Worth 20 marks

Assume that you are a certified management accountant and you are asked by an organization located in Qatar to conduct a professional consultation with regard to one of the following management accounting issues:

• Job-order costing system.
• Overhead cost allocation/assignment in product costing
• Cost management
• Breakeven analysis (cost-volume-profit analysis).
• Customer profitability analysis
• Budgeting
• Variance
• Balanced scorecard
• Accounting for decision making

Guidelines:

1)   Select a Qatari company or foreign company operating in Qatar as the object of your report. Assume that the company needs your professional advice on ONLY one of the above mentioned management accounting

2)   Select two (2) peer reviewed journal articles and two (t2) practitioner articles.

These articles should address the specific managerial accounting problem that you had selected earlier. To find out these articles, you are advised to access the following peer reviewed academic journals: Harvard Business Review, Management Accounting Quarterly, CIMA publications, CMA research publications, Management Accounting Research, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Organization Change, Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, The British Accounting Review, European Accounting Review, Accounting, Organization and Society, Critical Perspectives on Accounting. etc

Use the articles to develop a methodology or framework for your engagement. The methodology/framework should serve as a tool for:

Identifying the problems/issues with the way the organization has designed and implemented the topic you have chosen;

Analysing the problems/issues identified in the light of “best practice”

Making recommendation; highlighting the potential impacts of your recommendations and indicating how the recommendations may be

3)  Requirement (20 marks)

Report (16 marks)

1. Write a report to the chief executive of the company you selected. The report should include:

a)  Explanation of the methodology you used (2 marks);

b)  Critical analysis of the problems/issues identified and the findings thereof (4 marks); and

c)  Recommendation, including:

• A discussion of the recommended actions (3 marks)
• A discussion of the potential impacts of your recommendations (4 marks)
• An explanation of how feasible it will be to implement the recommended actions (3 marks)

Your submission

• A soft copy of the report MUST be submitted by 30th April 2019
• The length and content of the report might vary from one student to another; depending on the selected management accounting problem. Nevertheless, the report should not exceed 10 pages excluding the cover page and the
• Please use Times New Roman, 12 font, double spaced, and minimum of 2cm on each margin for the body of the

Quiz (4 marks)

3.2.1. A quiz will be conducted in class requiring you to answer specific questions relating to aspects of the report you have submitted.

3.2.2. The quiz will be conducted on 2019.

Report on Engagement in the Business Community from a Managerial Accounting Perspective

Pre-engagement

• Undertake pre-engagement activities for capturing the context and the functional design of the accounting system of interest
• Develop a methodology for the engagement
• Framework or structure that defines how the engagement will proceed
• Developed based on your reading of academic and professional articles on the topic
• Allows you to develop a body of knowledge about the subject matter
• What contextual issues affect the design and use of the accounting system?
• What are technical design issues critical for the system?
• What behavioral factors affect the functionality of the system?
• Develop a checklist of issues to follow during the engagement
• The methodology forms the basis for your analysis and recommendations

The-engagement

• Negotiate access to the organization
• Examine available key documents at the beginning
• Helps identify what needs to be followed
• Shapes the questions to ask
• Be guided by the checklist you developed
• Respect the confidentiality of the documents gathered
• Face-to-face interaction (interview/discussion)
• An ice-breaker is necessary
• Establish a balance between talking and listening
• Do not take for granted what the managers present as the problem(s); they could be the symptoms of major problems
• You need to determine the real problems by focusing on the root causes (explore the context); the problem may be redefined
• Diagnosis
• Effective diagnosis requires an understanding of the context; the accounting system and managerial/employee behavior
• Find out the system that existed (if any) before the current one
• Ask why the system was changed
• Explore what informed the choice of the current system
• What was it intended to achieve?
• What significant issues have they encountered and with what effects?
• What alternatives have they considered and why have they not implemented those alternatives?
• If the problem is solved, how will they apply the solution and what will be the impact?
• Be guided by your methodology
• Do not forget to take detailed notes of your engagement

Post-engagement

• Present a clear analysis of the problem
• Should reflect what you have learnt about the problem

Post-engagement

• Develop recommendations
• Present a consistent, logical action plan designed to improve the diagnosed problem
• Indicate the potential impact of your recommended action plan
• Explain how feasible it will be to implement the recommended actions
• Prepare a report