How Management Accounting Is Affected By Changes In The Economy And Business Environment Accounting Essay

How Management Accounting Is Affected By Changes In The Economy And Business Environment Accounting Essay This assignment shall show how management accounting is affected by changes in the economy and business environment. The advances in information and communication technology upon management accounting will be commented on, described and discussed in detail. Management accounting is important nowadays due to the technology and customers are now seeking high quality products at low prices due to the globalization factor. The main reason recently is due to reduction or free trade, so companies from abroad can challenge the local firms. Management accounting is the budgetary information, used by managers and employees within an organization. It provides them with useful accounting information that is forward-looking instead of looking at past trends. Gowthorpe (2008) stated that management accounting information in turn gives better business decision making allowing consistency in management and control functions within an organization, ensuring managers plan, organise and control the business. Management accounting systems provide information, both financial and nonfinancial, to managers and employees inside an organisation. Management accounting information is tailored to the specific needs of each decision maker and is rarely distributed outside the organisation. [Atkinson et al (2001)] In this past decade management accounting has seen changes which have been affected by changes in political leadership, the globalizing forces, technological advances, including the advances of broadband, governance and ethics have all affected management accounting. In this assignment, technological advances and globalization have been chosen as the most important factors in affecting management accounting. One of the most significant influences on management accounting has been the technology resulting in a change for the betterment, as can be seen in the instance of broadband internet technology. The business communication technologies such as e-commerce being business conducted using the internet, have supported business activities making great impact on the business world today by developing a way to ensure considerable cost savings. The on-line sales facilities indicate an ever growing market for the use of ecommerce. Showing a new way on how sales and profits can be achieved by such a streamlined business process and the system must be used proficiently than rivals providing potential for firms to ensure a competitive advantage. The use of internet continues to unsettle and alter other markets. There is also one further advanced IT application being used called enterprise resource planning systems (ERPS). The ERPS includes a bundle of integrated software application that controls the relevant figures within a business, including bookkeeping, budgeting and product profitability analysis for accounting purposes. The modules are there as a complete set of relevant information is in this database and so users can use it directly from a PC according to Drury (2004). The technological advancement has affected use of accounting information and production. As explained above accountants now write-up, store, manage and address the data in computers that are then easily accessible directly by managers. The managers go on to make better decisions so they generate reports and analyse in further detail by using the spreadsheet software on the computers. Just-in-time (JIT) theory ensures there is minimum waste in producing the product and prevents activities that waste cost and do not add value to the product. The time for the product or good to be made can be decreased by restructuring and making the production process simpler. Garrison et al (2003) stated some benefits in using a JIT system that include funds that were tied up can be used elsewhere; time is reduced, leading to even more potential output and quicker response to customers. JIT also ensures reduction in defect rates resulting in customers being further satisfied and so there will be less wastage in producing replacements in the long term. Horngren et al (2002) stated there are many graphics packages that include CAD and CAM that aid this production process. CAD is used to design products that can be manufactured efficiently. Companies also use CAM (computer-aided-manufacturing), where the computer gives instruction and controls the production equipment. Leading to fewer delays with more efficient flow of production, costs are saved due to not requiring the need for hiring a workforce to do this. Using the computer-controlled machines is called computer integrated manufacturing systems (CIM). The two factors globalization and ICT have a connection as can be seen with internet, provides firms with access to a widespread market, geographically scattered customers, and suppliers. So with internet the whole world can be accessed easily by the business. Globalization