How To Be A Successful Management Accountant And Analyzing Company Performance

The Standards for Members of the Institute of Management Accountants

The Institute has defined certain standards as per which the members needs to function. The profession of accounting is a very respectable one. It is very important that they maintain the desired integrity and professionalism in their approach and make sure that they do not indulge in any such activity that is illegal or unethical. Three common allegations on which the institute has in the past led tribunals and gave judgments against the professional are-

• The most widely published cases are in respect to the violations of the technical standards that the professionals need to follow and in case they fail they will be penalized. Violation of these standards has led to many losses. There have been many cases in the past against big accounting firms who failed to comply with the said rules and standards. Complying with the same is an important part of accounting(Mayntz, 2017).
• The second most common allegations against these professionals are in form of sexual harassment at work place, for which the punishment is very severe. It is important for the professionals to maintain the said code of ethics in the work place and in any case if they diverted from the same, they will be punished. It is one of the most severe allegations that can be caused against any professional. Such cases in the past had led to severe results and many a times the professional was jailed for years. Their membership number can also be scrapped from in such cases and they might be refrained from working as a professional any further.
• The third most common allegation on which there have been many case laws and tribunals in the past are related to soliciting of work by the professionals using unfair means. This is clearly mentioned in the act that the professional cannot solicit work form any unfair means and in any case if they are found doing the same they will be punished(Arnott, et al., 2017). Unethical soliciting of work occurs by advertisements, stating the details of the firms in various social media sites, asking the impalement sites to provide them with work. A professional should always get his work because of his merit and not because of any unfair means that he applied for the same. 

1. Professional bodies are the law framing and governing bodies of these professionals that manages their overall growth and development. They are responsible for the making of a professional from an individual. There are many rules and laws that have been defined by these bodies on the basis of which the professionals functions. Sometimes it might happen that there are some major changes or there are some major happenings that the professionals and the general public must be informed about, for that it is important that these bodies must publish their overall decisions. It helps the professionals in understanding the major changes that are happening in the field of accounting and auditing. The major changes that might affect their position as the professionals also come to their vision and they can accordingly function(Visinescu, et al., 2017). Not just the professionals but the general public also can have an insight into the field of accounting and that can be helpful for their business. These professional bodies also publish this information about their major decisions so that the same can be established in a better way. These bodies have huge value and helps in improvement of the overall education and career aspirants of the public when they come to know how well they can do if they get the required degree. This helps in improving the overall economy and helps in the overall growth of these bodies also. It is important that while publishing this information the bodies must take a note that the information must be true and precise and must be free from all kind of issues whatsoever(Breuer & Archer, 2016). The general publish depends on these announcements and weekly journals to take important decisions with regard to the company and its function. These are the few reasons why these bodies publish these information as it is helpful to all the stakeholders who are dependent on these professional bodies to take important decisions with regard to their business and jobs. It also increases the confidence of the government and the related parties and they also get an insight in the functioning of these bodies and how effectively are they carrying on their work. On the basis of this information the companies are able to anticipate the future cash flows and base their decisions on the same. Question No. 3 (Part A)

In the given case, there is a new plant management accountant who is being hired here for working in the plant besides the existing plant managers and management accountants. Since, he is new, the old plant manager in the company is not letting him work independently and to implement his own new ideas but thinks that he is sticking his nose and interfering in plant manager’s day to day activities. As a new management accountant, I would take the following course of action in order to come over this situation:

1. I would try to convince the plant manager that decision both financial and operational could be taken together and more efficiently and effectively if both of tehm work together. Further the experience of both of us in our respective areas could come handy and the common organisational objective can be achieved. (Goldmann, 2016)I would tell that the view should be changed and I should be considered as a resource rather than just an accountant. In the same way, I can share the ideas with him as to how the resources could be optimally utilised and used besides savings of the cost. In that way, the team spirit would be prevailed.
2. Technical knowledge is very important to win over any situation. I would try to polish my technical skills by spending some time at the plant floor and working with the operational people. This can be used to convinvce him that I have the relevant knowledge and this can be used at his work. This will also involve research and a lot of background reading which I would do to cover on the requirements stated by him.
3. Also, beyond a certain point, the work of the management accountant and that of the plant manager is different and should not overlap or else ridges in work environment could be developed. (Jefferson, 2017)Therefore, the final authority in case of financial management should be of the accountant and in the case of plant decisions, it should be the plant manager who should having the saying. This will enable a good friendly work environment.
4. The other way in which he could be convinved is showing the past achievements and successes while I was working with the other line managers of other plants in the past. This may include preparation of the budgets for the future periods, planning of the inventory to be produced, the raw material to be ordered, helping in submission of the capital budgetary requirement and assisiting in taking decisions and evaluating the alternatives with the help of financial and non financial aspects.
5. Lastly, the support of the corporate head can be taken to help understand the various critical roles and responsibilities which will be handled by the management accountant. This should be used as the last resort in order to help understand the plant manager all the critical activities which I will be taking over in finance and at the plant. 

