Acc203 Management Accounting For Financial Assessment Answers

1.Identify Qantas's critical success factors (CSFs) and key performance indicators (KPIs)
2.Based on your answer in 1, construct a strategy map that aligns with Qantas's long term objectives
3.Develop a Balanced Scorecard based on your answer in 2.

Part A

Management accounting and financial accounting are two aspects of accounting which can be seen in the day to day activities of finance. Where financial accounting deals with the reporting and accounting of the financial information in compliance of the accounting standards, laws and other regulations, the management accounting has more to do with the cost management and accounting, planning and cost control measures (Heminway, 2017). In this the simulation of past data is done to get the trend analysis and when the same is being used on the future planning numbers, we get the actual strategies to be implemented and actual targets to be achieved. There are many management accounting planning and strategic tools based on which the scenario analysis is being done and future course of action is planned. However, with the change in the business conditions, the management accounting as a whole has also experienced paradigm shift in past few years. Similarly, the expectations from and the role of the management accountant has also changed drastically considering the change in nature and scope of work. From just numbers, it has moved to consulting and analytics role. Sone of the major reasons which are attributable to this change in the management accounting and its forms are:

1. External factors are the factors outside the organization and barely within the control of the organization and they affect the industry as a whole. Offlate, there has been a lot of competition in the market due to various factors, this has given the market customers a lot of option and thus changed the dynamics of consumer behaviour. As it is said, customer is the king and giving due consideration to the competition, businesses are now required to factors all these factors in pricing and costing. The faster the businesses in factoring these, the lesser the impact in terms of losses and customer base. Since the boundaries for businesses has gone wide, it has made doing business in other countries relatively easy and the conventional business a bit more competitive. The financial accounting and reporting across countries has witnessed greater uniformness and comparability and this asks for a change in the dynamics of management accounting as well(Meroño-Cerdán, Lopez-Nicolas, & Molina-Castillo, 2017).
2. Internal factors are those which are within the reach of the organization and the one which can be changed by them. With the change in the approach of management accounting within a particular business, the revenue generation cycle, the costing, the processes, core competencies can be well planned and managed. If all of a sudden, a change is witnessed in the technology of product manufacturing or goods generation, a corresponding change in the production methods is also warranted. There are many business models which are operating now but were not conceptualized in old times at the time of origination, one such example is online business. The whole new dimension of costing and management accounting principles are required to drive it. Thus, there has been a shift from conventional methods to modern methods like customer analysis, just in time ordering approach, total quality management, balanced scorecard approach(Arnott, Lizama, & Song, 2017).
3. Organization structure: Management accounting tools also need in the modification at the time of change or alteration in the functional structure of the organization or changes in other parameters as well. Some of the technical changes that may be warranted are like downsizing, expansion, corporate restructuring, demerger, amalgamation, etc. 

The management accountant’s role has changed in the modern business scenario as now several other business parameters needs to be considered while planning and analysis like customer behaviour and traits, the change in market conditions, the learning curve, the technology being used in market and latest one and knowledge and expertise of personnel. The management accounting in all the companies need to be aligned with the global practices to achieve efficiency.

Balanced Scorecard: It is the strategic performance management tool which lists down all the goals and objectives to be achieved in various areas along with the course of action to be taken. It is the report which is being used by the managers to monitor and measure the performance of the employees and the achievement of the goals and set objectives. This is used for tracking performance and in recent times has evolved to be one of the dynamic management tools to be used in the organization (Erik & Jan, 2017). Since the end targets and the deadlines are mentioned, it helps in easier measurement of actual performance, find the deviation and then list down the areas of improvement. The two people which introduced this tool in 1992 are Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton. Some of the major advantages of using it are mentioned below:

1. It looks in to various areas at once like learning and development, growth, customer development, user eccentricity and employee development. It helps in setting the strategy for various areas at one single place.
2. It helps to fix the responsibility for each manager and thereby regular tracking and update on the same. Since the area of responsibility is fixed and there is clarity of roles and responsibilities, it becomes a motivating factor for the employees in the long run and thus help in achieving of personal as well as organizational goals.
3. Balanced scorecard approach also leads to flow down of better quality of information as the raw data and information is refined at various levels and this enables quick and better decision making without much hussle and bussle.
4. This is an effective strategic and controlling tool as it is in the form of flow chart and time and resources to be used in a particular activity are well defined. IT also develops a cause and effect relationship(Bromwich & Scapens, 2016).
5. It leads to alignment of different divisions and departments in an enterprise under the same umbrella and thus leads to better coordination and communication within the given organization.

Part B

1. From the annual report of Qantas, the CSF can be listed below:
2. Highly trained and developed workforce to effectively manage the work.
3. Non stop travels of the flights as the time plays a crucial role in the longer duration flighst and it needs to be curtailed down.
4. Choice of the best possible routes where is frequency and traffic is less and the cost effectiveness can be realised(Linden & Freeman, 2017)
5. Focus on flight and on board services and promotions as it is one of the major forms of revenue. It includes avenues like meals, lounge facility, seats availability and selection.
6. Focus on the senior management and their roles and responsibilities(Dumay & Baard, 2017).

References 

Arnott, D., Lizama, F., & Song, Y. (2017). Patterns of business intelligence systems use in organizations. Decision Support Systems, 97, 58-68.

Bromwich, M., & Scapens, R. (2016). Management Accounting Research: 25 years on. Management Accounting Research, 31(1), 1-9.

Dumay, J., & Baard, V. (2017). An introduction to interventionist research in accounting. The Routledge Companion to Qualitative Accounting Research Methods, 265. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PzQlDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA265&dq=Dumay,+J.,+%26+Baard,+V.+(2017).+An+introduction+to+interventionist+research+in+accounting.+The+Routledge+Companion+to+Qualitative+Accounting+Research+Methods,+265.&ots=ta1isTHB

Erik, H., & Jan, B. (2017). Supply chain management and activity-based costing: Current status and directions for the future. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 47(8), 712-735.

Heminway, J. (2017). Shareholder Wealth Maximization as a Function of Statutes, Decisional Law, and Organic Documents. SSRN, 1-35.

Linden, B., & Freeman, R. (2017). Profit and Other Values: Thick Evaluation in Decision Making. Business Ethics Quarterly, 27(3), 353-379. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/beq.2017.1

Meroño-Cerdán, A., Lopez-Nicolas, C., & Molina-Castillo, F. (2017). Risk aversion, innovation and performance in family firms. Economics of Innovation and new technology, 1-15.