How do you reply to this students discussion board? Managerial accounting is cha

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How do you reply to this students discussion board?

Managerial accounting is changing rapidly as a result of technology and new types of enterprises. Below is an article that states the opposite (Talha et al, 2010).

I see lots of references in this article provided that shows that managerial accounting is changing (Talha et al, 2010) Tom Kennedy and Richard Bull stated “They mentioned that it was this perceived “lost relevance” that has triggered the development of Activity Base Costing (ABC) in the mid 1980s” Another point made is by Gary Siegel “Over the past 10 years, management accountants have been transformed from “bean counters” and “corporate cops” on the periphery of business decision making to “business partners” and valued team members at a very clear center of strategic activity. Escalating change in the profession in the past five years continues to enhance the role of management accountants.” “Ragnar Gotestam (1994) mentioned that government commissioned the National Board of Health and Welfare to observe the development of new management accounting systems in social services.”

From all the reading and my experience in IT I believe that Managerial accounting is changing with the growth of IT. As databases grow and different abilities are realized with new coding forms so does managerial accounting. (en.wikipedia.org) I was looking for how many different managerial accounting software packages where on the market and I was only able to get a notion of the amount from Wikipedia which is not best to use as a reference, but it does give insight into the possible amount, I stopped counting when I hit 50 different types of software packages. Managerial accounting is changing, with newer IT technology you can even create your own style of accounting to make numbers suitable for your organization, old theories are good for a foundation but technology is always going to push the levels higher

Lack of management accountant expertise with IT knowledge has made the development of management accounting to be slow. With new technologies arising and business practices changing with the invention of new IT and technology systems, systems have become automated and having IT specialists knowledgable of financial management is increasingly needed.   I can speak to this from a personal aspect as I already have my BS and Masters in IT management, working in my new job I realized that I needed to broaden my horizon some so I am currently taking courses to complete my MBA. The hope is that I will also be versed in the business environment and then will able to apply my IT background as well to help further my career and job performance. I have normally seen that it is the business and financial managers that are learning more about IT to make the decisions. Implementing a managerial training plan that ensures managers of all job functions are well versed in all aspects of business would also fix the problem.

Reference:

Stiglianese, Michael, Maisel, Lawrence S. (Jul 2014), Business Finance Best Practices for Finance Executives, IT Financial Management: What vs. How, retrieved February 24, 2016 from: http://businessfinancemag.com/technology/it-financial-management-what-vs-how

Talha, et al. (2010). A New Look at Management Accounting. The Journal of Applied Business Research. Volume 26, Number 4, July/August 2012.

Wikipedia.org, Comparison of accounting software, retrieved February 24, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_accounting_software

Explanation / Answer

Introduction:-

According to the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA): "Management accounting is a profession that involves partnering in management decision making, devising planning and performance management systems,and providing expertise in financial reporting and control to assist management in the formulation and implementation of an organization's strategy".

So, Management accounting is the art of using accounting information to take managerial decision.

Over the period of time, new techniques are coming to analyse the accounting data to take decision but with the passage of time and rapid development in Information technology sector, these information are well analysed to take business decision.

Information technology and managemnent accounting

Management accounting techniques such as budgetary control, cost control, profit analysis, sales analysis and variance analysis use ERP systems. Those same management accounting techniques plus budgeting have been required to change due to ERP systems. The work of management accountants has changed: less involvement in data entry activities, more involvement in design of business processes, and the need to be more IT savvy. ERP systems have contributed to the work of management accountants: more effective, more efficient, better decisions, more responsive to accounting problems, more accuracy of forecasts, and better understanding of cost behaviour.

Even now, with the increasing complexities in business, data has to be manupulated through softwares to take business decisions

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