Thursday, May 01, 2008
I remembered weeks ago, I mentioned about finding podcasts and audio products for Accounting. Right now, I had a good website that issue podcasts on various accounting topics every two weeks. The website address is http://www.stevebragg.com/Podcast_Sign_Up.html . The various topics he talked about include Controls for Payroll, Fixed Assets, Journal Entries and many more great accounting topics.
The author of this website, Steven Bragg, is one of the top-selling and most prolific accounting authors in the world, has been quoted in Business Week and CFO Magazine, and has spoken internationally on a variety of accounting management issues. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of a public company, and has been the CFO or controller of four companies. He holds an MBA from Babson College, a Master of Finance degree from Bentley College, a BA from the University of Maine, and has been a consulting manager with Ernst & Young and an auditor with Deloitte & Touche. He also holds the CPA, CMA, CIA, and CPIM certifications. Steve is the author of more than 30 business books, including the best sellers Accounting Best Practices, Accounting Control Best Practices, The New CFO Financial Leadership Manual, Controllership, Fast Close, Just-in-Time Accounting, and The Ultimate Accountant's Reference. He is also a co-author of the Wiley GAAP Guide, which is the standard accounting industry guide to the most recent GAAP issuances. With more than 17,000 copies sold each year, it is a perennial favorite among practicing accountants.
More on Accounting in Business.
More on Management Accounting.
More on Financial Accounting.
The author of this website, Steven Bragg, is one of the top-selling and most prolific accounting authors in the world, has been quoted in Business Week and CFO Magazine, and has spoken internationally on a variety of accounting management issues. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of a public company, and has been the CFO or controller of four companies. He holds an MBA from Babson College, a Master of Finance degree from Bentley College, a BA from the University of Maine, and has been a consulting manager with Ernst & Young and an auditor with Deloitte & Touche. He also holds the CPA, CMA, CIA, and CPIM certifications. Steve is the author of more than 30 business books, including the best sellers Accounting Best Practices, Accounting Control Best Practices, The New CFO Financial Leadership Manual, Controllership, Fast Close, Just-in-Time Accounting, and The Ultimate Accountant's Reference. He is also a co-author of the Wiley GAAP Guide, which is the standard accounting industry guide to the most recent GAAP issuances. With more than 17,000 copies sold each year, it is a perennial favorite among practicing accountants.
More on Accounting in Business.
More on Management Accounting.
More on Financial Accounting.
Labels: accountancy, accountant in business, accounting, accounting tools, business accounting, financial accountancy, financial accounting, management accountancy, managerial accounting
what we could have been, 6:33 PM.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A truly successful accountant in the business world has certain characteristics. The accountant who has all the characteristics listed below is rare, but most truly successful accountants have many, if not most, of these characteristics.
In terms of Expertise:
Technical Aspects: Knows accounting principles, accounting standards as well as taxation related to the location.
Management Aspects: Knows the principles and techniques of business management and administration. Ability to provide tactical information to increase efficiency and productivity.
Language: Speaks well and writes well. Spells accurately and has good grammar. This is essentially needed for financial reports.
Personal Characteristics
Dress: Dresses for success, wearing conservative, formal clothing. Polished shoes.
Personal image: Well groomed, clean. Moderate length or short hair, clean fingernails.
Integrity: An accountant sells two things: time and integrity. Has high personal standards of honesty and lives by the organization's high standards. Personal life is consistent with working life's standards.
Confidence: Has self-confidence but is not overbearing. Relaxed.
Service orientation: Always looking to serve others and help solve their problems.
Office/workspace: Neat, organized, inviting. Comfortable.
Personal hygiene: No smell, no bad breath. Good posture. Moderate, pleasant voice. No loud or expansive gestures. Looks healthy and full of energy. Is not sleepy or bored on the job.
Attitude: Positive. Willing to work. Excited to solve problems.
Pleasant personality: Gets along with everyone, including difficult personalities.
