Reference no: EM132415857

HI5017 - Managerial Accounting - Holmes Institute

Purpose of the assessment

(with ULO Mapping) Students are required to develop their understanding of the purpose and use of management accounting systems, and its usefulness in aiding managers make informed decisions. You are to critically evaluate two journal articles to analyse the practical use of management accounting systems by contemporary companies, in terms of their relevance to the real-life companies' decision-making by managers and achievement of business goals (ULO 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 & 8)

Assignment Specifications

This assignment aims at developing your understanding of the purpose and use of management accounting systems, and its usefulness in aiding managers make informed decisions. You are to critically evaluate two journal articles to analyse the practical use of management accounting systems by contemporary companies, in terms of their relevance to the real-life companies' decision-making by managers and achievement of business goals.

Assignment Task:

Journal Article Critique
You are required to read the journal article by Watts, Yapa and Dellaportas (2014), "The Case of a Newly Implemented Modern Management Accounting System in a Multinational Manufacturing Company", Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal, 8 (2), p. 121-137. The journal article is attached as a separate file in Blackboard under the folder <Assignment>.

Required: Critically evaluate the role of management accounting systems (MAS) and the provision of accounting information for the case company by answering the 4 questions below:

Questions:
1. Identify any three (3) specific examples of the different types of management accounting methods and/or techniques from the case.

2. Are MAS relevant to contemporary organisations? Discuss this with reference to:
i) What evidence is there from the case company? Include examples in your answer.

ii) Compare and contrast this finding with one other journal article you will need to find that has discussed about management accounting systems in another real-life company or companies. Did this second study have similar findings as the first chosen article, or mixed and/or different findings? Explain with examples.

3. What conclusions do you make about the relevance of MAS in today's competitive and (in most cases), uncertain business environment?

4. Provide four (4) specific outcomes or lessons learned from each of the two articles' research findings that will be useful for management accountants in Australian companies to learn from, and justify your answer [i.e. provide 2 outcomes from each of the two studies].

Another 5 marks are determined by the overall presentation of your assignment.
Additional Information:
a) You are encouraged to choose the second journal article from the following Accounting and Management Accounting Journals:

b) The journal article need to study a real-life company or companies' MAS from year 2010 onwards, (in any country).
c) You can access these journals in ProQuest Database by clicking on the above links. Log in details for ProQuest are - Username: Holmes2004; Password: holmes. These journals can also be accessed via the ProQuest Database link available via the Student Login page in the Holmes website.