Management Accounting, Fourth Edition [Hardcover]

Anthony A. Atkinson (Author), Robert S. Kaplan (Author), S. Mark S. Young (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130082171 | ISBN-13: 978-0130082176 | Publication Date: July 28, 2003 | Edition: 4

For undergraduate and MBA courses in management accounting. Each of the text authors is both a scholar and a top consultant for Fortune 500 and smaller companies. As a result, they have a unique focus: to help students better understand management accounting topics, research, and issues from the perspective of a business manager.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The principles contained in this book are relevant to us on a daily basis as we make decisions that impact the sales and profits of the Butterfinger candy bar franchise. We use the tools to evaluate media spending, to determine the extent to which we customize product offerings for retailers, to determine when to increase/decrease number of SKUs in the franchise, to identify significant consumer complaints with the product so as to determine corrective action, etc. This is a must read for anyone interested in growing a business." – Anne Loveland, Associate Marketing Manager, Nestle USA

"The workplace has changed and so must the workforce. Accountants must now do more than keep the score–they must help make it. The creation and measurement of value is what business is about. The new edition provides the reader with the toolset to take on these new challenges. Filled with practical cases studies and examples, here's the roadmap to finance's new job requirements." – Peter A. Zampino, Director of Research, Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing International (CAM-I)

"I've used this book ...since 1995. From the outset this text has been revolutionary in its focus on creating value through innovative performance measurement and control. This theme resonates with our students who have taken financial accounting, finance and corporate strategy and understand the importance of securing competitive advantage through distinctive managerial practices." – Shannon Anderson, Rice University

From the Publisher

Unique in approach, this text provides a balanced, cohesive integration of management and accounting that has been noticeably missing from current texts. This book appeals to the general business student as well as the Accounting major. It teaches how a business manager uses management accounting information to solve problems and manage activities within an organization. Accounting majors aspiring to become management accountants learn how to design and operate information systems that create value for their organizations. The entire text blends contemporary theory and the latest research in management accounting with practical applications and actual company experiences. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (July 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130082171
• ISBN-13: 978-0130082176
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,314,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need a textbook for Management Accounting? Here is one!!!!!, March 14, 2004

By 

Sung-Han Lee (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Management Accounting, Fourth Edition (Hardcover)

A very nice and neat accounting textbook! This book explains basic accounting concepts clearly, which helps me to master basic concepts of accounting with ease and simplicity. I had a great time to read this book, and it makes learning accounting as interesting as it can be. The introduction and summary of each chapter also help me to understand a big picture of management accounting as well as small details. The treatment of management accounting is thorough and highly advanced with many detailed examples in reality.
The reason that I recommend this book is extending basic concepts with real-world examples which apples underlying concepts of management accounting. This book shows how accounting is used and analyzed in actual case situations. Especially I noticed that the authors are experts at the Balanced Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard chapter presents the most important concept and examples in a very organized manner. This book also encompasses important new topics in management accounting such as activity-based cost systems, JIT, target costing, pricing and product planning, performance measurement systems, and budgets.
I heard some textbooks too much focus on questions of calculating cost and deriving quantitative solutions. Unlike those textbooks which only teach mechanical procedures without understanding underlying factors, this textbook provides insightful knowledge about how management accounting information facilitates decision- making through various analysis tools.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars covers introductory ideas, April 17, 2007

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Management Accounting (5th Edition) (Hardcover)

This reads like an introductory text in the subject. The maths treatment is pretty easy. Nothing approaching calculus, unlike many contemporary economics texts. Significant portions of the book revolve around the proper accounting of costs for developing and marketing a product.

Many examples are given from traditional manufacturing contexts. In part to give a concrete feel to the analysis of allocating effort.

Another important aspect covered is how to deal with cost driver changes. Where the rates of different factors can increase (rarely do they decrease!). You are also given multiple measures of performance. There is no single correct metric; an important lesson in itself.

Each chapter has a substantial exercise set at its conclusion. A deliberately non-trivial effort is needed to do these. But well worth it in order to drive home the chapters' ideas.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must have" for your business library, April 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Management Accounting (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)

My MBA program used this book. I found the book easy to read and liked its consideration of behavioral issues usually ignored in other books. The book covers new and important topics in management accounting (activity-based costing, balanced scorecard, JIT, target costing, kaizen costing, environmental costing and benchmarking). A companion book (Readings in Management Accounting) has lots of articles describing applications of material presented in the textbook.