Disciplined Resource Management
Money: Not extravagant with company funds or personal funds. Personal finances are in order to create trust.
Time: Uses time effectively and efficiently. This is absolutely essential. Accountants sell their time; expertise and knowledge help, but there must be time to use it. Those who are not good time managers will not be successful accountants.
Etiquette
Sends thank-you notes.
Introduces people.
Uses common courtesy at all times.
Punctual; does not make others wait. Shows time management.
Knows when to stand up in respect of others. Be assertive.
Able to manage meetings and end them gracefully on time.
Attends to details; merticulous.
I may not have all the attributes but I am working on it. In terms of expertise, I am not there yet and I would work hard towards it and this is the area I would on through my ACCA course and hopefully in a temporary job that I could do during my vacation or something.
Labels: accountancy, accountant in business, accounting, business accounting, career, grooming, management accountancy, managerial accounting
what we could have been, 11:50 PM.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
It was an insightful day yesterday as I attended my F1 course on motivation and performance. In time to come, if I entered into the corporate world or assume any leadership role, this lesson could be the most useful lesson I ever attended. Therefore, I decided to share with you some of the things I learned during this lesson.
Many would ask: Why motivate people? Have we not pay them enough? A recent survey conducted and published on a local newspaper had suggested that Singaporeans are not motivated by pay to work. They seeked opportunities and personal development and assume more managerial roles. This is what motivates Singaporeans. Singaporeans are no longer contented with a fat pay check, they wanted more. How we give them? This is why this lesson is important to me.
A well trained, experienced but unmotivated individual is unlikely to be committed to his job, doing only the bare minimum. Likewise, a young and enthusiastic trainee may learn very fast and produce a return on the organisation's investment quickly initially but would lose steam or leave the organisation if he felt unmotivated. I also had an experience with my present organisation whereby everyone wanted to leave because they felt unmotivated. Everyone is only looking forward for their next pay check and they would just do the bare minimum leaving those who are motivated their left over work. Soon, the motivated ones became unmotivated and do just the bare minimum and this became a deadly cycle. Although, every now and then, the organisation would have fresh trainees and recruits, they would have a high labour turnover which is not healthily at all. Therefore, it is in the manager's best interests to have a good motivation throughout a company, from sales office to the production line. With motivation, your staff will definitely be more productive and committed, making fewer mistakes and convey a more positive and enthusiastic air to customers.
There are three keys areas for using motivation as a tool to get work done. They are:
1. Giving employees freedom to achieve an objective. (NOT MY PRESENT ORGANISATION) Let them learn and grow from their job experiences. Guide them in the right direction but do not interfere in the way they are doing or carry out the tasks. I love my previous superiors. They allowed me to do what I wanted to do like studying for my ACCA, sleeping if I am tired or anything as long as I completed the jobs they needed me to do. They also would like interfere with the way I do things but most importantly if I did a mistake, they would guide me instead of scolding or treating me like shit like my current organisation did.
2. Recognition and genuine appreciation for good work done. (DEFINITELY NOT MY PRESENT ORGANISATION) Many companies took for granted that employees getting a good job done is a right as they paid them to do so. What companies do not see is that employees took overtime, skip lunches or breaks just to do a report for their bosses. If the bosses do not appreciate that, the employee may think why should I skip lunch or breaks and do overtime and instead may just do the bare minimum which is happening to all companies, including mine. My previous superior would buy somethings like cookies or anything and he would just gave it to us, making us feel appreciated and definitely, we would not screwed up. I would do just the bare minimum in my current organisation because I do not feel appreciated. From day one, I got this feeling that we are crap and they wanted to kick us to a curb. Definitely not good for my heart so I started to ignore a lot of things and not to care so much, unlike my previous organisation which I loved to help.
3. Good interpersonal relations. (CONFIRM PLUS GUARANTEE WITH WARANTEE NOT MY PRESENT ORGANISATION) From day one, I did not had a good relationships which anyone in the current organisation. I started not to care and I hated each and everyone of them. I still do though although I was just good at conceding them.
