Critical Analysis of Strategic Management Accounting (SMA)

Critical Analysis of Strategic Management Accounting (SMA) This essay presents a critical analysis of strategic management accounting and the roles of management accountants in it. The starting point for this analysis is the argument presented by Cadez and Guilding (2008, p. 838) that while the recent past has seen increased interest in SMA, the area is still under-defined and no universally accepted SMA framework exists. Principally, this essay argues that whilst strategic management accounting is somewhat under defined, it does have clearly agreed features and aspects which offer a basis for understanding. This essay generally supports the argument that no universally accepted SMA framework exists to date, concurrently it will argue that there are some accepted SMA practices and approaches, which can be drawn upon by organisations to create their own SMA framework, adapted to their own strategic needs. An agreed upon definition of SMA is difficult to come across because management accounting and the role of management accountants are constantly evolving phenomena. Cooper (1996, p. 26) in particular, cites changes in management accounting practice over a period of less than a decade, including the influence of Japanese accounting practices on the UK, and the associated challenges for management accounting professionals. This changing environment is characteristic of the paradox of management accounting, in that new approaches are continually introduced globally, whilst often in the process of being superseded and replaced. Nixon and Burns (2012, p. 229) observed this in the apparent decline of SMA [in practice] and the sustained growth in the number of concepts, models, tools, theoretical perspectives within the discipline. Ultimately, the process of developing theory and practice always lags behind the cutting edge of business, where new concepts are put into practice immediately, often without significant study, in an effort to keep up with competitors and maintain a competitive business strategy (Simmonds, 1981, p. 28). This process of development when considered, it is perhaps not surprising that there is limited agreement around the concept of SMA and the development of a universally accepted framework for the discipline. Examining the work of Lord (1996, p. 347), who noted that the techniques and elements of strategic management accounting may in many cases already be found in firms. However, the information may not be quantified in accounting figures, and may not be collected and used by management accountants. Therefore, this indicates that the process of developing SMA has indeed reduced the role of the management accountant as a uniquely qualified individual. Instead, it is now more plausible that a strategy management accountant will be more focused on operational management, and as argued by Roslender and Hart (2003, p. 255) able to integrate insights from management accounting and marketing management within a strategic management framework. A strategic management accountant is thus arguably a contradiction in terms because, to be truly strategic, a professional cannot narrowly define themselves as an accountant. Instead, a more open-minded, strategic thinker is best positioned to deliver real value to their firm (Shah et al, 2011, p. 3). When considering these arguments, it is apparent that SMA is under defined because it is one of numerous management skills, rather than the single framework argued for by Cadez and Guilding (2008, p. 838). However, this fragmented nature of SMA makes Lords (2007, p. 151) argument that the concept of [SMA] may need to be developed further to show its role in emergent strategy and its benefits in strategy formulation valid. This postulates questions over whether SMA development should indeed continue through the use of conceptual frameworks and integrated theories, or instead via the development of a range of techniques which can be understood and learnt by accountants and operational management alike, in order to allow management accounting data to play a more strategic role. These techniques already exist, and are analysed by Cadez and Guilding (2008, p. 851), and the application of these techniques in a strategic manner, which is designed to support overall performance, can be seen as key to the role of the modern management accountant. Modern firms are increasingly required to focus much of their attention on monitoring and assessing their competitors and ensuring they are not left behind by the moves they make in the market. This is an area in which management accountants can help contribute to strategic value creation through a process of competitor position monitoring, providing information to management in order to support effective decision making (Dixon, 1998, p. 274). For example, when analysing operational decisions, accountants can consider factors such as contractual agreements, competitive positioning and resource