The aim of this thesis is to assess the current state of controlling and its function in a real company. The theoretical part serves as a starting point for understanding real processes in the company. The practical part first introduces the selected company and analyzes the current situation focused on planning (budgeting), evaluation and reporting, forecasting, managerial accounting, methods of determining overhead costs and methods of calculations. Following this analysis, an evaluation of the state of controlling in the company is created and suggestions for improvement in the area of cost management are compiled.

The theoretical part of this master thesis is focused on description and characteristics of the management accounting, the description of erection log book, and types of risks, which influence the company itself and possibilities for their identification, evaluation and control. I also pay attention to financial analysis area of company operating in civil engineering. The goal of the practical part of this thesis, the impacts of risk are pointed out without taking measures, the second part describes the implementation of arrangements to reduce the risk effecting the company. The measures are adjusted in the way of company´s capability to continue in the production activity. For the comparison of particular models, the parts of financial analysis - namely company´s liquidity indicators, were used.

The purpose of the study was to investigate a modification of a managerial accounting technique, Activity-Based Costing (ABC), as a tool for addressing Information Resource Management (IRM) concerns within business processes. To indicate that ABC has been adapted for the IRM context, this study called the tool "Activity-Based Analysis" (ABA). ABA includes ABC's costing methodology as well as additional methods to address broader issues. The research method was a single-site case study at a property and casualty insurance company. The unit of analysis was a business process consisting of activities needed to provide claims handling services for workers' compensation insurance. Four questions guided the study: 1. Did ABA identify management information required to monitor process effectiveness and efficiency? 2. Did ABA support outsourcing decision making by identifying IRM cost components within business processes? 3. Did ABA identify information resources; that are sharable? 4. Did ABA identify differences between Company organizational characteristics andIRM department organizational characteristics?

No description available.

An examination of the management accounting systems literature revealed the need for additional research based on a contingency perspective. Specifically, additional empirical research based on a well-articulated theory. A theoretical model was developed building on Galbraith’s theory of organization structure. Two sources of uncertainty -- environmental uncertainty and task uncertainty -- were viewed as forming the information processing requirements faced by the organization. In response to these requirements, organizations were viewed as adapting by altering their level of decentralization and their use of budget systems. Organizational effectiveness was achieved by a proper fit between the uncertainty faced by the organization and these responses. Data were collected from business unit managers using a survey instrument. A total of 103 usable responses were obtained with an overall response rate of 49%. Previously developed measures were used for all variables except for budget system usefulness. A measure for this variable was developed and validated. The data were examined using path analysis. The data did not support the model. Problems encountered in the use of perceptual measures for the uncertainty variables appeared to be the most likely explanation for the weak results. However, when the data was split based on the performance measure an interesting result was observed. Specifically, the relationships between the uncertainty measures, decentralization, and budget system usefulness were different for the low and high-performance group. An explanation for this tinding was offered. / Ph. D.

A new modeling approach to product mix problem and capacity management decisions has been proposed. This new model is based upon the information that is available in an activity-based environment. Activity-based management is one of the latest industrial management concepts based upon Activity-Based Costing (ABC) and Concurrent Engineering principles. ABC has lead to the availability of new cost information which had otherwise been 'hidden' in the form of common overhead cost calculated as a fIxed percentage of the direct cost (e.g. labor cost or material cost). An investigation has been made on the effect of the new information available from ABC on product mix, make versus buy, and capacity expansion decisions. The results of conventional mathematical programming formulations based upon the traditional cost information has been compared with the results of proposed formulations based upon the ABC information. A significant difference in the results has been found. Further, the information on idle capacity that emerge from the proposed formulation has been investigated. The proposed model resulted into an integer programming problem which posed a serious limitation on the computational aspect of the problem. An efficient algorithmic scheme to get a heuristic solution for the proposed formulation has been developed. Also, a method has been proposed to determine the optimal allocation of an additional investment because the sensitivity analyses applicable to linear programming could not be applied in the proposed model due to the discrete nature of the resulting problem. Finally, some computational aspects have been discussed / Master of Science

For the past twenty years, the usefulness of accounting information has been emphasized. In 1966 the American Accounting Association in its State of Basic Accounting Theory asserted that usefulness is the primary purpose of external financial reports. In 1978 the State of Financial Accounting Concepts, No. 1 affirmed the usefulness criterion. "Financial reporting should provide information that is useful to present and potential investors and creditors and other users..." Information is useful if it facilitates decision making. Moreover, all decisions are future-oriented; they are based on a prognosis of future events. The objective of this research, therefore, is to examine some factors that affect the decision maker's ability to use financial information to make good predictions and thereby good decisions. There are two major purposes of the study. The first is to gain insight into the amount of increase in prediction accuracy that is expected to be achieved when a model replaces the human decision-maker in the selection of cues. The second major purpose is to examine the information overload phenomenon to provide research evidence to determine the point at which additional information may contaminate prediction accuracy. The research methodology is based on the lens model developed by Eyon Brunswick in 1952. Multiple linear regression equations are used to capture the participants’ models, and correlation statistics are used to measure prediction accuracy. / Ph. D.

