The term artificial intelligence was first coined by John McCarthy, in 1956, during an interdisciplinary workshop of researchers at Dartmouth. This team of researchers developed the concept of “thinking machines”, which included automata theory, complex information processing and cybernetics. In the mid-to late 50s, General Electric became the first company to purchase a computer to process its payroll system, the UNIVersal Automatic Computer(UNIVAC). UNIVAC ran payroll in all of GE’s factories and stored data on magnetic tape instead of punch cards. The UNIVAC took 40 hours to complete the entire payroll process. During the 60s the U.S. transportation industry developed an electronic data interchanges to standardize transactions between vendors and customers. This was followed by the introduction of the first computer-based software, LANguage for Programming Arrays at Random (LANPAR), began to offer electronic spreadsheets. After LANPAR, VisiCalac and SuperCalc were released in 1970 and 1978 respectively. With each iteration, more functionality Continue reading
Management Accounting
Cost Accounting Information System
Cost Accounting Information System (CAIS) is an accounting information system which determines the costs of products manufactured or services provided and record these costs in the accounting records. It is the key to management’s assessment of the company’s efforts to achieve profit. Since it is so important, the CAIS must be carefully designed and properly maintained. Functions of Cost Accounting Information System (CAIS) Generally the purposes or functions of cost accounting information system fall into four categories. These include providing information for: External financial statements, Planning and controlling activities or processes, Short term strategic decisions and Long term strategic decisions. These four functions relate to different audiences, emphasize different types of information, require different reporting intervals and involve different types of decisions. Cost Accounting Information System (CAIS) Technology Input: The input devices commonly associated with CAIS include: standard personal computers or workstations running applications; scanning devices for standardized data entry; Continue reading
Roles, Duties and Responsibilities of Management Accountant
Management Accountant is an officer who is entrusted with Management Accounting function of an organization. He plays a significant role in the decision making process of an organization. The organizational position of Management Accountant varies from concern to concern depending upon the pattern of management system. He may be an executive in some concern, while a member of Board of Directors in case of some other concern. However, he occupies a key position in the organization. In large concerns, he is responsible for the installation, development and efficient functioning of the management accounting system. He designs the frame work of the financial and cost control reports that provide with the most useful data at the most appropriate time. The Management Accountant sometimes described as Chief Intelligence Officer because apart from top management, no one in the organization perhaps knows more about various functions of the organization than him. Tandon has Continue reading
Differences Between Value Chain Analysis and Traditional Management Accounting
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
Parts of a Cost Accounting System
Cost accounting is linked to tax accounting, financial accounting and managerial accounting because it is an important component of each discipline as cost accounting involves determining the cost of something, such as a product, a service, an activity, a project, or some other cost object. These costs are needed for several purposes. For example, the costs of products and services produced and sold are needed for both tax and external financial statements. In other words, tax and financial accounting depend on cost accounting to provide cost information. Information about costs is also needed for a variety of management decisions. For example, cost estimates are needed to determine whether or not a product or service can be produced and sold at a profit. Unit costs of a product (or service) are also needed for product pricing and product discontinuance decisions. In addition, accurate cost information is required to determine whether or Continue reading
The Role of the Management Accountant in Organizations
A management accountant’s duty is to provide information to users who are part of the organization from various levels. However, different levels of management has different information needs. Thus, a management accountant has to tailor the information for them. The first step that should be taken before the management accountant provides any type of information is that he should be clear and understand the company vision as the top, middle and bottom management of an organization. The top-level management is responsible for the long term strategic plan with strategic decisions for about 5 to 10 years time. Therefore the top management will create a mission, which will consist of a more specific goal that unifies company’s efforts. So, the management accountant should prepare budgets for top management accountant to decide which projects have to undertaken to achieve the company’s goals. Budget is a strategic plan that details the action that Continue reading