Getting started pretty quickly today.
Chapter 1: Managerial Accounting and the Business Environment
Managers are responsible for planning, directing and motivating, and controlling.
Planning is forecasting, setting objectives, and making budgets. Directing and motivating is the meat and potatoes of implementing the plan. Controlling is measuring the effects of your direction and motivation, and refining those techniques.
Managerial accounting is focused internally on a company’s needs. The emphasis of managerial accounting is, broadly, on future planning and control, rather than reporting. Managerial accounting is used for making informed decisions, not for figuring out taxes. Precision is less important than timeliness and relevence.
Line and Staff relationships: Employees directly involved in achieving the objectives of the organization are in line positions. Employees not in line positions supporting line employees are in staff positions. Engineers are line positions. Accountants are staff positions, usually.
The business environment has changed in important ways over the past few decades.