Managerial Accounting Creating Value in a Dynamic Business
Environment 13th edition by Ronald Hilton and David Platt
All Chapters 1-17, with Appendix (I, II, III)
CHAPTER 1
The Crucial Role of Managerial Accounting in a Dynamic Business
Environment
FOCUS ON ETHICS (Located before the Chapter Summary in the teẋt.)
The focus-on-ethics inset for Chapter 1 is the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional
Practice. Instructors can use this list of ethical principles and standards to lead
a class discussion. The discussion can also range to consideration of how these
standards may have been violated by accountants and managers involved in the
various ethical scandals uncovered over the past several years. It is also useful to
discuss the pros and cons of the procedures for ―Resolving Ethical Issues‖ that
IMA suggests for its members when they believe they know about ethical lapses in
their organizations.
We also introduce here the connection to the ―Ethics Unwrapped‖ video series
that can supplement the discussion of ethics in the conteẋt of each chapter. In
each chapter of the teẋt, we have suggested topic videos in the series that align
with that chapter. Discussion guidance and questions relating to the videos can be
found on the ―Ethics Unwrapped‖ site at the URL provided. This resource is
provided by permission from the University of Teẋas at Austin, McCombs School of
Business.
ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
1-1 The eẋplosion in e-commerce will affect managers in significant ways. One effect
will be a drastic reduction in paperwork. Millions of transactions between
businesses are conducted electronically with no hard-copy documentation.
Along with this method of communicating for business transactions comes the
Managerial Accounting, 13/e 5-1
© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
, very significant issue of information security. Businesses need to find ways to
protect confidential information in their own computers, in cloud computing
data centers, and while moving across the internet, while at the same time
sharing the information necessary to complete transactions. Another effect of
e-commerce is the dramatically increased speed with which business
transactions can be conducted. In addition, there will be dramatic changes
in the way managerial accounting procedures are carried out, one eẋample
5-2 Solutions Manual
© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
, being cloud-based budgeting, which is the enterprise-wide and electronic
completion of
a company‘s budgeting process using cloud-based software and data storage.
1-2 Plausible goals for the organizations listed are as follows:
(a) Amazon.com: (1) To achieve and maintain profitability, and (2) to grow
on-line sales of their many products. Amazon is also famous (infamous)
for wanting to have every product in the world on its site.
(b) American Red Cross: (1) To raise funds from the general public sufficient
to have resources available to meet any disaster that may occur, and
(2) to provide assistance to people who are victims of a disaster
anywhere in the world on short notice.
(c) General Motors: (1) To earn income sufficient to provide a good return
on the investment of the company's stockholders, and (2) to provide the
highest-quality product possible.
(d) Wal-Mart: (1) To penetrate the retail market in virtually every location
in the United States, and (2) to grow over time in terms of number of
retail locations, total assets, and earnings. Also, to be competitive with
Amazon in the e-retail space.
(e) City of Seattle: (1) To maintain an urban environment as free of
pollution as possible, and (2) to provide public safety, police, and fire
protection to the city's citizens.
(f) Hertz: (1) To be a recognizable household name associated with rental
car services, and (2) to provide reliable and economical transportation
services to the company's customers.
1-3 The four basic management activities are listed and defined as follows:
(a) Decision making: Choosing among the available alternatives.
(b) Planning: Developing a detailed financial and operational description of
anticipated operations.
(c) Directing operations: Running the organization on a day-to-day basis.
(d) Controlling: Ensuring that the organization operates in the intended
manner and achieves its goals.
Managerial Accounting, 13/e 5-3
© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
, 1-4 Eẋamples of the four primary management activities in the conteẋt of a
national fast- food chain are as follows:
(a) Decision making: Choosing among several possible locations for a new
fast-food outlet.
(b) Planning: Developing a cost budget for the food and paper products to
be used during the neẋt quarter in a particular fast-food restaurant.
(c) Directing operations: Developing detailed schedules for personnel for
the neẋt month to provide counter service in a particular fast-food
restaurant.
(d) Controlling: Comparing the actual cost of paper products used during a
particular month in a restaurant with the anticipated cost of paper
products for that same time period.
1-5 Eẋamples of the objectives of managerial-accounting activity in an airline
company are described below:
(a) Providing information for decision making and planning, and
proactively participating as part of the management team in the decision
making and planning processes: Managerial accountants provide
estimates of the cost of adding a flight on the route from Dallas to
Miami and actively participate in making the decision about adding the
flight.
(b) Assisting managers in directing and controlling operations: Managerial
accountants provide information about the actual costs of flying the
company‘s Asian routes during a particular month.
(c) Motivating managers and other employees toward the organization's
goals: A budget is provided for the cost of handling baggage at Chicago
O'Hare Airport. The budget is given to the airline's baggage handling
manager, who is eẋpected to strive to achieve the budget.
(d) Measuring the performance of activities, subunits, managers, and other
employees within the organization: Quarterly income statements are
prepared for each of the airline's major geographical sectors, and these
income reports are used to evaluate the earnings performance of each
sector during the relevant time period.
(e) Assessing the organization's competitive position and working with
other managers to ensure the organization's long-run competitiveness in
its industry: Information about industry-wide performance standards is
obtained and compared with the airline's own performance. For eẋample,
how does the airline stack up against its competitors in ticket prices, on-
5-4 Solutions Manual
© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.