Assignment 01 Front Sheet
Assignment 01 Front Sheet
Assignment 01 Front Sheet
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................4
1. Background and Objectives.................................................................................................4
2. Company’s Introduction......................................................................................................4
INTERNAL ACCOUNTING ACTIVITIES..............................................................................................5
1. Definition:.............................................................................................................................5
Accounting...............................................................................................................................5
Financial accounting................................................................................................................5
Management accounting l.......................................................................................................5
2. Objectives and responsibilities:...........................................................................................6
2.1. Financial Accounting:....................................................................................................6
2.2. Management Accounting.............................................................................................6
2.3. Management Accounting Systems...............................................................................7
FINANCIAL GOVERNANCE.............................................................................................................10
Legal...........................................................................................................................................11
Poor planning............................................................................................................................11
A lack of planning......................................................................................................................11
PERSONAL TRAITS AND SKILLS.....................................................................................................11
1. Characteristics....................................................................................................................11
2. Skills....................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................11
References.....................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
1. Background and Objectives
Management accounting reports are designed to provide internal information to
organizations or companies through financial accounting. As a member of the Financial
Board in Tesco, the analysis and evaluation of an organization's budget control system,
its relationship to performance management and decision-making is immeasurable
necessary. It then responds to the committee's concerns to innovate accounting,
production processes, and the application of accounting information in decision bases to
improve efficiency and solve financial problems.
This report consists of 3 parts. The first part is to define internal accounting practices,
present the different types of management accounting reports, and explain why
financial information should be qualitative. The report will clarify the responsibilities of
a management accountant in the specific context of the organization. The second part
will discuss the significance of competent financial management for the overall success
of the firm. In this part, the real-life example of companies that failed in the market due
to poor financial management should be pointed out to strengthen the argument. Next,
some recommendations are proposed to improve the company's financial management
policy by applying planning tools. And the last part will determine the personal
attributes and abilities necessary for a management accountant role while adapting to
changes and enhancing the present financial governance committee.
2. Company’s Introduction
Tesco company is an example that will be used in this article to describe and clarify the
problem of this case study. With sustainable financing, during the year, Tesco
strengthened its commitment to sustainability across all business areas through its
sustainable financing strategy. Tesco established a £2.5bn revolving credit facility linked
to three ambitious environmental targets, which the Committee endorsed (Tesco,
2021).
Therefore, monitoring financial performance creates more certainty and confidence in
making both short and long-term decisions. In turn, it leads to a healthier business and a
faster growth rate. It also allows the company to outperform and outmanoeuvre
competitors who fail in this regard.
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INTERNAL ACCOUNTING ACTIVITIES
1. Definition:
Accounting: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) defined
accounting as the art of recording, categorizing, and summarizing in a meaningful
manner and terms of money, transactions, and occurrences of at least a financial
character and evaluating the outcomes thereof in 1941. Accounting's function is to
give quantitative information about economic entities, particularly of a financial
nature needed to make economic decisions (Accounting Principle Board (APB),
1970).
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information required for decision making is the concern of
management accounting. Management accounting, unlike financial
accounting, provides data for internal users, though the primary data
come from the same accounting system, i.e., financial accounting and cost
accounting systems. Management accounting organizes and distributes accounting,
economic, and statistical data to individuals at various managerial levels to assist
them in performing organizational duties and evaluating them (Pandey, 2017).
Through financial accounting, companies have two basic ways to structure their
business's accounting policies. First, publicly traded companies must use the accrual
method of accounting standardized according to generally accepted accounting
principles (GAAP). (Investopedia, 2020)
Financial accounting is in charge of the staff recording and synthesizing data that
reflect the business situation of the enterprise through the numbers in the financial
statements to serve the information needs within the enterprise and also for other
organizations. interested parties outside the enterprise ensure consistency,
objectivity, and compliance with current accounting principles, standards and
regimes prescribed in each country.
The tasks of finance and accounting are assigned tasks including:
- Provide information on revenue and cash flow related issues in the business
activities of the enterprise.
- Calculate taxes and income
- Implement and monitor internal finance, set up and handle all financial procedures
in the enterprise (Nguyễn, 2021).
2.2. Management Accounting
Management accounting, oriented mainly towards providing information to managers,
being considered "an informational tool necessary to the management for
takingdecisions, to maximize profitability" (Dumitru and Calu, 2008) is folded up the
three critical functions of management, as follows:
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company's price strategy, trade strategy, and the appreciation of
the invested capital.
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• Any information acquired to monitor the agent's performance is
as accurate and dependable as possible.