acquisition, thus providing support for strategic planning and coordination (Brandau and Hoffjan, 2010, p. 77). This hence provides for greater levels of information input into decision making processes, allowing management accountants to act as trusted advisors to operational managers and other individuals within the business. By doing this, management accountants can increase their value to t he business by providing strategic insight into the operation of markets and the factors the organisation must attend to in order to ensure its success in business activities (Porter, 2008, p. 79). Similarly, management accountants can play an important role by assisting in the application of other techniques of value to the business. For example, the strategic use of benchmarking techniques has been shown to help support learning and development effectiveness through challenging businesses to learn how and why they are performing as they are (Coleman and Ingram, 2004, p. 55). This can thus support improved outcomes and the development of a learning culture which is more open to external knowledge. The role of the management accountant in this area is thus to assimilate and provide the information in a way which is useful to the organisation and will support wider strategic goals. For example, Mosse and Whitley (2009, p. 150) highlight the role of management accountants in supporting the benchmarking of websites against factors such as navigational efficiency and user response. By applying management accounting techniques, benchmarking can be used to create more objective asses sments of website performance, thus providing guidance around how to improve this vital marketing channel. Expanding the management accountants role At the same time as applying management accounting techniques, the management accountant must ensure that they are able to go beyond a simple focus on numbers and accounting factors, and taking into account the importance of qualitative factors in modern decision making. This is an area in which a management accountant needs to move beyond being a simple accountant, and towards a more strategic and operational management role, which considers a wider set of factors (Vandyck, 2006, p. 105). This may include a consideration of factors such as marketing, sales, human resources and other factors in order to make effective decisions (Alexander et al, 2011). Advanced strategic management accounting can thus be seen as a process of moving away from a focus on numbers and towards the generation of rounded insight from a range of sources. This can be seen in one of the most important strategic management accounting techniques: the balanced scorecard. Indeed, Kaplan and Norton (1992, p. 73) argue that this technique systematically expands the measurement areas traditionally involved in accounting. Such an approach hence allows for the combination of qualitative and quantitative factors to develop the necessary levels of breadth and insight around a companys sources of value and performance relative to the market and its competitors (Kaplan and Norton, 1996, p. 19). The balanced scorecard has thus been shown to help support the development of organisational strategies and improved performance in a range of contexts (Blooinquist and Yeager, 2008, p. 24). However, the technique has also been developed over time to be more dynamic and responsive to changes in the environment (Nielsen and Nielsen, 2015, p. 2). This hence shows that the role of the management accountant is also to keep pace with such developments and ensure their company stays abreast of them in order to remain effective. In conclusion, this essay has shown that, in general, SMA is relatively under defined and can apply to a range of concepts. However, rather than being a weakness of the discipline, this can actually be one of its main strengths. Specifically, this allows SMA techniques to be applied in a range of contexts, offering deeper and more strategic advice and insight than would be possible under simple management accounting models. The role of management accountants in this concept is thus to acquire, synthesis and analyse a range of quantitative and qualitative information in order to provide operational managers with the level of insight needed to make effective decisions. At the same time, the strategic nature of modern business and management accounting also requires operational managers to develop their own management accounting abilities, in order to make best use of this information and ensure optimal strategic outcomes. SMA was initially introduced by Simmonds (1981), who defined it as the provision and analysis of management accounting data about a business and its competitors, for use in developing and monitoring business strategy. During this period (early 1980s) conventional management accounting received heavy criticism for chiefly focussing on operational issues and not assisting management with external issues like strategic decisions (CIMA, 2016).

