Management Accounting
Course Description
Management accounting is a specialized discipline that transforms raw financial data into actionable business intelligence. It involves tracking, analyzing, and reporting the true economic costs of business activities. Company leaders rely on these financial tools to guide their daily operations. This course provides students with introductory level of management accounting tools. Topics include financial accounting vs management accounting, cost accounting fundamentals, costing systems, activity-based costing, preparation of budgets, variance analysis, fixed and variable costs.
While financial accounting looks backward to record what has happened for external stakeholders, management accounting often looks forward through budgeting, forecasting, and what-if scenarios.
Click on the course content to view a weekly breakdown of the course, learning outcomes, course time commitment and course evaluation.
Why take Management Accounting at Career Skills?
Today's organizations need more than financial reports. They need insights that help leaders answer critical questions such as:
Which products or services are most profitable?
Where can costs be reduced?
How can resources be allocated more effectively?
What financial impact will future business decisions have?
How can organizations plan for growth and manage risk?
Management accounting provides the tools to answer these questions and transform financial data into actionable business intelligence.
Key Benefits of Management Accounting
Enhanced Decision-making
Learn how to use financial information to make informed and strategic business decisions.
Cost control and Profitability
Identify opportunities to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, and maximize profits.
Budgeting and Forecasting
Develop practical skills in creating budgets and forecasting future financial performance.
Cash Flow Management
Understand how organizations monitor and manage cash flow to support growth and financial stability.
Scenario Planning
Use "what-if" analysis to evaluate potential business outcomes and prepare for changing market conditions.
Performance Measurement
Learn how businesses track key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure success against organizational goals.
Risk Management
Understand how financial analysis can help identify risks and support better business planning.
Who Should Attend?
This course is ideal for:
Aspiring accountants and finance professionals
Business owners and entrepreneurs
Managers and team leaders
Professionals seeking to strengthen their financial decision-making skills
Anyone interested in understanding how businesses use financial information to drive performance
Build Skills Employers Value
Management accounting is one of the most sought-after skills in today's business environment. Whether you're looking to advance your career, manage a business more effectively, or gain a stronger understanding of organizational performance, this course will equip you with practical tools that can be applied immediately in the workplace.
Learn to move beyond the numbers and become a strategic decisionmaker by mastering the fundamentals of management accounting.
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Course Outline
A. Part 1
Week 1:
· Intro to management accounting
· Differences between financial and management accounting
· Intro to cost behavior & cost-volume relationships
· Variable vs fixed costs
Week 2:
· Cost volume profit analysis
· Break-even point and contribution analysis
· Cost volume analysis
· Variations of cost behavior and cost drivers
· Committed vs Discretionary fixed costs
B. Part 2
Week 3:
· Introduction to Budgets
· Master budget – the overall plan
· How to develop a Master Budget
· How to develop the operating budget and budgeted financial statements
Week 4:
· Flexible budgets
· Analysis of budgets versus actual operations – Variance Analysis
· Evaluate performance using budgets
Learning Outcomes:
· Identify different types of costs and cost drivers in the accounting world
· How to help a business identify areas to reduce costs and be more profitable
· Will be able to create and analyze different what-if-scenarios for business management to make effective cost-profit related decisions
· Be able to create budgets, forecasted financials including cash flow statements and financial statements based on forecasted costs and profits
· Understand the importance of key non-financial indicators of performance for a business
· Help internal management develop more reliable, transparent and accurate internal financials that stakeholders can rely on including investors, banks and shareholders
Course Evaluation:
This course will evaluate the learners based on the following criteria:
· Participation in the classes themselves
· Attendance for at least majority of classes
· Performance on
o Group discussions & stimulations during class
o Hands-on exercises and case studies and demonstrations
o Debrief of individual and group exercises
o Filling out the course evaluations
Course Time Commitment:
Ø Duration: 4 weeks
Ø Schedule: Every Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8:30pm EST
Ø Class Time: (5) hours per week (total of 20 hours of instruction.
Ø Format: Instructor-led online with camera on during class unless otherwise advised by instructor.
· Plan is to have all exercises done in class but if not let’s say additional 2-4 hours outside of class doing exercises/reviewing complex topics
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Knowledge of basic Accounting is required
Knowledge of Financial Accounting is an asset
Basic knowledge of computers
Intermediate level of English in reading, writing and speaking (CLB6 and higher)
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CAD $550
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Zaimin Karmali is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and Microsoft Certified. She has a Masters in Adult Education and is a Certified Training Development Professional. She has over 10 years of teaching in both the public and private sector designing her own curriculum and training strategy on complex accounting and business topics. She has over 20 years of accounting, audit and tax experience and has worked with a wide array of clients both in the government and private sector. She has a passion for teaching and always will. She loves to make students’ learning journey as valuable as possible, her way of making a difference in the world.
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Training model: online
Course length: 4 weeks, 20h
Classes held on Tuesdays and Thursdays (6-8:30pm EST)