• Any system designed to enable such monitoring is impartial,
either favouring the principal or the agent.
2.3. Management Accounting Systems focus on following the costs
associated with producing goods and services in a company. Each management
accounting system provides companies with a different method for tracking
expenses to deliver goods and services at the lowest price possible. Failing to follow
any procedure can result in overpriced goods and lower gross margins. The basic
types of Management Accounting Systems are:
Cost Accounting System is a framework that the company uses to approximate the
cost of its products for profitability analysis and cost control. Cost allocation is
carried out in the cost accounting system according to a performance-related cost
system or a traditional cost system. Approaching the actual cost of the product is
crucial for practical functions (Blocher, 2010). There are two central cost accounting
systems: job order costing and process costing.
- Process costing is a type of cost accounting that collects production expenses for
each process separately. It is appropriate for products whose production
involves different departments, and costs flow from one department to another.
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also performs cycle and physical inventory counts and creates,
manages, schedules, and distributes reports and printing barcode
labels. As a result, the inventory management system has several
advantages for a business, including strengthening the bottom line, improving
inventory accuracy, and improving workflow.
Pricing strategy, the value of the product to both buyer and seller, and tactics that
manage all aspects affecting profitability should all be considered by a Price
Optimization System (Edmonds and Olds, 2013). Price Optimization Systems help
businesses determine: initial pricing, pricing, and markdown pricing.
Budget reports
A company's budget distributes funds to and from various divisions of the
organization depending on projected performance. Forecasting revenues and
expenditure provides the raw data needed to develop a budget, which is frequently
a significant component of a business strategy. A budget report provides a
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moment-in-time snapshot of the financial performance of a business
compared to forecasts and may do so, depending on the detail of the
information, for aspects such as sales performance, production costs
and overhead expenses. Budget reports are also read by outsiders, such as
stockholders and investors. Stockholders and investors are interested in how a
business is operating and doing financially before making any big decisions (Shpak,
2019).
Performance reports involve collecting and disseminating project information,
communicating project progress, utilizing resources, and forecasting future
progress and status to various stakeholders, as decided in the communication
management plan.
During performance reporting, the work results of other processes are also
analyzed and combined into performance reports. They are typically done in
tabular or graphical formats that may be text-based, visual-based (such as charts,
graphs, or tables) or most often, a combination of both (Simplilearn, 2021).
Fundamentally, performance reports are comparisons of project performance to
the project performance baseline and include:
- Status Reports give the current state of a project at any given time.
- Progress Report describes what has been accomplished since the last time/last
report.
- Forecasting Report states what is expected to happen on a project, predicting
the project's future performance and anticipated status in various parameters.
- Trend Report compares the current version of the project and the last
performance of the task during the same time duration. This type of report
examines project performance over time to see if it is improving or degrading.
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before they get out of hand. An accurate Job-Cost Report can help the
company sort out a range of other problems. For example, it can tell
whether a low-profit month or quarter results from one terrible job or
a general downward trend in a market price. It can identify a crew that continually
performs above or below budget or a sales rep or estimator that needs to improve
their performance. Determining what a job costs and whether it was profitable are
the essential skills that every construction company manager needs to possess
(Wilson, 2017).
FINANCIAL GOVERNANCE
1. Financial management refers to the responsibilities of financial managers of a business
firm who are responsible for the acquisition, financing, and management of financial
resources to optimize the firm's value for its owners. (Sana, 2017) Financial managers
are in charge of the financial affairs of all types of businesses, including financial and
non-financial, private and public, large and small, profit-seeking and non-profit
organizations. They perform such varied tasks as budgeting, financial forecasting, cash
management, credit administration, investment analysis, funds management, etc. The
complexity and relevance of financial managers' responsibilities have grown in recent
years as legal and economic contexts have evolved, as has the globalization of company
activity. As a result, the role of financial management has grown increasingly demanding
and complicated. (Khan, 2012)
2. Financial problems
Business cycles are a type of fluctuation found in the aggregate economic activity of
countries that organize their work primarily in business enterprises: a cycle consists of
expansions in many economic activities occurring at roughly the same time, followed by
similarly general recessions, contractions, and revivals. A recession is a type of vicious
cycle characterized by cascading decreases in output, employment, income, and sales,
which feed into a further reduction in production, spreading fast from industry to
industry and region to region. This domino effect is crucial to the spread of recessionary
weakness across the economy, as it drives the comovement of various coincident
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economic indicators and the durability of recessionary liability (Mitchell,
1946).
Legal
According to (Maslow, 2020) business owners are often faced with various legal
problems that can be crippling to their business, such as
- Forming a company
Every firm must get off to a good start, which includes the structure of the company.
