Management Accounting and Control

Management accounting has been the basic toolbox in business administration for decades. Today it is an integral part of all curricula in business education and no student can afford not to be familiar with its basic concepts and instruments.

After a general introduction to the field of management accounting and control the book discusses management reporting as one of the main operative tasks in management accounting practice. Cost management as an extension of cost accounting is covered next, including instruments such as target costing, life-cycle costing and process-based costing. Differences between Anglo-American activity-based costing (ABC) and German processbased costing are highlighted. The book explains planning and budgeting tasks in management control including a comparison of traditional budgeting with modern/alternative budgeting approaches.

A major part of the book is dedicated to performance measurement and management. The most widespread financial performance indicators are illustrated by using real-world examples, and value-based management control concepts are outlined in detail. In a consecutive chapter, performance measurement is linked with strategy while extensively discussing the Balanced Scorecard as a key tool of strategic management accounting.

The book closes with insights into new fields and developments that currently influence management accounting practices and research, among them supply chain management accounting, integrated reporting, and big data.

Distinctive features of Management Accounting and Control are

• an international approach
• a focus on financials
• understandability and readability
• a balanced approach of theory and practice, with a focus on practical application
• addressing cutting-edge topics
• glossaries and review questions for easy understanding.

The book has been written primarily for students of study programs run in English at universities in non-English-speaking countries, such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but also Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Management Accounting and Control can be used for any of the following:

• Introductory and intermediate courses in management accounting and management control for undergraduate students
• Introductory courses in graduate programs (MBA, MSc. in General Management, etc.) to introduce students without deeper knowledge of management control
• Introductory courses in executive development certificate programs
• A handbook for practitioners like general managers and consultants in multinational corporations
• A book for non-European readers interested in understanding German/European concepts of management accounting and control, in contrast to a purely Anglo-Saxon approach of management accounting