Seminar: Case Studies in Management Accounting and Control

The goal of this seminar is to showcase the complexities of managerial decision problems and to highlight the potential value of strategic management accounting tools in such situations. Students will be faced with questions such as “Which of the firm’s products are not profitable and what should the CEO do about it?” or “Under what conditions should the firm invest in new production facilities?” To provide answers to these questions, students will put strategic analyses as well as management accounting tools such as activity-based costing, discounted cash flow approaches, and balanced scorecards into practice. They will learn about the value of management accounting information for strategic decision-making and how to present their findings.

Sensitivity towards the applicabilty of instruments of management accounting

Bhimani, A. et al. (2019): Management and Cost Accounting, 7th edition, Harlow. Hartmann, F. et al. (2020): Management Control Systems, 2nd edition, London.Additional literature will be announced and made available in class for each case study.

The students will work independently on case studies in order to apply management accounting instruments to real-life business problems. They will hand in a written solution and present their findings and recommendations in simulated board meetings.

Case Studies (50%), Presentations (50%)

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