Purpose and Importance of Managerial Accounting

Introduction to Managerial Accounting In the recent years, Managerial Accounting has emerged to be one of the most sought after skill sets. It plays an important major role in just about every area of today’s economy. From Manufacturing to Retail, Managerial Accounting performs a series of tasks that aide all levels of management in making strategic decisions. “The role of the management accountant is to perform a series of tasks to ensure their company's financial security, handling essentially all financial matters and thus helping to drive the business's overall management and strategy.” (Unknown. (n.d.). Role of the management Accountant. Allbusinessschools.com. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from http://www.allbusinessschools.com/business-careers/accounting/management-accounting). The responsible of financial reporting is primarily for internal users, however can also be used for external financial statements. Managerial accounting is exclusively

Introduction to Managerial Accounting 3 associated with cost accounting, cost management, activity management, and investment management. Over the years, it has evolved beginning as simply cost accounting to what is now defined as Management accounting. Before the 19th century, most accounting was simply recording financial information for tracking purposes. During the “classical period” (1700-1950s), cost accounting was the term used up until about the industrial revolution timeframe when “Managerial Accounting” started to be recognized by evidence of some businesses using managerial concepts. The First Management Accounting Revolution (late 1950s-1980), was known as the modern management accounting period and provided decision making management accounting tools for management. The Second Management Accounting Revolution (1980-1999), was called the post-modern period or the new wave. “According to