This is why up till now, I still hate my organisation. Back to the topic....
Understanding Motivation
Motivation is ' a decision making process through which the individual chooses the desired outcomes and sets in motion the behaviour appropriate to aquire them. This is a definition by Huczynski and Buchenan. In pratice motivation are used in many different contexts. Here are some:
1. Desirable goals and outcomes. (money, power or friendship)
2. The mental process of choosing desired outcomes, deciding how to go to them and setting in motion the required behaviours. This is like internet marketing, you choose your niche areas and your techniques (Search Engine Optimazation, social networking) to increase traffic and you kept doing it.
3. The social process by which other people motivate us to behave in the ways they wish. Motivation in the sense usually applies to the attempts of organisations to get workers to put in more effort.
Motivation is about getting the extra level of commitment and performance from employees, over and above mere compliance with rules and procedures. If individuals are motivated, by one means or another, they might work more efficiently or produce a better quality of work.
More on Accounting in Business.
More on Management Accounting.
Many would ask: Why motivate people? Have we not pay them enough? A recent survey conducted and published on a local newspaper had suggested that Singaporeans are not motivated by pay to work. They seeked opportunities and personal development and assume more managerial roles. This is what motivates Singaporeans. Singaporeans are no longer contented with a fat pay check, they wanted more. How we give them? This is why this lesson is important to me.
A well trained, experienced but unmotivated individual is unlikely to be committed to his job, doing only the bare minimum. Likewise, a young and enthusiastic trainee may learn very fast and produce a return on the organisation's investment quickly initially but would lose steam or leave the organisation if he felt unmotivated. I also had an experience with my present organisation whereby everyone wanted to leave because they felt unmotivated. Everyone is only looking forward for their next pay check and they would just do the bare minimum leaving those who are motivated their left over work. Soon, the motivated ones became unmotivated and do just the bare minimum and this became a deadly cycle. Although, every now and then, the organisation would have fresh trainees and recruits, they would have a high labour turnover which is not healthily at all. Therefore, it is in the manager's best interests to have a good motivation throughout a company, from sales office to the production line. With motivation, your staff will definitely be more productive and committed, making fewer mistakes and convey a more positive and enthusiastic air to customers.
There are three keys areas for using motivation as a tool to get work done. They are:
1. Giving employees freedom to achieve an objective. (NOT MY PRESENT ORGANISATION) Let them learn and grow from their job experiences. Guide them in the right direction but do not interfere in the way they are doing or carry out the tasks. I love my previous superiors. They allowed me to do what I wanted to do like studying for my ACCA, sleeping if I am tired or anything as long as I completed the jobs they needed me to do. They also would like interfere with the way I do things but most importantly if I did a mistake, they would guide me instead of scolding or treating me like shit like my current organisation did.
2. Recognition and genuine appreciation for good work done. (DEFINITELY NOT MY PRESENT ORGANISATION) Many companies took for granted that employees getting a good job done is a right as they paid them to do so. What companies do not see is that employees took overtime, skip lunches or breaks just to do a report for their bosses. If the bosses do not appreciate that, the employee may think why should I skip lunch or breaks and do overtime and instead may just do the bare minimum which is happening to all companies, including mine. My previous superior would buy somethings like cookies or anything and he would just gave it to us, making us feel appreciated and definitely, we would not screwed up. I would do just the bare minimum in my current organisation because I do not feel appreciated. From day one, I got this feeling that we are crap and they wanted to kick us to a curb. Definitely not good for my heart so I started to ignore a lot of things and not to care so much, unlike my previous organisation which I loved to help.
3. Good interpersonal relations. (CONFIRM PLUS GUARANTEE WITH WARANTEE NOT MY PRESENT ORGANISATION) From day one, I did not had a good relationships which anyone in the current organisation. I started not to care and I hated each and everyone of them. I still do though although I was just good at conceding them.
