Management Accounting as a Part of Strategic Process Essay

Management Accounting as a Part of Strategic Process - Essay Example As management accounting also deals with the analysis, interpretation, and communication of data in addition to identification and measurement of those, it can be said that it is a tool for the management for the decision-making process and is a much broader concept than to provide mere numerical data to the management. The tools and techniques used for the purpose of management accounting include marginal costing, standard costing, budgetary control, etc. A strategy is a process deployed by an organization to accomplish its mission and long term objectives. As management accounting facilitates the top management with preparation, analysis, interpretation, and communication of financial and non-financial information, the essence of management accounting is implicit with the strategic process in an organization. Management accounting provides the top management with the required (interpreted) information at the right time which in turn aids the management in the decision-making process.   Quality, Cost and Time are the three important aspects of any strategy. Management accounting information assists the top management to achieve quality goals. It also helps the management to achieve the objective of cost management as management accounting also involves costing methods. In addition to quality and cost, management accounting also provides timely information to the decision-makers (Bell J., Ansari S., Klammer T., Lawrence C., n.d.). Therefore, it can be inferred that management accounting is a part and parcel of the strategic process of an organization. As it is often said that change is the only constant term in this world, the concept of management accounting and the roles of management accountant are also subject to it. With the change in the way of business being conducted especially because of massive technological innovations, today management accountant has a much bigger role to play in an organization. From the obligation of the accounting duties, his responsibilities are more of managerial in nature. Apart from the technical expertise, management accountant of today must also possess the technological knowledge. The management accountant has to play the integrating role in the business. In the competitive scenario of today, he cannot expect his role to be over by just preparing the report, rather he has to try and interpret the key areas to the management and be a partner to the decision making process. The management accountant has to keep his eyes wide open and analyze the future with the tools of the subject and add value to the organization.