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WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING?

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WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING?

 

Management Accounting is all about assisting the management in taking up the business
activities in an effective manner. When we think about the major objectives of management accounting,
this remains to be the primary objective that the concept is focussed on.

Rest of the targets would be completely dependent upon this main goal and designed to that
common objective.

What are the Objectives of Management Accounting?

Apart from assisting the business in achieving its goals of

handling the business activities effectively, the management
accounting also takes care of a few other objectives as we will be
discussing here. Let us discuss them one by one in finer detail.

1) Helping out in planning and formulating the policies

Management accounting is aimed at helping the business

achieve its business activities. One of the best options to do it is to invest in proper planning. Planning is
all about working towards deciding the actions for the future – these actions include deciding on what
needs to be done, when and by whom. It also involves deciding how things are to be done.

Planning involves focusing on future activities and their execution in a more practical and effective
manner. The assistance also involves budgetary control for the proper execution of the business goals of
the organization.

2) Proper interpretation of the financial status

Accounting is all about financial calculations and allocations. It may not be well understood by
everyone involved in the decision making. Management Accounting can help interpret the financial
information in a way it is understood by every stakeholder.

 
 Thus one of the major objectives of management accounting involves explaining the financial
information in a simple and no technical manner. This can help in understanding the financial health and
taking corrective actions if any for the future growth of the organization. It can also help take a good
decision.

3) Efficient coordination

Management accounting involves preparing budgets for the functional departments of the
organization and thus helps them fix the targets appropriately to achieve this. The organizational
objectives can only be achieved if all the departments strive ahead to meet the goals.

This can only be achieved through proper coordination of the multiple departments. Management
accounting involves the preparation of the periodical performance of the concerned departments. This
helps bring up the much-needed coordination between the different departments.

4) The motivation for the employees

Management accounting is designed to set goals for the employees and the departments. This
can go a long way in promoting the best and most economical mode of action. In addition to creating the
goals, the management accounting also takes proactive steps in measuring the effectiveness and
efficiency of each of the employees involved in the task.

This individual measurement goes a long way in promoting employee morale. Given the
measurement of each of the employees, they will attempt to improve their performance levels in turn in
focussing on the improvement of the organizational goals. Thus Management Accounting goes a long
way in motivating the employees to a greater extent.

5) Effective Communication

Management Accounting also has yet another major objective that involves communicating the
important financial information to the stakeholders and those interested in the affairs of the organization.
This helps in guiding the stakeholders towards the right path to be followed for achieving the desired
goals.

The communication is shared through the reports which are specifically the prerogative of the
management accounting. These reports are to be brought to the attention of multiple departments for
effective addressing of the concerns if any and taking the guided path towards achieving the right
objectives of the organization.

6) Proper organization of fundamental activities

Management Accounting also takes a great lead in organizing the multiple areas of the business
in a more positive manner. The concept of management accounting assists the business through its
recommendations in the realm of budgeting, accounting, fixing responsibilities, opting for cost control and
several other areas.
  

All these initiatives and functions involve a perfect degree of organization and an intensive study
of the activities involved. This will go a long way in optimizing the organizational structure.

7) Solving critical business problems

A business always looks ahead to improve on itself. Growth is what signifies the existence of a
business. Management Accounting helps it achieve this goal. No matter whether you are looking to start a
new business, or diversifying into a new one, management Accounting can be quite handy in those
situations.

Several situations arise in a business which offers you multiple alternatives. Management
Accounting the reports generated by it can come in handy in those situations. It helps you in solving such
strategic business problems and aids in making the right decision.

8) Performance Control

This is another objective that Management accounting can quite handy enough. It has been
considered to be one of the prominent tools for enhanced managerial control. By design, every
organization has multiple responsibility centers, and each of these has its functions to handle.

Management accounting can help you achieve the performance of each of the responsibility
centers. It will also monitor the performance of each of these responsibility centers and take care of the
corrective actions if any for these responsibility centers.

9) Evaluate policy efficiency

Management accounting also assists in emphasizing on the management audit. Management

audit, in essence, involves evaluating the effectiveness of the policies being followed. This can help in
reviewing the management policies from time to time and thus taking any corrective actions if the actual
results are deviating from what has been predicted or anticipated for the growth.

Secondary objectives of management accounting

Apart from the important objectives that have been explained in complete detail in the above
paragraphs, Management Accounting also comes with a few minor objectives that assist in reaching the
business goals effectively.

Some of these additional objectives include

·                Presentation of data related to the financial health of the organization to the stakeholders. This
enormous data has to be streamlined and organized in an easy to understand format. One such
 example is Profit and loss data of the business. This consolidated data arranged in an easy to
understand manner can help you inaccurate decision making.

·                Management accounting also takes care of modification of data to suit the requirements of the
individual departments. For instance, the purchasing department may need to find the figures in terms
of month, year or quarter. It may also be needed in a region specific or retailer-specific format.

·                Data forecasting is yet another important part of the objective that management accounting is
expected to handle. The forecasts can either be short term or long term. Management accounting
provides the necessary data need for this forecasting.

·                Analysis of data is another objective that management accounting needs to focus on. The data
available from multiple channels are to be arranged in a proper and streamlined manner. This
organization of data assists in getting a meaningful and useful interpretation of data. This also helps
in projecting the right trends for the growth of the business.

The Concluding Thoughts

Those were a few salient aspects and objectives that Management Accounting needs to focus on.
We assume we have covered all the aspects while discussing the major objectives that it attempts to
achieve. Management accounting is the exact means that paves the way for a successful realization of
the organizational goals and objectives.

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