Contents: 1)Introduction -- 2)The nature of costs -- 3)Opportunity cost of capital and capital budgeting - 4)Organizational architecture -- 5)Responsibility accounting and transfer pricing -- 6)Budgeting -- 7)Cost allocation: Theory -- 8)Cost allocation: Practices -- 9)Absorption cost system -- 10)Criticisms of absorption cost systems: Incentives to overproduce -- 11)Criticisms of absorption cost systems: Inaccurate product costs -- 12)Standard costs: Direct labor and materials -- 13)Overhead and marketing variances -- 14) Management accounting in a changing environment

Provides students and managers with an understanding appreciation of the strengths and limitations of an organization's accounting system, thereby allowing them to be more intelligent users of these systems. This title demonstrates that managerial accounting is an integral part of the firm's organizational architecture.