This is why up till now, I still hate my organisation. Back to the topic....
Understanding Motivation
Motivation is ' a decision making process through which the individual chooses the desired outcomes and sets in motion the behaviour appropriate to aquire them. This is a definition by Huczynski and Buchenan. In pratice motivation are used in many different contexts. Here are some:
1. Desirable goals and outcomes. (money, power or friendship)
2. The mental process of choosing desired outcomes, deciding how to go to them and setting in motion the required behaviours. This is like internet marketing, you choose your niche areas and your techniques (Search Engine Optimazation, social networking) to increase traffic and you kept doing it.
3. The social process by which other people motivate us to behave in the ways they wish. Motivation in the sense usually applies to the attempts of organisations to get workers to put in more effort.
Motivation is about getting the extra level of commitment and performance from employees, over and above mere compliance with rules and procedures. If individuals are motivated, by one means or another, they might work more efficiently or produce a better quality of work.
More on Accounting in Business.
More on Management Accounting.
Labels: accountancy, accountant in business, accounting, business accounting, career, management accountancy, managerial accounting
what we could have been, 6:25 PM.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
This is my take on sales variance.
Sales Variance = Price Variance + Volume Variance
Price Variance = (Actual Margin * Actual Units) - (Standard Margin * Standard Units)
Actual Margin = Actual Selling Price - Standard Full Cost (Absorption Costing)
Standard Margin = Standard Selling Price - Standard Full Cost (Absorption Costing)
For Marginal Costing:
Actual Margin = Actual Selling Price - Total Variable Cost
Standard Margin = Standard Selling Price - Total Variable Cost
Operating Statement
Budget Profit -
Add/Less:
Sales Margin Variance
Price-
Volume-
Profit before Cost Variances-
Add/Less:
Cost Variances-
EG. Material Variance-
Labour Variance-
Actual Profit-
There are only two difference between Absorption Costing and Marginal Costing Variance Analysis.
1. Sales Volume Variance: AC use normal costing but MC use contribution margin.
2. Marginal Costing only report fixed overheads as expenditure variance.
Sales Variance = Price Variance + Volume Variance
Price Variance = (Actual Margin * Actual Units) - (Standard Margin * Standard Units)
Actual Margin = Actual Selling Price - Standard Full Cost (Absorption Costing)
Standard Margin = Standard Selling Price - Standard Full Cost (Absorption Costing)
For Marginal Costing:
Actual Margin = Actual Selling Price - Total Variable Cost
Standard Margin = Standard Selling Price - Total Variable Cost
Operating Statement
Budget Profit -
Add/Less:
Sales Margin Variance
Price-
Volume-
Profit before Cost Variances-
Add/Less:
Cost Variances-
EG. Material Variance-
Labour Variance-
Actual Profit-
There are only two difference between Absorption Costing and Marginal Costing Variance Analysis.
1. Sales Volume Variance: AC use normal costing but MC use contribution margin.
2. Marginal Costing only report fixed overheads as expenditure variance.
Labels: accountancy, accounting, management accountancy, managerial accounting, standard costing
what we could have been, 10:56 PM.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Standard Costing is a technique which predetermined estimates of the cost of products and services which compares with the actual cost incurred. It is a planned or budgeted cost expressed on a per unit basis.
The purpose of Standard Costing is as follows:
1. Act as a control device through variance accounting to highlight the deviations from plans so that necessary actions can be taken.
2. Motivates employees to achieve the standard targets.
3. It may be used for valuing ending stocks and cost of goods sold.
4. Standard cost could be used in development of budgets.
5. Standard cost is predicted future cost, which can be used to support decision making. (ie. price decision)
Next......
Variance Analysis
This involves the comparison between the standard and actual.
