Individual Assignment Specifications
Purpose:
This assignment aims at developing your understanding of the purpose and use of management accounting systems, and its usefulness in aiding managers make informed decisions. You are to critically evaluate two journal articles to analyse the practical use of management accounting systems by contemporary companies, in terms of their relevance to the real-life companies’ decision-making by managers and achievement of business goals.
Assignment Task:
Journal Article Critique (30 Marks)
You are required to read the journal article by Watts, Yapa and Dellaportas (2014), “The Case of a Newly Implemented Modern Management Accounting System in a Multinational Manufacturing Company”, Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal, 8 (2), p. 121-137. The journal article is attached as a separate file in Blackboard under the folder <Assignment>.
Required: Critically evaluate the role of management accounting systems (MAS) and the provision of accounting information for the case company by answering the 4 questions below:
Questions:
1. Identify any three (3) specific examples of the different types of management accounting methods and/or
techniques from the case. (3 marks)
2. Are MAS relevant to contemporary organisations? Discuss this with reference to:
i) What evidence is there from the case company? Include examples in your answer. (5 marks)
ii) Compare and contrast this finding with one other journal article you will need to find that has discussed
about management accounting systems in another real-life company or companies. Did this second study
have similar findings as the first chosen article, or mixed and/or different findings? Explain with examples.
(5 marks)
3. What conclusions do you make about the relevance of MAS in today’s competitive and (in most cases),
uncertain business environment? (4 marks)
4. Provide four (4) specific outcomes or lessons learned from each of the two articles’ research findings that
will be useful for management accountants in Australian companies to learn from, and justify your answer
[i.e. provide 2 outcomes from each of the two studies]. (8 marks)
Another 5 marks are determined by the overall presentation of your assignment.
Additional Information: a) You are encouraged to choose the second journal article from the following Accounting and Management Accounting Journals: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal;
Journal of Management Accounting Research
Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research
b) The journal article need to study a real-life company or companies’ MAS from year 2010 onwards, (in any country).
c) You can access these journals in ProQuest Database by clicking on the above links. Log in details for ProQuest are – Username: Holmes2004; Password: holmes. These journals can also be accessed via the ProQuest Database link available via the Student Login page in the Holmes website.

Solution

Abstract

This article critique is based on a study conducted in a real-life company, which is found to have implemented MAS that it did not fully utilize. The findings of the article show that although MA techniques are widely recognized in academics, they are not fully accepted in the industry. The main techniques discussed in the article are TQM, BSC, and JIT, which are all integrated in the company’s SAP R/3. Some of the techniques are hardly used in the case company while only some components of those used is being utilized………………..

MA Methods

The three main types of MA methods outlined in the case are TQM, BSC, and JIT. TQM is a procedure of detecting and removing errors in manufacturing. In the service industry, the technique is used in improving customer experience and warrant workers are answerable for overall quality of the final service. TQM has acquired extensive attention in accounting. Modern MA has experienced radical changes, and no longer is the field conjoined to cost accounting techniques such as TQM as the adoption for MA techniques has changed. Although TQM is considered widely accepted by different industries, its level of acceptance is still low. In the case company, TQM is built into SAP R/3 together with other techniques.

BSC is a framework to apply and manage strategy. In the case company, BSC is also integrated into SAP R/3. The technique is widely launched by academia, although its relevance in the industry is still questionable.………………please following the link below to purchase the solution at $10