Management Accounting

Product costing, planning, decision-making, and control of individual behavior are often collectively labeled controllership or managerial accounting. The aim of the course is to provide the students with a comprehensive understanding of accounting's role in the internal management of an organization, be it private, public or not-for-profit. Following the course the students should be well prepared for career in management controlling, auditing, or for positions where a solid knowledge of the economics of management is in demand.

That is, the course covers the following three purposes of managerial accounting:
(1) product cost assessment;
(2) use of accounting data in decision making; and
(3) use of accounting data in managerial performance evaluation.

More specifically cost accumulation processes, statistical estimation of cost curves, cost allocation, budget mechanisms and procedures, divisional reporting, and transfer pricing are explored. Furthermore, the consequences of using various procedures in producing accounting information on the use of accounting information in its decision facilitating and its decision influencing roles is explored in a variety of settings. What accounting data are interesting and how they might be used depends on what the organization is trying to accomplish and on what other information resources are available. The course reflects this fact; the analysis is contextual and admits to the presence of complementary and substitute sources of information.

Content - Key areas:

• The Economic Foundations  
  
• Traditional Product Costing 
• Modern Product Firm 
• Activity Based Costing 
• The role of cost in the representation of decision problems 
• Consistent Framing under uncertainty 
• Consistent Framing in a Strategic Setting 
• The decision influencing role of accounting 
• Principal agent modeling 
• Performance Evaluation 
• The consequences of private information for budgeting 
• Coordination problems 
• Transfer pricing. 

The targets of the course are that the student can:  

• Analyze, compare, and explain cost accounting (e.g. product costing) procedures. 
• Use, examine and evaluate the consequences of applying various costing procedures. 
• Explain and reflect on how the decision frame will affect the notion of cost. 
• Explain and discuss the consequences of facing strategic opponents. 
• Analyze, discuss, and use accounting performance evaluation and the principal-agent models. 
• Criticize, reflect, and evaluate models and theories related to private information in agencies. 
• Analyze and use models of coordination.  Analyze, use and relate models of transfer pricing. 
• Criticize and reflect upon underlying assumptions regarding all topics. 

Examples: 

Demski, J., "Managerial Uses of Accounting Information", 2. edition, Springer 2008. Articles, cases and lecture notes. 

Scheduled classes:

3 hours of lectures pr. week in 15 weeks. 

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For an average student, the expected workload is divided as follows:
Lectures: 45 hours.
Preparation for lectures: 150 hours.
Preparation and writing of assignments: 30 hours.
Preparation of the exam: 45 hours.
In total: 270 hours.