The purpose of Variance Analysis is:
1. Used for control purposes.
2. Useful only is acted upon on a timely basis.
3. Variance identified must meet needs of management.
Now, we look at the different types of variances:
Direct Material Variance
DM Variance = D M Price Variance + D M Usage Variance
The DM variances indicate whether the material used have been bought at the right price of whether the correct amounts have been used.
Direct Labour Variance
DL Total Variance = Rate Variance + Idle Time + Efficiency Variance
The DL variances indicate the quality of the workers used, whether they are fully optimised or they are doing the job correctly.
Overhead Variances
OH Variances = Variable OH Variances + Fixed OH Variances
Variable OH V = Expenditure OH V + Efficiency OH V
Expenditure Variance simply means under/ over absorbed variable OH
Efficiency Variance is a measure of additional variable overhead saving cost saved or incurred as a result of the efficiency of the labour force.
Fixed O H Varience
F. OH V = Expenditure Variance + Volume Variance
Expenditure Variance = Actual F. OH - Budgeted F. OH
Volume Variance = Budgeted F. OH = (Fixed Overhead Absorption rate * Standard Hours Allowed)
Expediture Variance simply mean whether the services are economical and saving in cost will be incurred or not.
The purpose of Standard Costing is as follows:
1. Act as a control device through variance accounting to highlight the deviations from plans so that necessary actions can be taken.
2. Motivates employees to achieve the standard targets.
3. It may be used for valuing ending stocks and cost of goods sold.
4. Standard cost could be used in development of budgets.
5. Standard cost is predicted future cost, which can be used to support decision making. (ie. price decision)
Next......Variance Analysis
This involves the comparison between the standard and actual.
The purpose of Variance Analysis is:
1. Used for control purposes.
2. Useful only is acted upon on a timely basis.
3. Variance identified must meet needs of management.
Now, we look at the different types of variances:
Direct Material Variance
DM Variance = D M Price Variance + D M Usage Variance
The DM variances indicate whether the material used have been bought at the right price of whether the correct amounts have been used.
Direct Labour Variance
DL Total Variance = Rate Variance + Idle Time + Efficiency Variance
The DL variances indicate the quality of the workers used, whether they are fully optimised or they are doing the job correctly.
Overhead Variances
OH Variances = Variable OH Variances + Fixed OH Variances
Variable OH V = Expenditure OH V + Efficiency OH V
Expenditure Variance simply means under/ over absorbed variable OH
Efficiency Variance is a measure of additional variable overhead saving cost saved or incurred as a result of the efficiency of the labour force.
Fixed O H Varience
F. OH V = Expenditure Variance + Volume Variance
Expenditure Variance = Actual F. OH - Budgeted F. OH
Volume Variance = Budgeted F. OH = (Fixed Overhead Absorption rate * Standard Hours Allowed)
Expediture Variance simply mean whether the services are economical and saving in cost will be incurred or not.
Labels: accountancy, accounting, management accountancy, managerial accounting, standard costing
what we could have been, 10:29 AM.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
It was such a tiring, long day. I sat for a total of about 6 hours worth of lecture on management accounting. I learned a lot from the lecture but it was not very easy to concentrate on the lessons and I almost fell asleep midway through the lecture.Anyway...
Fixed Budget is mainly used in the planning stage to define the broad objectives of management. Flexible budget, on the other hand is prepared for the volume of activity actually achieved, in other words the controlling stage. The reason why we had flexible budget is because for most of the time, the level of activities differ and as a result, the fixed budget differs by a lot from the actual result. For instance, in an event when the actual production doubled as compared to fixed budget, the variable cost for the production also doubled and the difference between the variable cost differed by a lot. When the fixed budget is brought to the higher management to compare with the actual results, the management will ask why the budget and actual differ by so much, making an assumption that the total actual production should be the same as budgeted production and held someone liable for it which would be the production manager since he is in charge of the production. This is not fair to the production manager, hence, we should introduce flexible budget during the controlling stage.
Next....
