with the characteristics of a particular enterprise.

  • Sokolov Ya. V. Accounting: from its origins to the present day: textbooks, manual for universities. M.: Audit; UNITY, 1996. P. 500.*
  • Zhebrak M. X., Kryukov G. G. Standard accounting of production. M.: TSUNKHU GOSPLANASSSR Soyuzorguchet, 1934. P. 46.
  • Needles B. Principles of accounting / B. Needles, X. Anderson, D. Caldwell: translated from English. 2nd ed., stereotype. M.: Finance and Statistics, 2002. P. 13.

The essence of accounting for enterprise management, its difference from financial accounting

accounting management expense cost

Management accounting is a system established within an organization for collecting, registering, summarizing and presenting information about the economic activities of the organization and its structural divisions, used by interested users in the process of planning, managing and monitoring these activities.

That is, the essence of management accounting is to provide information that is necessary or may be useful to managers at all levels in the process of managing business activities in volumes that are not inherent in financial accounting. This requires the creation of an integrated system for accounting costs and income, regulation, planning, control and analysis, systematizing information for operational management decisions and coordinating problems of the future development of the enterprise.

Thus, we can conclude that, on the one hand, management accounting is part of the enterprise’s information system, and on the other, it is an activity aimed at providing information to management for decision-making and planning, operational management and control, and evaluation of the organization’s performance.

Subject of management accounting acts as a set of objects during the entire production management cycle. The content of the subject is revealed by its numerous objects, which can be combined into two groups:

  • production resources, ensuring the expedient work of people in the process of economic activity of the enterprise;
  • – business processes and their results, which together constitute production activities enterprises.

When building a management accounting system, methods are used to systematically organize and integrate existing databases and newly formed ones. Under management accounting method is understood as a set of various techniques and methods by which the objects of management accounting are reflected in information system organizations. The main ones:

  • documentation;
  • inventory
  • grouping and valuation, control accounts- a method of studying that allows you to accumulate and systematize information about an object in the context of certain characteristics.
  • use of planning, rationing and limiting data. Planning is understood as a continuous cyclical process that is aimed at matching the capabilities of the enterprise with market conditions. Rationing is a process of reasonable calculation optimal standards and standards, which is aimed at ensuring effective use all types of resources. Limitation includes the calculation of resource consumption rates per unit of finished product, accounting and control operations;
  • control- the final process of planning and analysis, directing the organization’s activities to fulfill previously established tasks, allowing for the discovery and elimination of emerging deviations;
  • analysis. In the process of analysis, interdependencies and relationships between departments in fulfilling previously established tasks, deviations and reasons that caused changes in results and production efficiency are identified.

In conclusion, it can be noted that all elements of the management accounting method do not operate in isolation from each other, but in combination, thereby making it possible to solve the problems of managing the activities of an enterprise.

When developing a management accounting system, its fundamental function should be cost accounting by area of ​​activity and the subsequent determination of the efficiency of each production area.

Principles of management accounting:

  • 1 Use of uniform units of measurement for planning and accounting.
  • 2 Generating data necessary and sufficient for an objective assessment of the organization’s performance- one of fundamental principles construction of management accounting.
  • 3 Continuity and repeated use of primary and intermediate information for management purposes, or the principle of completeness. Compliance with this principle in the process of collecting, processing and transmitting primary data simplifies the system and makes it more efficient. At operational management Management accounting information is supplemented by financial data.
  • 4 Formation of internal reporting indicators as the basis for connections between levels of management.
  • 5 Application of the budget (estimate) method of managing costs, finances and commercial activities.
  • 6 Completeness and analyticity, providing comprehensive information about the accounting object.
  • 7 Periodicity, reflecting the production and commercial cycles of the organization established by the accounting policies.
  • 8. Continuity of business of the organization. Continuity is understood as the absence of intention to self-destruct or reduce the scale of production.

The combination of these principles ensures the effectiveness of the management accounting system, but does not unify the accounting process.

To the main management accounting functions include:

  • – providing managers at all levels of information management necessary for current planning, control and making operational management decisions, i.e. information function;
  • – generation of information that serves as a means of internal communication between management levels and various structural divisions of the same level, i.e. inverse function communications;
  • – operational control and evaluation of performance results internal divisions and enterprises in achieving the goal, i.e. control function;
  • – long-term planning and coordination of enterprise development in the future based on analysis and assessment of actual performance results, i.e. analytical function.

Relationship between management and financial accounting is achieved on the basis of the integrated use of information, the unity of norms and standards, as well as the unity of normative and reference information in general, supplementing information from one type of accounting with data from another, bringing accounting information closer to the places where decisions are made, a unified approach to the development of management and financial accounting tasks.

However, the most important feature that both types of accounting have in common is that they provide interested users with information used for decision making. Thus, financial and management accounting are interdependent and interdependent components unified system accounting.

At the same time, each type of accounting has its own characteristics. Comparing management and financial accounting, we can highlight both differences. For ease of understanding, these differences are presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1. Comparative characteristics management and financial accounting

Comparison indicators

Financial Accounting

Management Accounting

1 Purpose of accounting

Generating reliable information for preparing financial statements, monitoring and identifying reserves

Generation of reliable information for the administration of the organization and its structural divisions, necessary for their management, planning, regulation and control

2 Users of information

External users: financial institutions, authorities state control, shareholders, counterparties, etc.