is a process of interaction among companies and potential buyers maybe in different countries driven by international trade, investment and is supported through a medium by IT. This process affects management accounting and the countries get affected in various forms. The globalization factor has been happening rapidly in recent times due to changes in habits of buyers, sellers and advances in technology to open up even more markets. (http://www.globalization101.org/What_is_Globalization.html) Looking at the manufacturing industry, in the 70s there was rapid incoming competition from overseas firms, offering high quality products at much lower prices. This was because they could reduce their costs, so the firms here could only survive had they cut their costs; improve quality and products compared to the elite companies worldwide. The future though is looking bright for manufacturing companies as they are using technology well. Robots and computer-controlled equipment have replaced human labour. In direct production activities, human labour was identified as the highest cost in management accounting systems. In the last 20 years or so there have been a reduction in tariffs, quotas and other barriers in free trade. There have been greater sales from internet usage and improvements of global transport systems have ensured further globalization. Nowadays international competition is threatening local companies that are profitable in local markets. Though globalisation is greatly responsible for greater competition, it does give more access to new markets, customers and workers. Garrison et al (2007). There has been a change in companys strategies due to pressed foreign competition and growing multiplication of businesses. The changes have resulted in more accurate and high standards in management accounting such as JIT. Nowadays companies are adjusting their accounting systems for better decision making so they seek accurate and timely information about costs that include products, services and activities within the business. To remain competitive, managers need to understand the costs and implications of their decision making with help of management accountants on use of decision trees to help decision making. Reduction in trade barriers results in globalization at a high level affecting companies in the home market from strong and aggressive companies from overseas. There is a need to cut costs and ensure the quality of products is as good as or better than its overseas competitors. Companies need to ensure the management accounting is there to use and is up there with the highest of standards. If it is not up to scratch then even the best effort and hard work of employees within the organization wont make the firm competitive enough to win the fight against overseas rivals. The globalization in the economy has resulted in greater competition due to lesser selling prices as companies can afford to keep cheaper prices so there needs to be a well management in managing costs and the pricing of goods. The global economy has been ever changing in recent times and now with instant communications and competition, companies are required to continuously improve performance every year in management accounting in terms of cost, quality and service. Morse et al (2002). Nowadays the use of a well structured and thought out management accounting system that enhances the businesses performance to ensure they can keep up to date with the current changing trend of the economy. This is a change from when there was no need to keep costs down and out-of date management accounts, which is no longer possible as for a top firm that is successful needs an up to date management accounting is required. To conclude one can say globalization and IT have played an important role in affecting management accounting practice. Globalization has forced firms to be more efficient or competitive therefore it has directly affected management accounting because firms have to improve their standards. An improvement in IT has changed the way management accounting is done. Management accountants have started implementing various programmes such as JIT to improve standards and remain competitive. Therefore it can be said that these two factors have been significant in changing the role of management accounting.

Descended from Jung