Steps in the preparation of the flexible budgets:
1. Analyse all the cost into fixed and variable category
2. Break up semi-variable cost into fixed & variable cost if necessary using high-low method.
3. Flexible the variable cost and do not flex the fixed cost.
4. Prepare the Flexible Budget also known as Performance Statement.
Labels: accountancy, accounting, budget, management accountancy, managerial accounting
what we could have been, 9:17 PM.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Today, I went into the lecture pretty exhausted as I was walking really fast so that I could get to the lecture on time. The lecturer talked about the Break Even Chart which is Revenue Vs Units graph. the line that passes through the origin is known as the total revenue line and the other line is the total cost line. The two lines intersect at the break even point and the break even revenue respectively. The region above the break even point is the profitable region and the region blow the break even point is called the region of loss. the total cost line will cut at the y intercept. The value is the fixed cost. Next, he talked about the profit and volume chart which he elaborate on based on the chart, where to find the total CM , the profit and the fixed cost. The line is also called the CM line which gradient gives the CM per unit.The rest of the evening, he talked about the budget. The budget is to plan and control. Plan is set up of target and control is to ensure that targets are achieved.
He went on to talked about the benefits of budgeting:
- Forces the organistaion to plan and improve coordination in the organisation.
- Provides a framework for Respoinsibility Accounting (CENTRES)
- Improves communication
- Improves control
- Improves motivation & promotes goal congruence
- Integration of Budgets makes better cash and working capital management.
Budget Period:
short: 1 year
long: 5 years
Goal congruence is when organisational, departmental and individual objectives made to coincide.
He went on to talk about the steps in budgeting and empahasizes on the preparation of functional and master budgets.
Sales budget -> Production Budget -> (D.M, D.L, OH Budget) -> Admin Budget -> (from here on is master budget but not master budget process!) Cash Budget -> Forecast, P & L and B.S Budget.
Labels: accountancy, accounting, budget, management accountancy, managerial accounting
what we could have been, 11:04 PM.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Today, in F2 class, I learn the following things:
Break Even Point - point of no profit no loss at which CM = Fixed Cost for the period.
B/E Point(units)= Fixed Cost/ CM per unit
B/E in $= Fixed Cost / CM per unit * Selling Price per unit = Fixed Cost/ CM Ratio
Level of Sales to achieve target profit= (Fixed Cost + Target Profit)/ CM per unit
Safety Margin (Units)= Present Output - Break Even Output
Margin of Safety (%) = (Present Output - Break Even Output)/ Present Output * 100%
That's all for Today's lecture.
I still do not like the working environment in the new unit that I go to. I miss my friends and colleagues up there in my previous workplace and sometimes, I feel that I do not belong here at all. It is frustrating to have so many eyes watching us like we are newbies but we are not. It is also frustrating because we are learning new trades from the new place and I do not want to do that because having night classes is enough for me to handle. I hated and hated it!!! Sooner or later, I will blow up, I know I am boiling inside.
Break Even Point - point of no profit no loss at which CM = Fixed Cost for the period.
B/E Point(units)= Fixed Cost/ CM per unit
B/E in $= Fixed Cost / CM per unit * Selling Price per unit = Fixed Cost/ CM Ratio
Level of Sales to achieve target profit= (Fixed Cost + Target Profit)/ CM per unit
Safety Margin (Units)= Present Output - Break Even Output
Margin of Safety (%) = (Present Output - Break Even Output)/ Present Output * 100%
That's all for Today's lecture.
I still do not like the working environment in the new unit that I go to. I miss my friends and colleagues up there in my previous workplace and sometimes, I feel that I do not belong here at all. It is frustrating to have so many eyes watching us like we are newbies but we are not. It is also frustrating because we are learning new trades from the new place and I do not want to do that because having night classes is enough for me to handle. I hated and hated it!!! Sooner or later, I will blow up, I know I am boiling inside.
Labels: accountancy, accounting, management accountancy, managerial accounting
what we could have been, 10:46 PM.
