24. In Integrated and
Comprehensive Cost/Managerial Accounting Case
Presenters: M. A. Sangeladji, California State University, Northridge
R. Kiani, California State University, Northridge
Description: The traditional
teaching of cost and managerial accounting courses is a piecemeal approach.
Each chapter of textbooks discusses one or two concepts individually and
includes problems exclusively related to them. This teaching technique is
effective for conveying complex issues, but falls short in helping students to
appreciate the relations and interactions among different related topics. Good
examples in cost/managerial accounting are the concepts of cost behavior, cost
allocation, cost control, unit cost computation for inventory valuation as well
as contribution margin calculation, proper resource allocation, planning,
capital budgeting, and profit maximization.
The application of mathematical
models for managerial decision making is, likewise, taught in isolation. For
mathematical models, such as regression, linear programming, inventory control,
and capital budgeting, students normally are taught a set of mathematical
formulas and assigned simple, independent, and explicit text problems where
input data are readily provided by the text. Thus, students learn to memorize
mathematical formulas and to plug the given data into the formulas without (1)
really understanding the concept, (2) knowing how to search and choose the
relevant input from a set of unsorted data, and (3) using the outcomes of
models correctly.
The main objective of this paper was
to develop a series of seven interrelated, comprehensive, and computerized
cases to integrate various cost/managerial accounting topics with
statistical/mathematical models. The cases include many valuable accounting,
auditing, and managerial learning point, which were the results of the authors
two decades of teaching cost/managerial accounting.
Over two-thirds of 854 students who
used the cases believed:
- the cases helped them, understand
planning, control and decision making;
- the cases assisted them in
integrating various mathematical models for managerial decision making;
and
- the cases should be used in the
future as an effective teaching device in the managerial accounting course.
