The Limitations of Traditional Management Accounting There exist five major limitation for traditional management accounting. The first one is the traditional management accounting may treat the firm as a single part. It only provided information for a single enterprise management decision and control, ignoring the external environment and other relevant information also can reflect the firm’s position in the market. Second, the traditional management accounting limited to the collection and analysis of internal financial information, the information break away from the requirements of corporate strategic management and weakened the role of management accounting. Third, the concept of traditional management accounting just focus on solving the relevant and individual internal issues. It can not form a sound management system with the market and long-term interests, so that the composition of the budget system just only concentrate on the enterprise’s internal planning and operations. The forth is the traditional management accounting adopted Continue reading
Financial Management Tools
Financial Accounting vs Management Accounting
Financial Accounting and Management Accounting are two interrelated facets of the accounting system. They are not exclusive of each other; they are supplementary in nature. Financial accounting provides the basic structure for collecting data. The data collection structure is suitably modified or adjusted for accumulating information for management accounting purposes. In a broader sense, management accounting includes financial accounting. They differ in their emphasis and approaches. They are as follows: Financial accounting serves the interest of external users (i.e. investors etc.) while management accounting caters to the needs of internal users (i.e. management). Financial accounting is governed by the generally accepted accounting principles while management accounting has no set principles. Financial accounting presents historical information while management accounting represents predetermined as well as past information. Financial accounting is statutory while management accounting is optional. Financial accounting presents annual reports while management accounting reports are of both Continue reading
Marakon Model of Shareholder Value Creation
The Marakon model was developed by Marakon Associates, a management consulting firm known for its work in the field of value-based management. According to Marakon model, a firm’s value is measured by the ratio of its market value to the book value. An increase in this ratio depicts an increase in the value of the firm, and a reduction reflects a reduction in the firm’s value. The model further states that a firm can maximize its value by following these four steps: Understand the financial factors that determine the firm’s value Understand the strategic forces that affect the value of the firm Formulate strategies that lead to a higher value for the firm Create internal structures to counter the divergence between the shareholders goals and the management’s goals. 1. Financial Factors The first step in this model is to identify the financial factors that affect the value of the firm. Continue reading
Financial Statements – Definition and Meaning
Past events and performances serve as background for making projections if they are to be realistic. The financial statements provide important information concerning past financial transactions and their effects om the profitability and the financial position of the business. Various users of financial statements such as owners, investors, creditors, management etc. must make an analysis of financial statements to make right decision. Therefore financial statements are the means of conveying to owners, management or to interested outsiders a concise picture of profitability and financial position of the business. Financial statements are the end products of the accounting process which give a concise accounting information of the period after the accounting period is over. Financial statements are the summary reports of a company’s financial transactions during a given period of time. A firm communicates to the users through financial statements and reports. The financial statements contain summarized information of the firm’s Continue reading
Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) Method of Capital Budgeting
Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) Method Various proposals are ranked in order to rate of earnings on the investment in the projects concerned. The project which shows highest rate of return is selected and others are ruled out. The Accounting Rate of Return is found out by dividing the average income after taxed by the average investment, i.e., average net value after depreciation. The accounting rate of return, thus, is an average rate and can be determined by the following equation. Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) = Average income / Average investment There are two variants of the accounting rate of return; Original Investment Method, and Average Investment Method. 1. Original Investment Method. Under this method average annual earnings or profits over the life of the project are divided by the total outlay of capital project, i.e., the original investment. Thus ARR under this method is the ratio between average Continue reading
Credit Default Swaps (CDS)
The credit default swap (CDS) is the cornerstone of credit derivatives market. A credit default swap is a swap contract in which protection buyer (buyer of CDS) makes a series of payments over the maturity of CDS to the protection seller & in exchange receives a payment which is contingent on the happening of default by third party (reference entity). In short, it is a credit derivative contract between two parties in order to exchange the credit risk of an issuer (reference entity). The underlying (reference) asset can be bond or loan of any corporation known as reference entity. The reference entity is not a party to the contract. Reference entity refers to the party on which protection is written. The protection buyer makes quarterly premium payments (spreads) to the protection seller. This premium is usually some percent of notional value of CDS contract, expressed in basis points. If the Continue reading