A comparison of “Deirdre” and “On Baile’s Strand” by William Butler Yeats Essay

Deirdre and On Baile’s Strand are two plays by William Butler Yeats that incorporate a tragic vision. Both plays deal with a single tragic moment in the life of an important figure. The plays are similar in structure and style. Yeats interweaves supernatural elements in both plays — the Shape Changers in On Baile’s Strand and the circumstances of Deirdre’s birth and the question of her parentage in Deirdre. The endings of the plays are similar, however, the process of coming to a conclusion in the plays is different. In both of these plays, Yeats gives readers the back ground, information about the characters, and sets the scene at the beginning. In On Baile’s Strand Yeats uses two characters, the Fool and the Blind Man, whose purpose in the play was to describe the situation and the characters involved. In Deirdre Yeats uses a group of three female musicians to set the scenes and give information about the characters. Even with this similarity, however, there is a difference. In On Baile’s Strand the Fool and the Blind man are not directly involved in the action of the play. The exception is at the end of the play when through them, Cuchulain learns that he has killed his only son. The Fool and the Blind Man speak prose while the musicians in Deirdre sing. The three female musicians in Deirdre, however, are spoken to and answer the main characters in the play. In both instances, the Fool and the Blind Man, and the three female musicians have knowledge that the other characters do not. The settings of the plays reflect the main characters. In Deirdre, a tragedy with a female main character, the setting is feminine and action takes place in a guest-house in sereneness of the woods. On Baile’s Strand, a tragedy with a male main character, the setting is masculine and the action takes place in an assembly- house near a harsh sea. No only is On Baile’s Strand masculine in the sense that it takes place near a harsh sea, it is also without fully human women. The one fully human woman, Aoife, that is mentioned in the play, is seen as an evil influence. Conchubar tells Cuchulain: That very woman — For I know well that your are praising Aoife — Now hates you and will leave no subtlety Unknotted that might run into a noose About your throat †¦ (28) However, Cuchulain remembers her as being of â€Å"stone-pale cheek and red-brown hair† and stated that None other had all beauty, queen or lover, Or was so fitted to give birth to kings. (28) With Cuchulain’s vivid descriptions of her, Aoife, although she is not seen in the play, is able to be seen as clearly as the other characters. In both of the plays, the most dramatic part revolves around two things: death and the unknown. In Deirdre, Deirdre pleads with Conchubar to spare her and Naoise’s lives. She is unaware that Naoise is already dead. She did not see Conchubar motion to the â€Å"dark-faced men† who gag Naoise and pull him out of view. Deirdre  pleads with Conchubar, telling him that he will need Naoise some day, but Conchubar only laughs. Deirdre tells him: You will cry out for him someday and say, â€Å"If Naoise were but living† — [she misses Naoise]. Where is he? Where have you sent him? Where is the son of Usna? Where is he, O where is he? (69) This is the most tragic part of the play. Even more tragic than the deaths of Deirdre and Naoise because everyone except Deirdre knows that her pleading is futile. The most dramatic scene in On Baile’s Stand comes after Cuchulain kills the Young Man, not knowing that he is his son. The Blind Man tells Cuchulain that he knows the Young Man’s mother: BLIND MAN: I knew him and his mother there. CUCHULAIN: He was about to speak of her when he died. BLIND MAN: He was a queens son. CUCHULAIN: What queen? what queen? [Seizes Blind Man who  is now sitting upon the bench] Was it Scathach? There were many queens. All the rulers there were  queens. And further into the conversation the Fool tells Cuchulain that the Blind Man said â€Å"the young man was Aoife’s son† and that he had also heard Aoife say that she has had only one lover, and he was the  only one who had defeated her in battle. The Blind Man is the one to say â€Å"it is his own son he has slain.† Another important element found in the play is the idea of treachery or betrayal of trust. In both Deirdre and On Baile’s Strand, treachery results in death. In Deirdre Fergus trusts Conchubar and is betrayed by him; and he betrays others in the play by not divulging knowledge he has. Naoise trusts Fergus, and to some extent Conchubar, and is betrayed. Deirdre trusts Naoise and becomes a victim with him after he is killed. Deirdre betrays Conchubar twice. First when she runs away with Naoise and hides for seven years, and again before taking her own life. Conchubar betrays both Deirdre and Naoise in order the win Deirdre and punish Naoise for stealing her from him and, in turn, this is when he is betrayed by Deirdre and Naoise. Early in the play, after Naoise realized that Conchubar has not sent a messenger to meet with them, Fergus tells Deirdre and Naoise that Conchubar will arrive in person. Naoise responds that â€Å"he cannot break his faith† and â€Å"I have his word and I must take that word.† After seeing a chess-board and remembering the tale of Lugaidh Redstripe and his wife, who both died after being betrayed Naoise speaks: If I had not King Conchubar’s word I’d think That chess-board ominous. (53) Fergus recalls the tall of Lugaidh Redstripe as â€Å"the tale of treachery, A broken promise† that is best forgotten. In On Baile’s Strand, Cuchulain is betrayed by the oath he made to Conchubar when Conchubar calls him on it after the Young Man’s arrival. When Cuchulain refuses to fight the Young Man, Conchubar tells him that â€Å"witchcraft has maddened you.† Cuchulain realizes he had been betrayed after he kills his son. He runs out  to the sea to fight the harsh waves, which he sees as an image of Conchubar. Deirdre and On Baile’s Strand are two plays whose outcome is based on the tragedy upholding honor. Cuchulain’s honor of Conchubar in On Baile’s Strand, and Deirdre’s honor of Naoise and Naoise’s honor of Conchubar in Deirdre. The possession of knowledge the reader has about the events of the play heighten the tragic effects found in both Deirdre and On Baile’s Strand.

