Preface

This book was published by Elsevier in 2009. The title of the book was Cost Accounting for Business Managers. It received good reviews from instructors and students. I have revised and substantially streamlined the book, as the topics covered are contemporary and relevant to the commerce and management students. I have taken care of the feedback that the book needed more numerical problems. I have included sufficient solved problems as examples and review problems. In addition, new problems have been added to the chapter-end assignments.

I have changed the book’s title as management accounting which is more appropriate. The material is suitable for those studying the subject for the first time. I have explained the management accounting terms in jargon-free lucid language. I have explained the concepts and techniques with simple examples. The examples are graded in terms of complexity.

The book covers advanced topics like divisional performance and transfer pricing, pricing decisions, value chain analysis, target costing, life cycle costing and balance scorecard. I preferred to discuss those topics in the graduate level programmes as students should get insights into applying those concepts, which managers regularly use for planning and control. Those chapters can be used in a Strategic Costing course.
I hope that instructors and students will find the book useful.
I shall be grateful to receive feedback for further improvement of the text.

-Asish K Bhattacharyya

ABOUT THE BOOK

The book is a thoroughly revised and substantially streamlined edition of the book Cost Accounting for Business Managers (published by Elsevier). The book draws on the author's fifty years of experience applying and teaching management accounting techniques. The text lucidly explains fundamental and contemporary management accounting techniques and their applications with examples. It shows how qualitative factors often override economic considerations in decision-making. The book also provides an overview of the cost accounting methods and traditional methods for accounting for overheads. It will be useful for commerce and management students and anyone interested in learning management accounting concepts and their applications.

Unique features:

• Focuses on the application of conventional and contemporary management accounting techniques;
• Explains management accounting terms in simple language;
• Explains basic concepts with real-life examples for easy understanding;
• Covers contemporary management accounting techniques;
• Lucid and student-friendly presentation.