Chapter 1:

• Distinguish financial accounting from management accounting
• Understand how management accountants affect strategic decisions
• Describe the set of business functions in the value chain and identify the dimensions of performance that customers are expecting of companies
• Explain the five-step decision-making process and its role in management accounting
• Understand how management accounting fits into an organization’s structure
• Understand what professional ethics mean to management accountants

Chapter 2

• Define and illustrate a cost object
• Distinguish between direct costs and indirect costs
• Explain variable costs and fixed costs
• Interpret unit costs cautiously
• Distinguish inventoriable costs from period costs
• Explain why product costs are computed in different ways for different purposes
• Describe a framework for cost accounting and cost management

Chapter 3:

• Explain the features of cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis
• Determine the breakeven point and output level needed to achieve a target operating income
• Understand how income taxes affect CVP analysis
• Explain how managers use CVP analysis in decision making
• Explain how sensitivity analysis helps managers cope with uncertainty
• Use CVP analysis to plan variable and fixed costs
• Apply CVP analysis to a company producing multiple products

Chapter 4:

• Describe the building-block concepts of costing systems
• Distinguish job costing from process costing
• Describe the approaches to evaluating and implementing job costing systems
• Outline the seven-step approach to normal costing
• Distinguish actual costing from normal costing
• Track the flow of costs in a job-costing system
• Dispose of under-or overallocated manufacturing overhead costs at the end of the fiscal year using alternative methods
• Apply variations from normal costing

Chapter 6:

• Describe the master budget and explain its benefits
• Describe the advantages of budgets
• Prepare the operating budget and its supporting schedules
• Use computer-based financial planning models for sensitivity analysis
• Describe responsibility centers and responsibility accounting
• Recognize the human aspects of budgeting
• Appreciate the special challenges of budgeting in multinational companies

Chapter 7:

• Understand static budgets and static-budget variances
• Examine the concept of a flexible budget and learn how to develop it
• Calculate flexible-budget variances and sales-volume variances
• Explain why standard costs are often used in variance analysis
• Compute price variances and efficiency variances for direct cost categories
• Understand how managers use variances
• Describe benchmarking and explain its role in cost management

Chapter 8:

• Explain the similarities and differences in planning variable overhead costs and fixed overhead costs
• Develop budgeted variable overhead rates and budgeted fixed overhead cost rates
• Compute the variable overhead flexible-budget variance, the variable overhead efficiency variance, and the variable overhead spending variance
• Compute the fixed overhead flexible-budget variance, the fixed overhead spending variance, and the fixed overhead production-volume variance
• Show how the 4-variance analysis approach reconciles the actual overhead incurred with overhead amounts allocated during the period
• Explain the relationship between the sales-volume variance and the production-volume variance
• Examine the use of overhead variances in nonmanufacturing settings

Chapter 10:

• Describe linear cost functions and three common ways in which they behave
• Explain the importance of causality in estimating cost functions
• Understand various methods of cost estimation
• Outline six steps in estimating a cost function using quantitative analysis
• Describe three criteria used to evaluate and choose cost drivers
• Explain nonlinear cost functions, in particular those arising from learning curve effects
• Be aware of data problems encountered in estimating cost functions

Chapter 13:

• Recognize which of two generic strategies a company is using
• Understand what comprises reengineering
• Understand the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard
• Analyze changes in operating income to evaluate strategy
• Identify unused capacity and how to manage it

Chapter 15:

• Distinguish the single-rate method from the dual-rate method
• Understand how divisional incentives are affected by the choice between allocation based on budgeted and actual rates, and budgeted and actual usage
• Allocate multiple support-department costs using the direct method, the step-down method, and the reciprocal method
• Allocate common costs using the stand-alone method and the incremental method
• Explain the importance of explicit agreement between contracting parties when the reimbursement amount is based on costs incurred
• Understand how bundling of products gives rise to revenue allocation issues and the methods for doing so

Chapter 16:

• Identify the splitoff point in a joint-cost situation and distinguish joint products from byproducts
• Explain why joint costs are allocated to individual products
• Allocate joint costs using four methods
• Explain when the sales value at splitoff method is preferred when allocating joint costs
• Explain why joint costs are irrelevant in a sell-or-process-further decision
• Account for byproducts using two methods

Chapter 17:

• Identify the situation in which process-costing systems are appropriate
• Understand the basic concepts of process-costing and compute average unit costs
• Describe the five steps in process costing and calculate equivalent units
• Use the weighted-average method and first-in, first out (FIFO) method of process costing
• Apply process-costing methods to situations with transferred-in costs

Chapter 20:

• Identify six categories of costs associated with goods for sale
• Balance ordering costs with carrying costs using economic-order-quantity (EOQ) decision model
• Identify the effect of errors that can arise when using the EOQ decision model and ways to reduce conflicts between the EOQ model and models used for performance evaluation
• Describe why companies are using just-in-time (JIT) systems for manufacturing
• Identify the features and benefits of a just-in-time production system

Chapter 21:

• Understand the five stages of capital budgeting for a project
• Use and evaluate the two main discounted cash flow (DCF) methods:  the net present value (NPV) method and the internal rate-of-return (IRR) method
• Use and evaluate the payback and discounted payback methods
• Use and evaluate the payback and discounted payback methods
• Use relevant cash inflows and outflows for capital budgeting decisions
• Understand issues involved in implementing capital budgeting decisions and evaluating managerial performance
• Identify strategic considerations in capital budgeting decisions

Date

Course Coverage

Homework

Chapter 1:  The Manager and Management Accounting

Chapter 2:  An Introduction of Cost and Purpose

TBA

Chapter 10:  Determining How Cost Behave

Chapter 3: Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis

Chapter 4:  Job Costing

Chapter 17:  Process Costing

Chapter 6:  Master Budget and Responsibility Accounting

In Class Quiz

Testing Center Exam Window Opens (1-4; 10, 17)

Chapter 7:  Flexible Budgets, Direct-Cost Variances, and Management Control

Chapter 8:  Flexible Budgets, Overhead Cost Variances, and Management Control

Chapter 15:  Allocation of Support-Department Cost, Common Cost, and Revenues

Chapter 16:  Cost Allocation:  Joint Products and Byproducts

In Class Quiz

Testing Center Exam Window Open (6-8; 15-16)

Chapter 20:  Inventory Management, Just-in-Time, and Simplified Costing Methods

Chapter 13:  Strategy, Balanced Scorecard, and Strategic Profitability Analysis

Chapter 21: Capital Budgeting and Cost Analysis

In class Quiz

Final Exam (In class)

Activity

Points

Percent

Exams

600

60%

Quizzes

100

10%

2 Case Studies

100

10%

Homework

100

10%

Budget Project

100

10%

       TOTAL

1000

100%

Points

Grade

900 - 1000

A

800 -  899

B

700 -  799

C

600 -  699

D

Below 599

F