Dr. Katherine Benziger dedicates one of her books, â€Å"Thriving in Mind† to her grandmother who worked with Carl Jung and Anna Freud, so it is no great leap of logic to discover her psychological influences (2000). And, one look at her work makes her claim as the next generation of Jungian researcher easy to justify. As neuropsychologist, she is focused on understanding the physiology of the brain as it applies to personality. Her ties to Carl Jung run deep, she has been gust faculty at the Jung Institute and both her mother and grandmother studied Jung.Benziger â€Å"is an internationally recognized expert on the physiological foundations of Dr. Carl Jung's type model. [She] is known as the foremost expert on Falsification of Type and its costs to the individual and society. † (â€Å"Advantara† 2006). Benziger’s love of Jungian philosophy started early. Her maternal grandmother studied with Jung in Switzerland in 1933 and her mother studied with Murray Stein at Chicago’s C. G. Jung Institute. Benziger was born into a psychology-education household, with both of her parents teaching at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale during her formative years.She returned to Carbondale in 2003 to care for her mother and now operates her practice and world-wide consulting business. Benziger has an MS in Strategic Planning from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD. in Psychology from La Salle University. She has had her own consulting practice, KBA, since 1978. Her focus has been to help her clients increase their effectiveness while increasing their physical and mental health (Benziger 2007). In essence, Benziger’s theory is the next step in Jungian psychology, so it is not at all surprising that she is recognized as an international expert on the physiological foundations of Dr.Carl Jung's type model. Most especially she is known as the foremost expert on Falsification of Type and its costs to the individual and society. (Benziger 2007). Benziger has worked in the USA, Canada, Latin America and Europe. She has been on the faculty of The American Academy of Medical Directors as well as been guest faculty at The Jung Institute in Switzerland and for http://www. cgjungpage. org (Benziger 2007). â€Å"She is an acknowledged expert on the physiological bases for: TYPE; and for what Dr.Jung called Falsification of Type and its Costs – to individuals and teams. Dr. Benziger's goal is to help individuals thrive alone and as an active part of a marriage or work team. Working to help individuals understand and overcome burnout and mid-life crisis is of primary importance to her. Consequently, Dr. Benziger developed a next step tool, the BTSA, 14 years ago, to assist individuals in sorting through the skills they have learned to do well and value to identify their true natural gifts. † (PersonalityType 2007) What Dr.Benziger has done is to take the Jungian model of four functions and add newer in formation regarding the function of the brain to develop a fur-tiered analysis of thinking types, the way the brain works. In her earlier works, including The Physiology of Jung’s Four Functions & Their Organization (1998), Benziger argued: Jung’s four Functions are rooted in four distinct areas of the cortex. Thinking is housed in the Left Frontal Lobe. Intuition is housed in the Right Frontal Lobe. Sensation is housed in the Left Posterior Convexity. Feeling is housed in the Right Posterior Convexity.Jung’s assertion that each of us has one Natural Lead Function is the result of a neuro-chemical – physiological fact that each person has one area which is 100 times more efficient than their remaining three areas. Jung’s assertion that each person has two natural auxiliaries can be understood to be the natural result of the brain’s structure. Factually speaking, neuronal bridges hardwire a person’s Natural Lead to their auxiliaries, m aking communication between their lead and auxiliaries easy, even though each actual auxiliary is relatively speaking highly inefficient.Jung’s assertion that once a person’s Natural Lead Function has been identified, one can confidently calculate the person’s greatest Natural Weakness, is the result of the simply fact that there are no diagonal bridges in the human brain. The difference between the Feeling Function and Emotions can be understood more clearly. The Feeling Function is a cortical capacity to recognize the presence or absence of harmony – between colors, tones, or human beings. By contrast, emotions are a limbic capacity to experience delight, anger, fear, grief. (Benziger 1998) This background has then been combined with the on-going research of Dr.Arlene Taylor regarding PASS, Prolonged adaption Stress Syndrome, to apply Jung’s theories about fasifying type to her own reaserch about identifying type. Benziger has developed a persona lity assessment test which she uses to help people identify the type of work that they should be doing and the way that they should be doing it. The classification is a little left brained ad right brained combined with front and rear brained. She argues that people often have been taught by societal values to operate in a manner that does not correlate with their natural inclinations.This causes stress and forces the person to work harder to do the same job that someone more inclined for that type of work can do easily. In essence, it is the explanation why some people can stare all day at columns of numbers at enjoy the minutia of trying to find one number out of place while others need to be behind the lens of a camera or writing creatively. (Benziger â€Å"Thriving in Mind† 2000). Perhaps Benziger’s biggest contributions to the field then are in her international work in human resources.She believes that by teaching corporations