Management personnel of the organization and structural divisions and performers (managers of different levels of management, management).

3 Obligation to keep records

Mandatory, regardless of whether the manager considers this data useful or not

Not required, entered at the discretion of management

4 Accounting and reporting objects

Organization as a whole

Structural divisions, responsibility centers

5 Accounting structure

Basic equality: assets = liabilities + equity

No basic equality

6 Accounting methods

Using all elements of the accounting method

The use of accounting method elements is optional. Quantitative assessment methods are used

7 Accounting rules

Generally accepted principles and rules are used

Established by the organization

8 Meters used

Natural and cost

Wider use of natural and labor indicators and specific indicators

9 Ways to group expenses

By installed elements costs, if necessary, according to costing items

By costing items

10 Methodology for calculating financial results

Two concepts

Marginal income

Comparison indicators

Financial Accounting

Management Accounting

11 Degree of information accuracy

Reliable, documented

Approximate and approximate estimates are acceptable.

12 Time period

Past reporting period. The data is "historical in nature"

Expired, current and future periods. Along with historical information, estimates and future plans

13 Frequency of reporting

Month, quarter, year

As the need for information arises: shift, day, week, month

14 Responsibility for the accuracy and timeliness of information submission

Established by law

Not provided, or disciplinary

15 Availability of reporting data

Available to users

Are a trade secret of the organization

16 Connections with other disciplines

Own method

Close connection

The essence and content of the concepts of expense and costs of an organization’s activities

To understand cost accounting procedures within the framework of a unified accounting system that combines such subsystems as financial, management and tax accounting, it is necessary to specify the conceptual apparatus used in this case that regulates individual economic concepts and certain rules for their application. In economic literature and regulatory documents When describing the cost accounting process, terms such as “costs”, “expenses” and “expenses” are used. Improper definition of these economic concepts can distort their economic meaning.

Costs characterize the total “sacrifices” of an enterprise associated with the performance of certain operations in the production and sale of products (works, services). Moreover, they include both explicit (calculated) and implied (opportunity) costs. Explicit costs represent actual costs expressed in monetary terms, caused by the acquisition and expenditure of different types of economic resources in the process of production and circulation of products. Opportunity costs mean lost profits for a business.

In turn, when considering production costs as an accounting object, it is necessary to distinguish between such economic concepts as costs and expenses. As a rule, in theory and practice these concepts are used as synonyms, although they differ in economic content.

R. Anthony and J. Rees in the book “Accounting: Situations and Examples” note that cost is the most vague word in accounting, which is used in many different meanings. This definition of costs allows us to highlight a number of provisions:

  • – they are determined by the use of resources;
  • – their values ​​are presented in in monetary terms;
  • – costs are always related to specific goals and objectives.

Using the above provisions, costs can be divided into two types: organizational costs and production costs.

Organization costs- this is the value expressed in monetary terms of various resources, funds that have been acquired, are available, including the part of the costs consumed in the production process, as well as the organization’s expenses not directly related to its production and economic activities.

Production costs- this is the cost of part of the organization’s costs (resources) that were spent on manufacturing products, performing work and providing services during the reporting period.

Thus, the concept of “organizational costs” is much broader than the concept of “production costs.”

Regarding the interpretation of the concept of “expenses”, the following can be noted. Defining expenses as economic category as part of the information generated in accounting, given in the Accounting Regulations “Expenses of the organization” ( PBU 10/99). In him under expenses is understood as a decrease in economic benefits as a result of the disposal of assets (cash, other property) and (or) the occurrence of liabilities, leading to a decrease in the capital of this organization, with the exception of a decrease in contributions by decision of participants (owners of property). In this case, expenses for ordinary activities are understood as expenses associated with the manufacture and sale of products, the acquisition and sale of goods.

That is, the expenses of an organization are the cost of resources used that are fully spent (expended) within a certain period of time to generate income. And costs are monetary payments for purchased goods and services, which will be deducted from profits over time. Thus, expenses are part of the costs incurred by the enterprise in connection with generating income in the future.

In tax accounting Art. 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes that expenses are recognized as justified and documented expenses incurred (incurred) by the taxpayer.

Based on the established definitions existing in tax accounting, costs are resources consumed in business activities that have not yet been recognized as expenses and are reflected in work in progress, finished goods, shipped goods, etc. Consequently, costs become expenses at the time of recognition of income, with the receipt of which is associated with the consumption of these resources, and then expenses are no longer reflected on balance sheet accounts, but form profit from the sale of goods and are shown in the income statement.

Thus, summarizing the above, it can be noted that costs should be understood as the explicit (actual) costs of an enterprise, and expenses should be understood as a decrease in the enterprise’s funds or an increase in its debt obligations in the process of economic activity. Expenses refer to the actual use of raw materials, materials or services. And only at the moment of sale the enterprise recognizes its income and the associated part of the costs - expenses.

It should be emphasized once again that the importance of the characteristics of the concepts of costs and expenses and their definitions for rational organization and accounting in organizations in a market economy can hardly be overestimated. Clarification of the conceptual apparatus allows us to rationally structure the methodological basis of the concept of development of accounting for production costs.