管理会计双语材料

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INTERNATIONAL ADVANCES IN ECONOMIC RESEARCH
An important aspect of cost management is the integration of accounting data in the strategic planning process. Strategic cost management focuses upon the role of developing and implementing internal accounting information useful in strategic planning. A cost management system must provide financial and nonfinancial data to support the strategy of the organization, and customer demands of quality, flexibility, service, and cost. Shank [1989, p. 50] defines strategic cost management as the blending of three underlying themes: value chain analysis; strategic positioning analysis; and cost driver analysis [Shank, 1989, p. 50]. Underlying the concept of strategic cost management is value chain analysis. The value chain has been defined as " . . . the linked set of value-creating activities all the way from basic raw material sources for component suppliers through the ultimate end-use product delivered into the final consumer's hands [Shank, 1989, p. 50]." The value chain broadens the traditional internal focus of managerial accounting while focusing on exploiting linkages with customers and suppliers. Creating product value encompasses quality, price, service, and other relevant factors. Knowledge of the cost structure and value chain of the organization allows examination of the major cost elements of each value added activity. Another underlying theme of strategic cost analysis is cost driver analysis [Shank, 1989]. The emphasis is on determining the causes of costs. Establishing cause and effect relationships of costs with their cost drivers provides a basis for elimination or reduction of non-value-added costs, while also providing a basis for the integration of cost information into strategic planning. Cost driver analysis can also be expanded to other activities within the organization, thereby moving away from the limited traditional cost accounting focus of inventory valuation to the broader based cost management. Numerous studies have examined the content of the management/cost accounting curriculum in the United States and Asia (for example, Lander and Reinstein; Bromwich and Wang; AnyaneNtow) to determine if educators are responding to the needs of practitioners. Generally these studies have focused on the views of accounting practitioners and/or educators concerning the importance of selected management accounting topics, or desirable knowledge and skills that should be included in the Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK) for management accounting. The results of this study provide information for educators and practitioners, in both the United States and Asia, by examining the importance and use of various management accounting practices and techniques. METHODOLOGY The purpose of this study is to examine trends in the adoption of new management accounting techniques and practices by manufacturing firms in the Asian Pacific rim region. The study involved mailing a questionnaire (in both English and Chinese to those countries with large Chinese populations) to a sample of 550 manufacturing firms in the major developing and developed economies of the Asian Pacific Region. The practices and techniques used in the survey were taken from topical coverage at recent professional conferences, and domestic and international practitioner and academic accounting journals. The questionnaire consisted of two pages and asked respondents about general demographic data, as well as the perceived importance of both traditional and "cutting edge" management accounting techniques and practices. The questionnaire also asked respondents to indicate whether various innovative practices and techniques were being currently used in their companies, and if they were not being currently used, would they be used in the near future. At the time of this writing, completed questionnaires were still being received from the respondents and a total of 41 usable responses, representing a 7.4 percent response ratio, had been received.
Trends in Management AccounIHOLLAH ~ Z A E E , JOSEPH Z. SZENDI, CONNIE SHUM, AND ROBERT C. ELMORE* INTRODUCTION The usefulness of the traditionalmanagement accounting information system has been challenged by a changing economic environment coupled with increased global competition and the emergence of new manufacturing technologies.