Management Accounting in a Dynamic Environment

Whether students pursue a professional career in accounting or in other areas of management, they will interact with accounting systems. In all organizations, managers rely on management accounting systems to provide information to deal with changes in their operating environment. This book provides students and managers with an understanding and appreciation of the strengths and limitations of an organization’s accounting system, and enables them to be intelligent and critical users of the system.

The text highlights the role of management accounting as an integral part of the organization’s strategy and not merely a set of individual concepts and computations. An analytical framework for organizational change is used throughout the book to underscore how organizations must adapt to create customer and organizational value. This framework provides a way to examine and analyze the organization’s accounting system, and as a basis for evaluating proposed changes to the system.

With international examples that bring the current business environment to the forefront, problems and cases to promote critical thinking, and online support for students and instructors,Management Accounting in a Dynamic Environment is no mere introductory textbook. It prepares readers to use accounting systems intelligently to achieve organizational success.

Cheryl S. McWatters is the Father Edgar Thivierge Chair in Business History and Professor of Accounting at the Telfer School of Management, Canada. She is associate editor ofAccounting Perspectives, and is on the editorial boards of Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, and theAccounting History Review, among others.

Jerold L. Zimmerman is the Ronald L. Bittner Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Accounting at the University of Rochester, USA. He has authored a number of textbooks, and is an editor of theJournal of Accounting and Economics.