Cost Planning and Analysis for Competitive Advantage

Aims

The aim of this course is to acquaint students with the role of management accounting in complicated modern industrial companies. It places particular emphasis on the role of management control systems and the various types and modern methods of costing (activity based costing, activity management etc).

Learning Outcomes

On completing the course the participants will:

  • be able to understand the principles, concepts and practices of cost management and management control systems
  • be able to perform a cost-volume profit analysis
  • be able to apply the techniques of activity-based costing and activity-based management in real world cases and identify the main cost drivers
  • be able to analyse direct-cost variances, overhead-cost variances and perform management control
  • propose a financial strategy based on costs behaviour
  • be able to allocate costs in joint products, by-products and according to the following processes of production
  • perform capital budgeting and cost analysis
  • be able to explain the concept of the value chain and clarify issues related to the management of contribution generated in all the different stages and phases of the chain

Content

  • Cost-volume profit analysis
  • Job costing
  • Activity-based costing and activity-based management
  • Master budget and responsibility accounting
  • Flexible budgets, direct-cost variances, and management control
  • Flexible budgets, overhead-cost variances, and management control
  • Inventory costing and capacity analysis
  • Determining how costs behave
  • Decision-making and relevant information
  • Pricing decisions and cost management
  • Strategy, balance scorecard, and strategic profitability analysis
  • Cost allocation, customer-profitability analysis, and sales-variance analysis
  • Allocation of support department costs, common costs and revenues
  • Cost allocation: Joint products and by-products
  • Process costing
  • Spoilage rework, and scrap
  • Balanced scorecard: quality, time, and the theory of constraints
  • Inventory management, just-in-time, and simplified costing methods
  • Capital budgeting and cost analysis
  • Management control systems, transfer pricing, and multinational considerations
  • Performance measurement, compensation, and multinational considerations