The Role of Intelligence in Public Safety Organizations and Law Enforcement Free Essay Example, 3000 words

The primary objective of the law enforcement analysts operating in any aspect is it the crime analysts or the law enforcement officers associated with collection and processing of the crime-related intelligence, the essential and predominant objective is always to facilitate an understanding of the environment in which the criminals operate (Ratcliffe, 2003). The 3i model is a more proactive approach towards the treatment and processing of intelligence, which not merely waits for the intelligence to flow to the analysts, but rather insists on a pull driven approach towards data collection. The primary objective of the law enforcement analysts operating in any aspect is it the crime analysts or the law enforcement officers associated with collection and processing of the crime-related intelligence, the essential and predominant objective is always to facilitate an understanding of the environment in which the criminals operate (Ratcliffe, 2003). The 3i model is a more proactive appro ach towards the treatment and processing of intelligence, which not merely waits for the intelligence to flow to the analysts, but rather insists on a pull driven approach towards data collection. Interpreting the Criminal Environment As already said, the primary objective of the criminal analysts and the law enforcement officers is to facilitate and assure an understanding of the environment in which the criminals operate. We will write a custom essay sample on The Role of Intelligence in Public Safety Organizations and Law Enforcement or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page For the accrual and processing of criminal intelligence, it is imperative that it gets promptly and systematically conveyed to the decision-makers (Ratcliffe, 2004 a). So the intelligence analysts need to focus on the fact as to who are the best decision-makers in the law enforcement organization they work and what is the best way to influence them. In the post 9/11 related developments, the Superintendent of Investigations at the Abu Dhabi Department of Criminal Investigations and the Department of Wanted Criminals commissioned and initiated a new program to refurbish and redesign the intelligence operations in Abu Dhabi.

Humanity And Evil In Oscar Diazs Oscar Wao - 1491 Words

According to this novel’s view of existence, what is mankind’s relationship to religion, universe, and supernatural: Specially, what does the novel state about determinism, human nature, and the nature of good and evil: In Oscar Wao, Diaz correlates the relationship between spirituality and mankind with race and identity. The characters in the book discuss openly throughout about ghosts, curses, and the element of fuku. I think culturally the struggle to identify whether or not these things exist and what role they should play in one’s life are especially important. Fuku plays a huge part in this novel pertaining to the view of existence. Yunior, the narrator, believes that all things come back to the spiritual and long-lived curse. He†¦show more content†¦As far as hierarchy goes, the novel blends the supernatural with the element of power, whether good or bad power. Trujillo, â€Å"the Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated† (Diaz, 80), has power over every single character in the book. He also is claimed to have supernatural powers, that’s exactly how powerful he is. Trujillo challenges the power dynamic and brings up the conversation of good versus evil and how hum an nature can be a determining factor. El Jefe (Trujillo) and his policies plays a significant part in the entire novel. Historically, Trujillo was a real person who actually was a dictator of the Dominican from 1930 to about 1961 when he was assassinated. As in the novel, Trujillo was in fact very influential, dangerous, seductive to women and almost supernatural in how powerful he was. â€Å"Trujillo’s the president and you’re just a doctor. If he wants your daughters at the party you can do nothing but obey† (Diaz, 229). In the novel Trujillo repeatedly interrupts the lives of many women because he always gets his way. Beli, for example, almost lost her life because she fell in love with a cohort of El Jefe. Likewise to El Jefe, the femme civil rights activists during his reign, the Mirabel Sisters, were referenced throughout the book. As with most activists, they were opposed to the way Trujillo ruled. This ultimately made them martyrs by getting killed in a sugar cane field, hence Oscar’s death and Beli’s brush with death in a similar way.