The incorrect business structure for the sort of firm might result in major tax and legal
consequences.
Partner agreements are also necessary if the company is ever sold, split up, or have any
disagreements. Everything should be explicitly stated in the partnership agreement.
- Copyrights, patents, and trademarks are all examples of intellectual property rights.
New product development must always be thoroughly investigated for any existing
patents or copyrights. Many businesses generate easy money by waiting for someone to
infringe on their patents. These kinds of court disputes may last for years, are messy,
and expensive.
One of the best ways to circumvent these legal problems is to identify potential problem
areas early and prepare for them by having a trusted business lawyer.
Poor planning
A lack of planning is a factor in global company failure. Access to new finance and
consumers is one reason for businesses to expand outside their local borders. To stay up
with their competition, several companies enter global markets without a proper
strategy. They don't research the needs, assess differences in local versus worldwide
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system and don't ponder the variance in costs in doing business globally.
Companies have withdrawn from international markets in the past
because they entered without a strategy. A strong plan should include
both short and long-term objectives and a means to track progress and outcomes. There
should be clear to-do lists, benchmarks, and milestones had.
Service-oriented Mindset
Accounting is still fundamentally a people industry, regardless of how many numbers
are involved. Accountants must be proficient in financial computations and have a
particular amount of elegance and excitement while interacting with their clients as
individuals. Accountants should relish the opportunity to connect directly with their
clients to create rapport and learn as much as possible.
Innovativeness
Just because an accountant's trade is primarily in numbers doesn't mean that there isn't
any room for creative thinking. If there is a potential to find a better solution, the top
accountants will never settle for cookie-cutter techniques.
Vigilance
The status of the economy and the complexities of tax law can change at any time, so an
accountant must date on the most recent changes. One of the key reasons why an
accountant's competence is required in the first place is that the sector is continually
changing.
Even if the accountant is fully confident in their awareness of all fine details, they must
always keep current with the field to ensure that their knowledge is still relevant and
applicable. What may have been sound approach months ago may no longer be so in
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the present, and a good accountant must always be prepared to adapt to
this circumstance before it becomes a significant issue.
2. Skills
Analytical Skills
Accounting job necessitates a comprehensive, detail-oriented approach. Accountants
must go through extensive financial documents to verify that every information is
appropriate and sufficient. Otherwise, their analysis might produce contradictory
results. According to Bob Prather, Lucas Group's general manager of accounting and
finance recruiting, the finest accountants can quickly assess an analysis report and
identify what remains whether or not the facts and figures compute (Writers, 2021).
Communication Skills
The words excellent communication skills are often found in job postings. As the GMAC
survey shows, these are highly sought-after skills. On the other hand, higher-level
communication abilities are more closely linked to the capacity to write and talk.
Effective communication is a two-way process that necessitates responding to what
others say and do. Whether it's selling someone an idea, negotiating a sticking point,
collaborating on a common goal, reaching a consensus on a number, or providing
performance feedback, communication skills are a daily requirement at the workplace.
While technical knowledge is necessary for computer and information systems jobs,
GMAC shows that the most important skill for newcomers is oral communication.
Recruitment. This is also true in other businesses, particularly management accounting.
Teamwork Skills are the traits and talents that enable you to collaborate well with
others in talks, projects, meetings, and other situations. The capacity to communicate
effectively, actively listen, and be accountable and honest is required for effective
cooperation. Many other additional soft skills can help you be an exceptional teammate
at work to discuss more below.
Every sector, at every stage of your career, especially in accounting, will demand you to
collaborate with others to agree on an issue. Doing so in an empathic, efficient, and
responsible manner may help you achieve your objectives and make a good
contribution to your company. It can also aid in the development of interpersonal
relationships. Building rapport may lead to more productive professional relationships,
new contacts, and even new possibilities.
Strong Organizational Skills will always characterize the best accountants. Every single
bit of data and paperwork must be accounted for at all times, no matter how minor it
may seem. Poor organizational skills will be the Achilles’ heel of even the most naturally
brilliant and well-intentioned accountants in the field. Being well-organized ensures that
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accounts can immediately access any content they require, increasing
productivity and freeing up more time for the most critical
responsibilities.
CONCLUSION
This report has fulfilled the three parts set out at the beginning of the article. As a member of
the financial management committee that wrote this report, I have provided definitions and
examples of the sections related to accounting and financial management. In addition, the roles
and skills of an accountant have also been outlined in the article. From this report, the
shortcomings in accounting management and financial management in the company will be
overcome.
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