Flexible Budgets, Standard Costs, & Variance Analysis
What you'll learn
- Differentiate between managerial accounting and financial accounting, understanding their distinct roles and objectives in business decision-making.
- Apply flexible budgeting techniques, demonstrating an understanding of their benefits and how they can be utilized to adapt to changing business conditions.
- Analyze standard costs and perform cost variance analysis, interpreting the variances to identify areas of cost inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement
- Calculate and interpret sales variances, evaluating the impact of sales performance on overall profitability and making informed decisions based on the analysis
- Perform direct materials variance analysis, assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of material usage and identifying potential cost-saving opportunities.
- Evaluate direct labor variances, understanding the factors that contribute to labor cost variations and implementing strategies for better labor cost management
- Interpret overhead variances, analyzing the discrepancies between actual and budgeted overhead costs and identifying potential areas for cost control.
- Solve comprehensive problems related to overhead variance analysis and variance analysis, integrating knowledge and skills to make informed decisions and provid
- Apply Excel skills to construct and analyze budgets, utilizing preformatted worksheets and step-by-step instructional videos for effective budgeting processes.
- Demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in real-world scenarios, utilizing variance analysis and budgeting techniques to support strategic d
Requirements
- Basic Accounting Knowledge: Familiarity with fundamental accounting principles, including an understanding of financial statements, terminology, and basic accounting concepts.
- Managerial Accounting Foundations: A solid understanding of managerial accounting principles, such as cost behavior, cost classification, cost-volume-profit analysis, and basic cost accounting techniques.
- Willingness to Learn: An eagerness to expand knowledge in managerial accounting tools, variance analysis, and cost management, along with a commitment to actively engage with course materials, participate in hands-on exercises, and apply learned concepts.
Description
This comprehensive Udemy course combines insights from college topics generally covered by managerial accounting textbooks with practical applications to provide a deep understanding of essential tools in managerial accounting.
To set the right foundation, we begin by introducing managerial accounting topics and contrasting them with financial accounting. This establishes the correct mindset for the course, ensuring a clear understanding of the distinctive features and objectives of managerial accounting.
We then delve into flexible budgets, exploring their advantages over static or fixed budgets. Through interactive example problems and step-by-step instructional videos, you will grasp the benefits of flexible budgets and learn how to utilize them effectively.
Next, we define and analyze standard costs and cost variance analysis. While providing an overview of cost variance analysis concepts, we will progressively dive deeper into each topic, equipping you with practical skills to identify and interpret cost variances.
Sales variance analysis will be thoroughly covered, including its purpose, calculation methods, and real-world applications. By working through example problems and following detailed instructional videos, you will gain hands-on experience in calculating sales variances.
Direct materials variance analysis will be explored comprehensively, demonstrating its practical use and calculation methods. Through instructional videos and example problems, you will master the application of direct materials variance analysis concepts.
Direct labor variance analysis will also receive extensive attention, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of its purpose and applications. Through instructional videos and practical examples, you will acquire the skills to calculate and interpret direct labor variances.
Overhead variance analysis will be discussed in detail, highlighting its significance in cost management. You will understand why overhead variance analysis is used and learn how to calculate and analyze overhead variances. Through demonstration presentations, example problems, and step-by-step instructional videos, you will navigate the intricacies of overhead variance analysis.
As a capstone, we will provide comprehensive problems on overhead variance and variance analysis. With preformatted Excel worksheets and accompanying instructional videos, you will have the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills in solving complex variance analysis scenarios. The Excel worksheets will guide you through the step-by-step problem-solving process, enabling a hands-on experience to reinforce your understanding.
Join us on this transformative journey of mastering managerial and cost accounting tools. Enroll now and unlock the power of variance analysis and budgeting for effective decision-making and financial management.
Who this course is for:
- Accounting Professionals: Accountants seeking to enhance their expertise in managerial accounting tools and cost analysis, and those looking to specialize in managerial accounting roles.
- Finance Professionals: Financial analysts, financial managers, and professionals in finance-related roles who want to expand their knowledge of managerial accounting and develop proficiency in variance analysis and cost management.
- Business Owners and Entrepreneurs: Small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to gain insights into cost analysis and budgeting techniques to optimize business performance and financial decision-making.
- Aspiring Managers: Individuals aspiring to managerial positions who wish to develop a comprehensive understanding of managerial accounting tools and techniques to support strategic planning and decision-making.
- Business and Accounting Students: Students pursuing degrees in business, finance, accounting, or related fields who want to complement their academic knowledge with practical skills in managerial accounting and variance analysis.
- Anyone Interested in Financial Analysis: Individuals with a keen interest in understanding financial performance, cost management, and budgeting for effective decision-making.
Instructor
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 51,470 Reviews
- 901,345 Students
- 149 Courses
Through working with students from many different schools, Mr. Steele has learned best practices for helping people understand accounting fast. Learning new skills and finding the best way to share knowledge with people who can benefit from it is a passion of his.
Mr. Steele has experience working as a practicing Certified Public Accountant (CPA), an accounting and business instructor, and curriculum developer. He has enjoyed putting together quality tools to improve learning and has been teaching, making instructional resources, and building curriculum since 2009. He has been a practicing CPA since 2005. Mr. Steele is a practicing CPA, has a Certified Post-Secondary Instructor (CPI) credential, a Master of Science in taxation from Golden Gate University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in accounting from The University of California Santa Barbara, and a Global Management Accounting Designation (CGMA) from The American Institute of CPA (AICPA).
Mr. Steele has also authored five books that can be found on Amazon or in audiobook format on Audible. He has developed bestselling courses in accounting topics including financial accounting and QuickBooks accounting software.
In addition to working as an accountant, teaching, and developing courses Mr. Steele has helped create an accounting website at accountinginstruction, a YouTube channel called Accounting Instruction, Help, and How Too, and has developed supplemental resources including a Facebook Page, Twitter Page, and Podcasts that can be found on I-tunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud. Mr. Steele's teaching philosophy is to make content applicable, understandable, and accessible.
Adult learners are looking for application when they learn new skills. In other words, learners want to be able to apply skills in the real world to help their lives. Mr. Steele’s formal accounting education, practical work experience, and substantial teaching experience allow him to create a curriculum that combines traditional accounting education with practical knowledge and application. He accomplishes the goals of making accounting useful and applicable by combining theory with real-world software like Excel and QuickBooks.
Many courses teach QuickBooks data entry or Excel functions but are not providing the real value learners want. Real value is a result of learning technical skills like applications, in conjunction with specific goals, like accounting goals, including being able to interpret the performance of a business.
Mr. Steele makes knowledge understandable by breaking down complex concepts into smaller units with specific objectives and using step by step learning processes to understand each unit. Many accounting textbooks cram way too much information into a course, making it impossible to understand any unit fully. By breaking the content down into digestible chunks, we can move forward much faster.
Mr. Steele also makes use of color association in both presentations and Excel worksheets, a learning tool often overlooked in the accounting field, but one that can vastly improve the speed and comprehension of learning accounting concepts.
The material is also made understandable through the application of concepts learned. Courses will typically demonstrate the accounting concepts and then provide an Excel worksheet or practice problems to work through the concepts covered. The practice problems will be accompanied by an instructional video to work through the problem in step by step format. Excel worksheets will be preformatted, usually including an answer tab that shows the completed problem, and a practice tab where learners can complete the problem along with a step by step presentation video.
Mr. Steele makes learning accounting accessible by making use of technology and partnering with teaching platforms that have a vision of spreading knowledge like Udemy.