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Alverno College Management Accounting Major
MGA375 - Reporting and Management Accounting Issues

Course Description

This course in the second in a series of four integrated accounting courses that you will complete as part of your management accounting major. These courses are designed in response to a set of questions that define the business environment/context issues and discipline expertise needed by a professional accountant to be an effective part of the management team at a particular stage of the business's growth and development.

These questions are:

• What are the business/management issues facing the organization at this stage of its development?
• What business strategies are unique to this stage of organizational development and how they impact decision-making?
• How does the global marketplace affect the organization at this point in time?
• What ethical/valuing issues face the organization at this stage of development?
• What accounting information is needed to support and/or influence decision making and strategy?
• How do traditional and contemporary/emerging accounting approaches support and/or influence decision-making?
• How can technology support information needs?

To respond to these questions in this course, you will use your critical thinking, problem solving and valuing abilities. You will explore accounting issues related to managing the day-to-day operations of a medium sized business with multiple products. You will draw upon and build on basic financial and cost concepts introduced in prior accounting courses (MGT201, MGA202 and MGA275) to respond to a variety of problems related to reporting and control issues as the business faces growth in sales, physical plant, employees, and products/services management.

As the business grows, the management accountant assumes an even greater role in decision support and strategic decision making. You will apply your team and interpersonal skills to deal with more complex issues using accounting information to provide guidance to management and respond to emerging financial reporting issues. You will be introduced to basic product costing systems, pricing, product mix, and standard costing and variance analysis. In addition, you will analyze the incentive, behavioral and organizational issues that arise when using management accounting information. In this process, you will apply the Management Accounting Code of Conduct to respond the ethical and social responsibility issues that arise.

Management Accounting Major and Course Outcomes

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to:

• Integrate principles from accounting and management theory with liberal arts learning to interpret and analyze business situations and to effectively communicate with others in a variety of contexts by:
  • Identifying and analyzing links between effective management accounting and control systems.
  • Integrating accounting and management knowledge with problem solving abilities to identify and effectively address stakeholder accounting issues.
    
    
• Use accounting frameworks to initiate and implement problem solving and process improvement in organizational contexts by:
  
  
  • Identifying, selecting, and critically evaluating and applying cost systems for this type of business.
  • Identifying and explaining connections between management accounting systems and financial reporting requirements as outlined in GAAP.
    
    
• Use management theory to interact effectively in professional contexts that require leadership of groups or other types of interpersonal interactions by:
  • Using interpersonal and task oriented models to work effectively with others to address accounting issues.
    
    
• Respond to management and accounting issues in a manner consistent with personal and professional codes of conduct by:
  • Identifying the relationship between management accounting, general accepted accounting principles, and a professional code of conduct to address planning issues.
  • Drawing upon and reinforcing your valuing and social interaction abilities as you engage in independent and collaborative problem solving.