Course and Faculty Introduction

The purpose of this course is to provide an executive-level introduction and exploration of managerial accounting principles and applications, allowing learners to understand how managerial accounting complements other business disciplines to create value and achieve organizational goals.


Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will:

  • Understand the roles of managerial accounting in organizations

  • Identify and apply common approaches to business decision-making, and how the creation, presentation, and use of accounting information facilitates those decisions

  • Explore how organizations use budgeting and other planning tools to manage and allocate resources, as well as evaluate performance

  • Appreciate the variety of performance measures, and how organizations collectively organize and communicate information to facilitate and guide strategic decision-making

Course Overview

Learning
Methods

The focus of managerial accounting is providing key information to individuals and groups inside of the firm (e.g., owners, teams, managers, employees, etc.) to (1) facilitate and (2) influence business decisions. The course begins with an overview of managerial accounting, and then explores different methods of creating, maintaining, and presenting cost information, and how this information is used in a variety of decision-making scenarios.

Decision
Making

The course then shifts to the use of information to align (i.e., influence) managers’ and employees’ decisions with organizational goals, including its use in planning and budgeting, as well performance evaluation and compensation.