Cyclone Car Company tries to assign appropriate responsibilities to all of its managers. Production managers receive reports which accumulate information of the shop operations for each plant. Plant operations are further aggregated in the report received by the vice president of manufacturing. These reports show the budgeted and actual operating results for the current month and year-to-date. These, along with inventory status reports, provide the major source of production information for the next planning period. Managers evaluate the variances between actual and budgeted amounts and determine whether operations are in or out of control. If variances are large, appropriate action is taken, i.e., the plans are changed.
The company's profits have been decreasing, and management has requested similar aggregate sales data from marketing. It is felt that this added information will suffice for its decision-making needs.
Required:
Do you agree? Why? Do you foresee any needs that will not be met by this information? If so, what additional information do you suggest that management be provided by the management accounting system?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer is The operating and variance information received by management of Cyclone Car is only a part of the total information set required to make managerial decisions which deal with the efficient allocation of the firm's resources in accordance with the policies and goals of the firm. The firm's collection of information needs to be expanded to encompass external market and economic information, analysis of causes of unacceptable variances, and evaluations of production efficiency using measures other than dollars (for example, quality). Also, student may provide metrics that support KSFs.

Cyclone Car Company Tries to Assign Appropriate Responsibilities to All