For those who would like a simple and practical exposition of how to do basic management accounts using dead simple and basic examples, this book can teach you that in a matter of hours. "Zen and the Basics of Management Accounting" out now. Link is below:-
What does this book have in 72 pages that a Kaplan ACCA study text on Management accounting does not have in several hundred pages with copious detailed examples and self tests?
How about the AAT study texts?
Or a dummies guide to management accounting. 360 pages for £8.90
If you would like to sell any copies of this book on here please give a more in depth review of the book stating what management accounting techniques are covered. i.e do you cover things like regression analysis? Breakeven Analysis? Ansoff? Porter? Harmon? Mendelow? McGregor? Cyert & March? Boston Consulting Group? The Value chain? Gap Analysis? SWOT / TOWS? Kaizen? JIT? Product Life Cycle's, Risk? Quality Reporting? KPI's? Benchmarking? Balanced Scorecards? pricing decisions, ... I could go on but you get the gist
Maybe give a short extracts from the book showing the writing style, quality of the examples and the index.
I do appreciate that it will be difficult to write a review shorter than the book itself but why not have a go and see if you can get some interest.
Considering that the book has Zen in the title there is an old saying which is very, very true of this business :
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
If you teach people just enough to cover the basics, not giving them access to the full array of tools that they would be expected to know to help client then they are being set up for a fall.
A person who reads a short introductory book will not realise what they do not know. Much better that they start with a quality study text or even the Management accounting bible (Management and Cost Accounting by Colin Drury).
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Hi Chux Welcome to the forum. With your biography ''part-qualified CIMA management accountant with years of experience in not-for-profit sector'' - might be worthwhile joining in with the chat, answering some questions before encouraging people to buy something from you. Im looking forward to some insight from you.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Hi Chux Welcome to the forum. With your biography ''part-qualified CIMA management accountant with years of experience in not-for-profit sector'' - might be worthwhile joining in with the chat, answering some questions before encouraging people to buy something from you. Im looking forward to some insight from you.
That response is slightly more diplomatic than Shaun's.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
Not like me to be diplomatic! But I do agree with what Shaun was getting at, although he completely lost me at some of the
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i.e do you cover things like regression analysis? Breakeven Analysis? Ansoff? Porter? Harmon? Mendelow? McGregor? Cyert & March? Boston Consulting Group? The Value chain? Gap Analysis? SWOT / TOWS? Kaizen? JIT? Product Life Cycle's, Risk? Quality Reporting? KPI's? Benchmarking? Balanced Scorecards?
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well apart from certain of my ex Corporate Banking stuff like Breakeven Analysis, Gap Analysis SWOT JIT Product Life Cycle's, Risk Quality Reporting KPI's Benchmarking Balanced Scorecards - just realised I know more than I thought. Oops
Regression analysis makes me think of my friend the hypnotherapist rather than accounting!
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I think that a better approach would have been to set up a website and then give this away to anyone who signs up as compensation for pummeling them with daily follow up insightful emails where you sell the subscribers on taking out a paid subscription.
Its a model that works for lots of businesses (and fails misserably for others where they don't put enough effort into the initial offering).
To sell 72 pages (which are not even A4) for £12 though.... Its just not big enough for the price tag comparitive to other excellent books on this subject matter in the market place.
I make no comment about the content of the book which I have not read. My comments are based simply on a flawed pricing policy for the work when compared to other books aimed at the same market.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I'll exchange lessons on the one's that you have missing from your list for cakes
- Ansoff is Market Analysis (lijnked very closely to Gap analysis)
- Porter (brilliant man) has several theories includding the Value chain, Five forces and Porters Diamond. The one that I feel is the most important is the five forces as, as much as SWOT analysis, it makes one think about issues in the market that you are entering.
- Harmon looks at when to outsource and when to insource
- Mendelow is concerned with Stakeholder prioritisation
- Cyert and March is about how to keep Stakeholders happy
- McGregor is people management
- Kaizen is concerned with reduction of waste
- BCG is about portfolio analysis
- quality reporting is about quantification of quality costs (Prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure)
There's loads of others.... Reccon I could definitely milk this for a good transit van of cream cakes
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I dropped the price in line with feedback which has been v. useful. It is not meant as a student text, just a practical guide for people who may have assisted in the prep of management accounts and would like a simpletons guide as to how to go about preparing management accounts themselves. May be helpful to some but not all
I'll exchange lessons on the one's that you have missing from your list for cakes
There's loads of others.... Reccon I could definitely milk this for a good transit van of cream cakes
Not fair exchange - I get boring chat and you get lovely cakes!! Can I exchange for more interesting discussions (sorry but that lot is why I left banking!!). I will bake a transit van full if someone else will eat them!
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I have had a look through the book on Lulu and what you appear to have written is a guide to producing simple financial accounts.
I work in a junior management accounting role and assist in the production of monthly financial accounts and then the preparation of management accounts.
The basic concept behind simple management accounts is to compare actual financial results with pre-set, pre-planned budgets. Where there is significant difference between actual and budget, basic variance analysis is carried out to determine the reasons for the variance which then informs management decision making.
That is basic, simple management accounting. As regards the more sophisticated concepts mentioned by Shaun, they are all valid but I think he's just showing off really. Don't take it to heart.
If you have included what I have described in your book, then apologies if I've missed it.
All the concepts and theories mentioned are very basic one's that every management accountant would know. I mentioned them because they are the sort of things that you would expect in a Peter and Jane do management accounting type book.
Have you read 50 management ideas by Edward Russell-Walling? that one's a very basic book and gives four pages on each idea. The format is a good template for that sort of book where ideas are shown and expanded upon but without getting overly complex. (Each concept discussed has had whole books written about it but that book does it in just four pages).
As you know from your CIMA studies, there are hugely complex management accounting theories which you would not expect to see discussed in an introductory book and I haven't mentioned any of them in this thread.
If I had, that would have been showing off.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I've had a read throught the book and I would say that the text is financial rather than management accounting. I would go as far as to say it could be regarded as a good introduction to bookkeeping with a nice example business which you process the data for.
One aspect of Management accounting would be using the figures from the financial accounts to review trends and variances over several periods.
I like your writing style but I think that too much space is wasted with non relevant pictures, the approach that perhaps you should have taken (if you wanted to keep the title that you have) is assuming that the reader understands a P&L and B/S and concentrated on showing how to calculate the standard ratio's.
Also as David suggests show the original budget and show how to calculate basic variances.
I would not actually class that as the role of a management accountant but they are things that a management accountant needs to know as part of their role and such would take approximately the same space as you have used for the current book.
Whilst I do not feel that the book achieves what it promises on the cover (a book about management accounting) there is the framework of an introductory bookkeeping book there which would not take a lot to develop into perhaps Zen and Bookkeeping? Alternatively, what is there already could perhaps be the start of the book covering basic financial accounting before moving onto management accounting.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
No probs David and no offense taken, I could just see how others might read it who don't appreciate the sort of humour that we share on this site when we are jovially ribbing each other.
As always I look forwards to our ongoing debates over which is the better qualification, ACCA or CIMA (Don't think either of us could outright win that one but its interesting debating it).
Talk soon,
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