to hire the right person for the rig ht job, as evidenced by their â€Å"type† inclinations, corporations can increase productivity and reduce employee burnout. At the same time, by allowing employees to adapt to do the work in a manner that is best suited to their mind type, the company can reduce stress-related illness and employee dissatisfaction (Benziger, 2000). To this end, she has developed a world-wide consulting firm which specializes in teaching human resources professionals around the world how to motivate and train employees.She conducts several international seminars annually designed to assist people with identifying type and identifying falsification of type. Falsification occurs when we have been trained by society that some skill is more valued than another and therefore suppress our natural instincts for self-gratification in order to please society—in the form of parents, spouses, employers or society as a whole. This is the primary cause of stress in most people’s lives, Benzige r claims. (â€Å"Thriving in Mind†2007). Ultimately, Benziger takes the Jungian theories of personality and translates them into something more.â€Å"Many people understand the Jungian functions as being qualities of people’s â€Å"personality†. Instead it should be pointed out that personality is only one physical manifestation of cognitive function. In other words the way your brain/mind works determines how you behave and appear to others. Your outward behavior or â€Å"personality† is a â€Å"product† of your cognitive functions (function follows form). You are your mind. â€Å" (â€Å"Time for Love† 2007). Benziger’s impact has been to revolutionize human resources, for those who are listening. Her clients have included the Mayo Clinic and Proctor and Gamble-Latin America.Her work with Dr. Taylor on PASS has included an 11-year study on the effects of falsification of type on stress levels and she has lectured international on women and leadership. Clearly, her work is impacting others as Dr. Tarylor is one of many psychologists who have adopted the Benziger personality assessment as a means of identifying type and helping people to find their appropriate cognitive function. Dr. Benziger has written half a dozen books describing her theories, created her own assessment tests and spent more than 25 years developing her personal practice and international consulting firm.She offers an average of four international seminars a year and her classes are recognized as interntional personal coaching continuing education credits. Benziger’s philosophy was the subject of a year-long series of columns in â€Å"Heartland Women†, a bi-weekly news magazine in her hometown of Carbondale. Essentially, quoting deeply from her latest publication, â€Å"Thriving in Mind†, Benziger argues that we must take the time to identify how our mind prefers to work as opposed to what society tells us our preferenc e should be.For instance, society often tells young women that they are not equipped for math or science when it may be exactly what a particular girl needs to be studying. She has also expressed concerns in this impact cognitive patterns have on the way we teach and learn. Some people, depending on their cognitive function types, are very good at learning patterns and others are better at seeing the larger picture, instead of the details.Neither is necessarily an inappropriate method of thinking, but right now, based on current standardize intelligence tests and other standardized testing, those who can innately recognize patterns are assumed to be more intelligent than those who view things spatially, for instance (Benzinger, â€Å"Thriving in Mind† 2000). Ultimately, the work of Dr. Benziger should prompt a great deal more study. Her insights are not necessarily clearly conveyed in her works, which is a distinct failing of her works, but the basic premeses are worthy of no te.She has built her work on a strong foundation of Jung’s theories of personality and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. She ties the classics of psychology into a modern explanation of why the body causes itself stress and how people can live happier. She understands the basic concepts of neurology and attempts to use them in conjunction with psychology to promote a better understanding of the functioning of the human mind. It is saddening, therefore, that this brilliant researcher has not found the creative mind that can work with her and best express her ideas to the world and promote them with the psychological community.Her ideas are sound and should be the basis for additional research. ? Works Cited â€Å"Benziger Conference† , Accessed December 19, 2007 Benziger, Katherine. â€Å"The Physiology of Type: Jung's Four Functions,: KAB Publishing, 1998. Benziger, Katherine. â€Å"Thrving in Mind† KAB Publishing, 2000. Katherine Benziger biography, Benziger . org, Accessed December 19, 2007. â€Å"Physiology of Type† Accessed December 19, 2007. â€Å"Time Enough For Love† , Accessed December 19, 2007.

Data Matrix Of Cpi Data Distribution After Transformation...

