Читать книгу Management Accounting. Part 2 – Profit Plan, Finance Plan, Budgeted Balance Sheet - Werner Seebacher - Страница 11

1. Introduction

“Management Accounting.” is based on the idea that all accounting/controlling considerations in an enterprise are always focused on the Big Picture – the comprehensive overview or comprehensive presentation of these business activities as a whole. All business activities are always analyzed and evaluated with reference to this overall connection.

For this reason there are substantial differences in “Management Accounting.” compared to classical textbooks on accounting/controlling or to standard literature in the field of accounting/controlling.

In order to give a total, general overview of the connections in accounting – independent of national and international trade and tax laws – neither references to legal texts are given nor paragraphs or legal regulations are mentioned.

In order to take the aspect of convergence in accounting/controlling into account, “Management Accounting.” integrates central elements of accounting. Internal and external accounting are connected as well as past and future, planned and current data.

For this reason accounting must be seen in a broader sense – referring to balance sheet, profit/loss account, results statement, contribution margin costing as well as to corporate planning, profit plan, finance plan, budgeted balance sheet, key figures – and should not be understood as accounting in the narrower sense of book-keeping (and balancing).

The approach that is used in “Management Accounting.” focuses on two central connections which form the basic structure of presenting the economic activities in accounting/controlling of an enterprise:

The first of these two connections is the basic connection between Balance Sheet and Profit/Loss Account.

The second decisive connection is based on the interaction of the components result (profit or loss respectively), liquidity (solvency) and balance sheet which – with a view to the future – are presented through the elements Profit Plan, Finance Plan and Budgeted Balance Sheet.

Combining the two groups of topics Balance Sheet | Profit/Loss Account and Profit Plan | Finance Plan | Budgeted Balance Sheet, the circle of the effects of economic activities of an enterprise closes. The connection of accounting/controlling as a whole opens up.

The two central groups of topics which are presented in “Management Accounting.” – Balance Sheet | Profit/Loss Account and Profit Plan | Finance Plan | Budgeted Balance Sheet meet exactly at the interface between past, current and future situation:

The group of topics: Balance Sheet | Profit/Loss Account deals with the past or the current situation of the enterprise.

The group of topics: Profit Plan | Finance Plan | Budgeted Balance Sheet deals with the future development of the enterprise.

The basic elements which are used remain the same in both groups of topics, also the contents and connections. What changes is the way they are considered and the terms which are used.

The presentation of the fundamental contents of and the connections between the the elements Balance Sheet and Profit/Loss Account is dealt with in “Management Accounting. Part 1 - Balance Sheet | Profit/Loss Account”.

“Management Accounting. Part 2 - Profit Plan | Finance Plan | Budgeted Balance Sheet” deals with the central “Accounting/Controlling Overall Context“, the connection between the elements Profit Plan, Finance Plan and Budgeted Balance Sheet. The connections described are presented and annotated in form of case studies.