Management Accounting for Business Decisions
Use costing, pricing, break-even and relevant-cost analysis to make better product, investment and operational decisions.
- 5 days
- Classroom · Live virtual · In-house
- Afriskora Certificate of Completion
Course overview
Many costly decisions, from dropping a product line to accepting a large order, are made on numbers that include the wrong costs. This course equips finance staff and managers with management-accounting tools to analyse cost behaviour, set prices, evaluate make-or-buy and outsourcing choices and measure divisional performance. Each tool is applied to a business case drawn from manufacturing, services or the public sector.
Who should attend
- Management accountants and finance business partners
- Operations and commercial managers
- Business owners and general managers
- Analysts preparing decision papers
What you will be able to do
- Classify costs by behaviour and relevance to a decision
- Apply break-even, contribution and margin-of-safety analysis
- Evaluate make-or-buy, outsourcing and product-mix decisions
- Set prices using cost and market-based approaches
- Measure business-unit performance fairly
Course outline
Day 1Cost behaviour and costing
- • Fixed, variable and semi-variable costs
- • Absorption and marginal costing
- • Activity-based costing
- • Cost drivers in service organisations
Day 2Short-term decisions
- • Cost-volume-profit analysis
- • Relevant costs and opportunity cost
- • Special orders and limiting factors
- • Make or buy and outsourcing
Day 3Pricing
- • Cost-plus and target pricing
- • Value-based and competitive pricing
- • Transfer pricing between divisions
- • Pricing case study
Day 4Performance measurement
- • Responsibility centres
- • ROI, residual income and EVA
- • Balanced scorecard links
- • Behavioural effects of targets
Day 5Decision workshop
- • Building a decision model in Excel
- • Sensitivity and risk
- • Writing the decision paper
- • Group presentations
Frequently asked questions
How long is the Management Accounting for Business Decisions course?
The course runs for 5 days. Daily start and finish times are confirmed in your joining instructions. Live virtual sessions cover the same programme.
Do I receive a certificate?
Yes. Every participant who completes the course receives an Afriskora Certificate of Completion with a unique code that employers can verify online.
Can this course be delivered in-house for our team?
Yes. We can run it at your premises or online for your team, on dates that suit you, and adapt examples and case studies to your sector.
How do I book and pay?
Request dates and we'll send available sessions and a quote. Bookings are confirmed by invoice and paid by EFT. South African clients can include the course in their Workplace Skills Plan.
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