After Data Transformation Figure 5.21. Histogram Plot of CPI Data Distribution after Transformation Figure 5.22. Normal Q-Q Plot of CPI Data Distribution after Transformation Figure 5.23. Histogram Plot of SPI Data Distribution after Transformation Figure 5.24. Normal Q-Q Plot of SPI Data Distribution after Transformation After executing two-step method of data transformation (Templeton, 2011), the researcher attained probable means and medians for both CPI (1.00) and SPI (1.05). Likewise, the Skewness figures comply with logically normalizing rules, in which the plausible range of normal and near-normal distribution is from -1 to 1. Conforming to histogram and normal Q-Q plots above, the researcher successfully reconstructed CPI and SPI data and prepared for the further inferential statistics examination. Descriptive statistics for CPI and SPI after transforming to normal and near-normal distribution are as in Table 5.7. Table 5.7 Descriptive Statistics of Adjusted Dependent Variables (CPI SPI) Statistic Std. Error ADJ CPI Mean 1.00 .013 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Bound .97 Upper Bound 1.03 5% Trimmed Mean 1.00 Median 1.00 Variance .013 Std. Deviation .115 Minimum 1 Maximum 1 Skewness .030 .276 Kurtosis -.214 .545 ADJ SPI Mean 1.05 .009 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Bound 1.03 Upper Bound 1.07 5% Trimmed Mean 1.05 Median 1.05 Variance .006 Std. Deviation .079 Minimum 1 Maximum 1Show MoreRelatedManagement Control Systems Pdf115000 Words   |  460 PagesOrganizing for Adaptive Control: Strategy, Structure and Control – Decentralization Vs Centralization – Response of Structure to Strategy: Evolution of the Matrix Structure: Project Organizations, Product Organizations, Service Organizations, The Matrix Structure and the Multinational Firm – Evaluation of the Control Factors in Organizational Design: Matrix Versus Functional – Controller’s Organization – Adaptive Organization: The Need for Adaptive Organization, Adaptive Controls that Support the AdaptiveRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pages4] 10.3.3.1 Lessons learned [8.3.3.4] 9.4.2.2 Individual performance appraisals Chapter 7 Managing Risk Chapter 15 Chapter 16 International Projects Oversight 11.1 Risk management process [F.8] 11.2 Identifying risks 11.3.2.2 Impact matrix 11.4 Risk assessment 11.5 Risk responses (.2–.1.2) 11.6 Risk register 7.1.2.5 PERT analysis 7.1.2.6.3 Contingency reserves 7.3.3.4 Change control management G.7 Culture awareness 1.4.4 Project offices 8.1.2 Continuous improvement 5.1 RequirementsRead MoreSelected Topics24764 Words   |  100 PagesLeast Square (OLS) is conducted to empirically investigate the determinants of quantity demanded of any product. 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The Body And The Soul - 1382 Words

The human person is made up of two components the body and the soul. I believe that the relationship between the body and the soul are united as one. The human person resides in both the body and the soul equally. A philosopher who believes in the theory of the body and soul together, creating the human person is Aristotle. There are two elements of the soul, ration and irrational. The rational element is composed of the theoretical reason and practical reason. The irrational element is compose of vegetative, appetites, and desires. The body and soul interrelate by the soul acting as a container for the body, therefore together their body and soul become the entire human person. An analogy to compart the relationship of the body and soul†¦show more content†¦A philosopher who agrees with the theory of the will or free will is St. Augustine. St. Augustine expressed free will in his argument on the free choice of the will, but also expressed in his theory on how that will is f ormed. St. Augustine describes the free will and choice we have in regards to choosing to know and love god, as well as seeking the will for happiness in your life. So it matters not only that we have free will but also how we use our free will. â€Å"A good will is a will in which we seek to live a good and upright life and to attain perfect wisdom (Abel, 128).† Some people believe that we are automatically taught to know and love God, but what matters is if those individuals seek after and want to know and love God. All human beings desire to be happy it is still questionable though as to why some people choose not to live a happy life and would rather live an unhappy life. â€Å"For those who are happy are not happy simply because they willed to live the happy life, as bad men do this too, but because they wished to live upright lives, which bad men are unwilling to do (Abel, 129).† If one wants to be happy, one must make God the highest good. â€Å"Now no one is s ecure in the possession of goods which can be lost against his will. But no one loses truth or wisdom against his will, for he cannot be separated from them