The George Washington University School of Business MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING Course Syllabus

Professor Yun Zhang Phone: 202-994-7532 Suite 601-C Funger Hall Email: yunzhang@gwu.edu 2201 G Street NW Washington DC 20052

Course Introduction Managerial accounting is concerned with the use of accounting data by managers to plan and control (evaluate) personnel and operations of the firm. The focus is on planning, decision-making, and control by the organization and on the accounting systems that managers have to assist them in their decisions about resource allocation and performance evaluation. The course is intended as an introduction for individuals who will make business decisions, evaluate business units, and evaluate others (or be evaluated) through the use of accounting systems. The course will be loosely divided into two topics: cost management systems and managerial control systems. Each topic is briefly described below. Cost Management Systems: The objective of the cost management system is to provide information about the costs of the goods and services sold by the firm. While financial accounting requires that product cost information be accumulated in particular ways for external reporting, the focus in the course will be on cost systems that aid managerial decision-making. We will start with a study of traditional cost systems still in widespread use today. Next, we will examine the problems associated with these systems in today’s business environment. Through the use of readings and cases, we will discuss situations in which the traditional systems provide seriously flawed or excessively costly product cost information. We will then look