The role of the management accountant is wide and is not limited to the plant’s operational activities or the finance role which is being handled by him technically. Similarly the knowledge of the technical areas like the computer or other software technologies is just a necessary and pre requisite criterion but not the sufficient condition in order to become a successful management accountant. Having the technical skills means the person can take decisions, come out with the correct and tiimley analysis on the relevanyt subject, help others on the job to complete the target on time by showing the way. But besides knowledge of technical issues, the accountants primary job asks for decision making, acting on the critical areas highlighting the risks to the management at the right time and giving the periodic analysis and dashboard so that trends can be seen. (Buchanan, et al., 2017) The key attributes of the successful management accountant involves being the people’s manager who has the skills of managing the team and leadership skills. Besides that, he should have the general business skills of how to meet customer satisfaction as well as the communication skills which play a big deal in the corporate world as we need to communicate the right idea at the right time to the right person at the right situation to get the desired result. The technical skills should be sharp and he should have the skill to get the work done in a team, to spot the right person for the right job. All in all, the attitude of the person matters a lot in being a successful manager as he should have the hunger for learning, no matter what the situation is and how old he is into management accounting. (Turban, et al., 2017)

• The ratio analysis of the MobileNet company is as follows: 

• Based on the ratio analysis, following are the comments on the position and performance of the MobileNet company:

1. The current ratio is the measure of the working capital management of the company as to how much current assets are there in the books to meet the current liabilities of the company. The ratio is 2.22 for the year ended 30^thJune, 2016 which is well above the industry trend ans thus shows that the company has a good liquidity ratio and will be able to meet its creditors claims on time. (Jefferson, 2017)
2. The return on assets is the amount of net profit being earned by the company on the total assets being employed in the business. It is one of the efficiency ratios which shows whether the company is optimally utilising the assets to the best benefits and generating revenues out of the same. Currently , the ratio is 9.72% which shows that the company is not performing as per the industry trends and the assets are being under utilised to some extent.
3. The 3^rdratio on the list is the return on the equity which shows that what is the percentage of profit being earned by the company for the shareholders on the funds being invested by them. This shows whether the return expected by the investors is being met or not from the profits after tax. (Das, 2017) Currently the company is earning at the rate of 14.89% which is fairly good. The company needs to increase the sales in order to increase the profitability margin considering the industry in which it works.
4. The debt equity ratio is the measure of the debt being employed in the total capital structure consisting of equity as well. More the debt, more will be the benefit of trading on equity and the leveraging benefit and increasing the profit percentage. The ideal ratio for the industry is 1:1, whereas the company is having 0.34:1, which means that the company still has the cushion to take more of debt in the capital structure and to work on the same.(Félix, 2017)

Besides all the above parameters, the other factors which could be seen in analysing the growth and the performance of the company is the trend analysis with respect to the growth in sales, growth in profit year on year, the cost being cut in the direct and indirect part and a comparison of the actual results from the budgeted or forecasted figures. Not only this, but other financial and non financial factors also needs to be analysed while understanding the situation and performance of the company. The company could also be compared to the performance of other peer companies opearating in the industry to understand the shortcomings and strengths of the company to further work upon them. (Nakao, et al., 2017)  

References

Buchanan, B., Cao, C., Liljeblom, E. & Weihrich, S., 2017. Taxation and Dividend Policy: The Muting Effect of Agency Issues and Shareholder Conflicts. Journal of Corporate Finance, Volume 42, pp. 179-197.

Das, P., 2017. Financing Pattern and Utilization of Fixed Assets – A Study. Asian Journal of Social Science Studies, 2(2), pp. 10-17.

Félix, M., 2017. A study on the expected impact of IFRS 17 on the transparency of financial statements of insurance companies. MASTER THESIS, pp. 1-69.

Goldmann, K., 2016. Financial Liquidity and Profitability Management in Practice of Polish Business. Financial Environment and Business Development, Volume 4, pp. 103-112.

Jefferson, M., 2017. Energy, Complexity and Wealth Maximization, R. Ayres. Springer, Switzerland. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, pp. 353-354.

Nakao, S., Oliveira, N. & Nardi, P., 2017. Analysis of the influence of audit firms on disclosure in notes to financial statements. Nakao, 14(2), pp. 9-14.

Turban, E., Whiteside, J., King, D. & Outland, J., 2017. Implementation Issues: From Globalization to Justification, Privacy, and Regulation. Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerc, pp. 383-413.