SMEs are considered as the best possible vehicle to reduce the unemployment rate and increase economic participation in the country, specifically for historically disadvantaged people. Due to, among other things, the lack of small business management skills, the potential of SMEs cannot be fully realised. From the study it was found that one of the major reasons why SMEs fail to secure loans is a lack of management accounting skills. This lack of management accounting skills is due to a lack of mentors, training and business education. The study has identified a number of management accounting skills which most of the venture capital providers consider when they evaluate applications for loans. From empirical survey it was considered that budgeting, cash flow management and product costing were considered as imperative by most venture capital providers. / Management Accounting / (M. Com.)

Submitted in fulfillment of the Master of Technology Degree in Cost and Management Accounting, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / The research outputs of Accountancy academics in South Africa seem to lag far behind those of their counterparts abroad (West, 2006:121, see also Chan, Chen and Cheng, 2005). Van der Schyf (2008:1) concurs that departments of Accounting at South African universities have established a culture that is removed from research, and that this is in contrast to the nature of a university. A matter of concern is that only a few institutions make up the national research output (De Villiers and Steyn, 2009:43) and especially universities of technology (UoTs) seem to lag behind traditional universities with regard to research output, as a consequence of a lack of emphasis on postgraduate qualifications and published research in the pre-merged technikons and the merged institutes of technology (Singh, 2011:1191). This becomes challenging with regard to the New Funding Framework (South Africa, 2004) which provides funding based on research outputs. Given the above, the aim of this study was to investigate research output among Cost and Management Accounting academics at universities of technology in SA and toward universities of applied sciences in Germany by examining their attitudes toward research, their qualifications and the structure of their master’s programs. Underpinned by Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, this study used a mixed methods approach to gather both qualitative and quantitative data from Cost and Management Accounting (CMA) academics at South African universities of technology and Accounting academics at German universities of applied sciences. Analysis of data revealed that academics in both countries showed a positive attitude towards research and obtaining postgraduate qualifications. Despite the absence of a German research funding policy comparable to the South Africa, similar factors seem to influence academics in their research activities in both countries. These include time available for research; support systems and intrinsic motivators. South African respondents showed a lack of qualifications among their staff which reflected on their research skills and therefore, output. Based on the findings, this study makes recommendations to CMA departments at South African universities of technology and Accounting departments at German universities of applied sciences toward improving of research output.

A dissertação argumenta que, contrariamente ao afirmado por alguns autores, o Balanced Scorecard não é simples repetição de conhecimentos já estabelecidos. Apoiado em critérios extraídos de textos escritos pelos Profs. Fernando Henrique Cardoso e Sérgio de Iudícibus, afirma que o Balanced Scorecard é uma contribuição original à literatura de contabilidade gerencial, não porque trata de temas nunca antes tratados mas porque repensa temas antigos, chamando a atenção para pontos que estavam esquecidos ou mal compreendidos, mostrando a vinculação entre pontos vitais que não estavam claramente articulados. O Balanced Scorecard mostra como esses conhecimentos estabelecidos podem ser aplicados aos tempos modernos, para atender às exigências impostas pelo ambiente mais competitivo para as empresas. O Balanced Scorecard, consequentemente, aumenta a compreensão do tema "vinculação entre estratégia e operação". A decodificação de temas complexos num particular arranjo, facilitando a integração entre firmas de software e firmas de consultoria, num ambiente ansioso por novas ferramentas gerencias, associadas a subestimação das dificuldades para implantação, para se estabelecer um padrão adequado de medidas e para a vinculação com o sistema de recompensas, levaram a que o Balanced Scorecard tenha virado um modismo. Os problemas com o ensino de contabilidade, apontados por Wickhan Skinner e por David Allen e a falta de uma teoria geral, apontada por por John Kay, ajudam a a entender a vinculação entre a contribuição de Kaplan & Norton e sua vulgarização. / This dissertation argues that the Balanced Scorecard is not a simple reproduction of established knowledge, although some authors have assured the opposite. Rested on criteria extracted from texts written by Profs. Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Sérgio de Iudícibus, this dissertation supports that the Balanced Scorecard is an original contribution to the management accounting literature, not in function of dealing with new issues, but in function of rethinking old knowledge, stressing points that were forgotten or misunderstood, and making explicit the linkages among vital points that were not clear articulated in literature. The Balanced Scorecard indicates how this established knowledge can be applied in nowadays to support/fill the requirements of a more competitive environment faced by companies. The Balanced Scorecard, in consequence, increases the understanding of the theme "linking strategy to action". The translation of complex themes in a particular arrangement, which facilitated the integration of software and consulting firms, in an environment anxious for new managerial tools, added to the fact that the difficulties to define an adequate standard of measurements, to implement the Balanced Scorecard and to link it to the reward system were underestimated, lead it to become a fad. Problems in teaching accounting pointed out by Wickhan Skinner and by David Allen and the lack of a general theory, pointed out by John Kay, are insights that can help to understand the linkage between the Kaplan & Norton contribution and its vulgarization.