Management Accounting for Costs & Control

QUESTION 1 - Panopticism

Describe Panopticism. How may it be relevant to management accounting? Give examples (about 200 words). Use images to enhance your answer.

QUESTION 2 - Control

List and explain three functions of management accounting. Refer to the text chapter 1. Give examples (about 150 words).

QUESTION 3 - Checklists

Explain how the Van Halen rock band used checklists as a control device.Use Internet resources to enhance your answer (about 200 words).

QUESTION 4 - Labour cost concepts

A. "If a perpetual inventory system is used for recording movements of raw materials there is no need to conduct a physical stocktake." Do you agree? Why?

B. Should overtime payments be treated as direct labour, or as overhead? Explain. (about 200 words)

QUESTION 5 - Activity Based Costing

Your employer is contemplating changing the existing traditional costing systems used in the business to adopt activity based costing (ABC).

Prepare a business report comparing the traditional costing system with ABC and evaluate arguments for and against ABC.

Use the Internet as a resource and academic journal articles (about 500 words excluding references).

Use the Internet for advice of business report structures.

Question 6 - Prepare a Business Report as if for senior management critically evaluating the purpose of variance analysis and other areas in an organisation where variance analysis would be useful and the practical relevance of detailed overhead variance analysis. See the reading by Murray Wells. Also find and use at least one other academic reading. Suggested word limit about 500 words. Ensure that your answer is in business report format.

Question 7 - How can budgeting be viewed as a choice process?

Find a cartoon/comic strip image on the Internet to illustrate your discussion. Explain the relevance of this image to your answer. Find and use at least one academic article relevant to your discussion.

Question 8 - Management accounting and history. Taking the Roman Coliseum as an example, describe how modern cost management accounting could be applied to a current attempt to recreate this structure. Be creative in your discussion (about 200 - 300 words). Add images to your answer.

Question 9 - A firm has two service departments, S₁ and S₂, and two production departments, P₁ and P₂. The primary allocation of indirect manufacturing expenses is as follows:

 The percentage allocation of service entre cost is:

Re-allocate the service centre costs to the production departments by

(a) the direct method

(b) the step method

(c) the reciprocal services method

Required: Solve with a spreadsheet. Also show the Matrix algebra solution. Include in your solutions the T accounts for Overhead.