Book Description
Each of the book's authors is both a scholar and a top consultant for Fortune 500 and smaller companies. As a result, they have a unique focus: to help readers better understand management accounting topics, research, and issues from the perspective of a business manager. KEY TOPICS A twelve chapter organization and framework addresses the needs of future business managers—specifically, how to interpret and use accounting information to make good decisions. The book answers many pertinent questions: What defines the nature, focus, and scope of management accounting? What determines the cost of products or customers? How do costs change over the product's life cycle? What approaches do managers use to compute the costs of their products and services? How can we use cost for planning and decision-making purposes? How can we use revenue and cost information for capacity planning and profit planning and evaluation purposes? How can we manage and control organizational behavior through organizational design, and how does cost information inform the process of control? For management accountants, cost system designers, incentive compensation system designers, and balanced scorecard implementers.

The publisher, Prentice Hall Business Publishing
Unique in approach, this text provides a balanced, cohesive integration of management and accounting that has been noticeably missing from current texts. This book appeals to the general business student as well as the Accounting major. It teaches how a business manager uses management accounting information to solve problems and manage activities within an organization. Accounting majors aspiring to become management accountants learn how to design and operate information systems that create value for their organizations. The entire text blends contemporary theory and the latest research in management accounting with practical applications and actual company experiences.

From the Back Cover
Each of the text authors—Anthony A. Atkinson, Robert S. Kaplan, and S. Mark Young—is both a scholar and a top consultant for Fortune 500 and smaller companies. As a result, they have a unique focus: to help readers better understand management accounting topics, research, and issues from the perspective of a business manager. New Chapter 9, "The Balanced Scorecard." This is the only textbook available to offer an authoritative, comprehensive, single-chapter treatment of this topic. New Reorganization of chapters. Chapters 1-3 have been rewritten and revised into two new chapters. Chapter 1. "Management Accounting: Information That Creates Value" and Chapter 2, "Cost Management Concepts and Cost Behavior." Revised Chapter 4, "Activity-Based Cost Systems." Written by Bob Kaplan, this is the most complete ABC chapter in any management accounting textbook.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
All Businesses Have the Same Goal Whether an enterprise intends to earn money for owners and stockholders or is a not-for-profit organization, the goal is the same: creating value. One company may be improving workforce conditions while another may be investing in new product development based on customer feedback. Whatever the strategy, the only management accounting textbook that understands and teaches how to use measurement and management systems for value creation is Management Accounting, Fourth Edition, by Anthony A. Atkinson, Robert S. Kaplan, and S. Mark Young. Management Accounting, Fourth Edition, Highlights the Strategic and Operational Uses of Management Accounting Information It's important that business managers as well as accountants have the necessary tools to implement new business strategies. The vision starts here: 12-Chapter Organization and Framework The 12-chapter organization allows for efficient coverage regardless of course length. What defines the nature, focus, and scope of management accounting? (Chapter 1) What determines the cost of products or customers? How do costs change over the product's life cycle? (Chapter 2) What approaches do managers use to compute the costs of their products and services? (Chapters 3 and 4) How can we use costs for planning (Chapters 5 and 6) and decision making (Chapters 7 and 11)? How can we use revenue and cost information for capacity planning (Chapter 7) and profit planning and evaluation (Chapter 8) purposes? How can we manage and control organizational behavior through organizational design, and how does cost and performance information inform the management control process (Chapters 9, 10, and 12)? The Vision Continues with Input from the World's Leading Expert Robert S. Kaplan, the foremost authority on activity-based cost management and the Balanced Scorecard, shares his expertise and experiences in the application of these important management tools to small and large organizations around the world. Updated and Revised Chapter 4 on activity-based cost systems. NEW coverage not available in other textbooks on time-driven activity-based costing, a simpler and more accurate ways for implementing ABC NEW treatment of measuring and managing customer profitability drawn from "Measuring and Managing Customer Profitability" by Kaplan and Narayanan Expanded treatment of activity-based management for process improvements Detailed comparison of costs from activity-based and traditional costing systems NEW, comprehensive Chapter 9 on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) covers theory and application. A continuing example throughout the chapter illustrates the development of a Balanced Scorecard for a retail bank undergoing a major, strategic transformation. Chapter highlights include: Why use a Balanced Scorecard? The role of strategy maps in visualizing cause-and-effect linkages between drivers and outcomes of a strategy How to translate mission, vision, and strategy statements into a BSC Common customer outcome measures Choosing objectives and measures for internal processes and employee capabilities Applying the BSC to the nonprofit and public sector Using the BSC to implement strategy; the five principles to become a strategy-focused organization Incorporates examples from Volvofinans, U.K. Ministry of Defence, Wendy's International, New Profit, Inc., and the U.S. Army, all of which have successfully implemented the BSC Look Inside and See How Businesses Really Operate NEW, updated text examples and updated In Practice and The Technological Edge boxes provide current insights into today's changing business envirofiment. New examples include: Costing procedures at Dark Horse Comics Costs and revenues in the motion picture industry comparing My Big Fat Greek Wedding to Spiderman Sunk costs in Baseball Pricing glitch in Amazon DVD store And many more! Chapter 8, Motivating Behavior in Management Accounting and Control Systems, includes a new discussion on diagnostic and interactive control systems. Chapter 12, Financial Control, uses an extended example to introduce new material on ratio analysis, including common size statements, profitability, efficiency, financial leverage, liquidity, asset use, and market value ratios. Users spoke—and we listened. Based on reviewer feedback, the following organizational changes were incorporated: NEW Chapter 1 reflects major consolidation and revision of previous edition Chapters 1 and 2. Includes an introduction to ethics and the issues facing management accountants Chapter 11, Capital Budgeting (previously Chapter 8), applies what-if and sensitivity analysis introduced in Chapter 10. Chapter 11 also discusses the importance of post-implementation audits in capital budgeting.

FROM THE PUBLISHER