Managerial Accounting and Corporate Control

This course is a part of Accounting, a 3-course MicroMasters series from edX.

Success in any organization requires measurement systems to support decision making. This course focuses on preparing and analyzing accounting information for internal decisions that are often required to be made by both accounting and non-accounting professionals. In particular, the course will highlight how internal accounting information can be used (and often misused) when making complex business decisions. Managerial accounting is not constrained by the rules and regulations that surround financial accounting, which allows us to develop tailored measurement systems that provide a framework for planning and control, as well as costing products, services, and customers.

Students enrolled in this course will learn to prepare basic financial statements (e.g., balance sheet and income statement). In particular, they will understand how direct and overhead costs influence inventory and cost of goods sold calculations and are accounted for under financial reporting. Further, they will also learn to understand the importance of budgeting and how standard costing and variance analysis are used in evaluating managerial performance. In addition, students will learn how cost behavior and financial information are used in operational decision making and pricing. Finally, students will gain a basic understanding of how cash flows are used in capital budgeting decisions.

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What you'll learn

• Understand the key technical aspects of managerial accounting, including basic terminology and internal measurement systems
• How to confidently analyze information to make decisions, including identifying and analyzing costs, preparing budgets, and applying an economic framework
• Understand accounting’s theoretical framework and its interdisciplinary links