Managerial and Cost Accounting: A Comprehensive Guide
What you'll learn
- Apply job order costing techniques to allocate costs accurately to specific jobs or projects.
- Implement process costing methods to calculate unit costs in continuous production environments.
- Analyze cost-volume-profit relationships to assess business profitability and make strategic decisions.
- Create comprehensive master budgets, including sales, production, and cash budgets.
- Develop flexible budgets to adapt to changing production levels or sales volumes.
- Evaluate departmental performance using responsibility accounting systems.
- Assess relevant costs for decision-making, considering factors like differential analysis and opportunity costs.
- Apply time value of money principles to discounted cash flow analysis and capital budgeting.
- Utilize Excel files to practice accounting calculations and enhance spreadsheet proficiency.
- Interpret financial statements and reports to evaluate business performance.
- Apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to complex accounting scenarios.
- Communicate financial information effectively to stakeholders within an organization.
- Apply managerial accounting concepts to real-world business situations.
Requirements
- Basic understanding of financial accounting principles and concepts.
- Familiarity with fundamental accounting equations and journal entries.
- Knowledge of financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows.
- Proficiency in basic arithmetic and mathematical calculations.
- Comfortable working with spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
Description
Welcome to the comprehensive course on Managerial and Cost Accounting! In this course, we will delve deep into the key topics that are essential for understanding and applying managerial accounting principles. Whether you're a student, professional, or business owner, this course will equip you with the necessary skills to make informed and rational business decisions.
Throughout the course, we will cover a wide range of topics based on standardized accounting textbooks used by college undergraduate schools in the United States. Here is a breakdown of each area we will explore:
Job Order Costing:
In this section, we will explore the intricacies of job order costing, a method used in industries where products or services are customized or unique. You will learn how to allocate costs to specific jobs or projects, determine the cost of production for each unit, and analyze job order cost sheets. We will discuss key concepts such as direct materials, direct labor, and overhead allocation methods. Additionally, we will examine job costing systems, including job cost records and job cost reports. You will gain a comprehensive understanding of the job order costing process and how it aids in decision-making and cost control.
Process Costing:
Process costing is commonly employed in industries with continuous production processes, such as manufacturing and chemical production. In this module, we will delve into the details of process costing systems, including the calculation of equivalent units, allocation of costs to production departments, and preparation of process cost reports. You will gain a solid understanding of the steps involved in calculating unit costs for products produced through continuous processes. We will also discuss concepts like weighted average method and FIFO method in process costing. You will learn how process costing enables businesses to track and manage costs in large-scale production environments.
Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis:
Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) analysis helps businesses understand the relationships between costs, volume, and profit. In this segment, we will cover important CVP analysis techniques, including breakeven analysis, contribution margin analysis, and calculating the margin of safety. You will learn how to use this information to make informed decisions regarding pricing, sales volumes, and profitability. We will explore concepts like variable costs, fixed costs, contribution margin ratio, and target profit analysis. This knowledge will enable you to assess the financial feasibility of business decisions and optimize your company's profitability.
Master Budgets:
Master budgets are comprehensive financial plans that provide a roadmap for an organization's operations and financial activities. In this module, we will dive deep into the components of a master budget. You will learn how to prepare sales budgets, production budgets, direct materials budgets, direct labor budgets, manufacturing overhead budgets, and cash budgets. We will discuss the importance of budgeting in planning, controlling, and evaluating business performance. This knowledge will empower you to develop effective budgets and monitor the financial health of your organization.
Flexible Budgets:
Flexible budgets are dynamic budgets that adjust based on changes in production levels or sales volumes. In this module, we will discuss the importance of flexible budgets in cost control and performance evaluation. You will learn how to create flexible budgets, analyze variances, and use this information to make strategic business decisions. We will explore concepts like flexible budget formulas, static budget variances, and flexible budget variances. This understanding will enable you to adapt your budgeting process to changing business conditions and enhance your decision-making capabilities.
Responsibility Accounting:
Responsibility accounting is a system that assigns responsibility for costs and revenues to specific individuals or departments within an organization. In this section, we will explore different types of responsibility centers, including cost centers, profit centers, and investment centers. You will learn how to evaluate performance and hold individuals accountable using responsibility accounting techniques. We will discuss concepts like controllable costs, traceable costs, and performance reports for responsibility centers. This knowledge will help you allocate costs effectively, evaluate departmental performance, and optimize resource allocation.
Relevant Costs:
Relevant costs are future costs that are critical in decision-making processes. In this section, we will examine relevant cost analysis techniques, including differential analysis, opportunity cost analysis, and make-or-buy decisions. You will learn how to identify and analyze relevant costs to make sound choices that maximize profitability and efficiency. We will also discuss concepts like sunk costs, incremental costs, and qualitative factors in decision-making. This understanding will enable you to assess the financial impact of alternative courses of action and make informed business decisions.
Time Value of Money:
The time value of money is a fundamental concept that recognizes the importance of the timing of cash flows. In this module, we will delve into discounted cash flow analysis, present value calculations, future value calculations, and capital budgeting decisions. You will gain a solid understanding of the time value of money principles and their application in investment analysis and decision-making. This knowledge will enable you to evaluate investment opportunities, assess their long-term financial implications, and make strategic investment decisions.
By the end of this comprehensive course, you will have gained a deep understanding of managerial and cost accounting principles, enabling you to analyze financial data, control costs, and make informed decisions that drive business success.
Enroll now and take a significant step towards mastering managerial and cost accounting. See you in the course!
(Note: This course does not cover financial accounting topics, but focuses specifically on managerial and cost accounting principles and their applications in business decision-making.)
Who this course is for:
- Business owners, entrepreneurs, and managers who need to make informed financial decisions and effectively manage costs in their organizations.
- Accounting and finance professionals who want to expand their knowledge and skills in managerial and cost accounting.
- Students pursuing degrees or certifications in accounting, finance, business administration, or related fields.
- Individuals seeking to advance their careers in roles that involve financial analysis, cost management, or budgeting.
- Anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how accounting information is used to support decision-making processes in organizations.
Instructor
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 51,300 Reviews
- 899,330 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.