Managers are increasingly shifting from reacting to after-the-fact reported outcomes to anticipating the future with predictive analysis and proactively making adjustments with better decisions. Despite some advances in the application of new costing techniques such as activity-based costing, are management accountants adequately satisfying the needs of managers and employee teams for decision-based cost information? Or is the gap widening? That is, are the accountants still just counting the beans, or are they helping to grow the beans?

Read More…

I continue to get mixed signals regarding how advanced CFOs are with their journey to become the “strategic advisor” that is so frequently mentioned in finance and accounting magazines. But I am unsure how much the evidence supports the vision.

The CFOs who are bold will candidly describe their managerial accounting practices and systems as aged and Medieval at the extreme. The bold ones are unafraid to admit that their existing reported information is both flawed with inaccurate costs and incomplete by not providing P&Ls by customer including channel, selling, customer service, and marketing related “costs to serve” which are arguably more important than product costs.

Read More…

A paradox which continues to puzzle me is how chief financial officers (CFOs) and controllers can be aware that their managerial accounting data is flawed and misleading, yet not take action to do anything about it.

Now, I’m not referring to the financial accounting data used for external reporting; that information passes strict audits. I’m referring to the managerial accounting used internally for analysis and decisions. For this data, there is no governmental regulatory agency enforcing rules, so the CFO can apply any accounting practice or cost allocation method that he or she likes.

Read More…

This Supply Chain Risk Assessment provides an overview of how well your business understands and manages the key risks in your supply chain. Its high level, brief format makes it an excellent tool to use for educational and improvement meetings.

Read More…

Here is a draft of the key steps your team can take to start your data lineage journey.

It is worth mentioning that an established data management framework and collaboration between data management professionals and stakeholders are a prerequisite for successful implementation of data lineage.

Read More…