Preview

Responsibility Accounting

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1342 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Responsibility Accounting
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING
Management Accounting - Responsibility Accounting
Planning & control are essential for achieving good results in any business. Firstly, a budget is prepared and, secondly, actual results are compared with budgeted ones. Any difference is made responsibility of the key individuals who were involved in (i) setting standards, (ii) given necessary resources and (iii) powers to use them.
In order to streamline the process, the entire organization is broken into various types of centers mainly cost centre, revenue centre, profit center and investment centre. The organizational budget is divided on these lines and passed on to the concerned managers. Actual results are collected and displayed in the same form for comparison. Difference, if any, are highlighted and brought to the notice of the management. This process is called Responsibility Accounting.
RESPONSIBILITY CENTRE

A FORMAL DEFINITION OF RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING
Responsibility accounting involves the creation of responsibility centres. A responsibility centre may be defined as an organization unit for whose performance a manager is held accountable. Responsibility accounting enables accountability for financial results and outcomes to be allocated to individuals throughout the organization. The objective is to measure the result of each responsibility center. It involves accumulating costs and revenues for each responsibility centre so that deviation from performance target (typically the budget) can be attributed to the individual who is accountable for the responsibility centre.
(Colin Drury, Management and Cost Accounting, sixth edition)

Chapter 12
I. CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING
A. Definition.
- an accounting system that collects, summarizes, and reports accounting data relating to the responsibilities of individual managers. - an accounting system which tracks and reports costs, expenses, revenues, and operational statistics by area of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Perhaps no other function of government is more important than the budget process and the resulting budget document. According to the Government Finance Officers Association [GFOA], (1998) “A good budget process is far more than the preparation of a legal document that appropriates funds for a series of line items. Good budgeting is a broadly defined process that has political, managerial, planning, communication and financial dimensions”. The budget document needs to be more than an accounting statement that reconciles revenues and expenditures. A good budget document serves to ensure that government is efficiently using the scarce resources it possesses and in turn delivering the goods and services needed by the public. The budget document must also be “strategic in nature, encompassing a multi-year financial and operating plan that allocates resources on the basis of identified goals” (GFAO 1998). In short, a good budget document and budget process translate an organizations policies, plans and political commitments into an actionable plan whose performance can be tracked against stated objectives to measure overall operational efficiency and organizational success.…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    unit 6 assessment

    • 2371 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The budget can provide a plan to help the organisation achieve its objectives and make key decisions for the future. Budgets can be used to compare planned and actual performance.…

    • 2371 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Findings/ Main Body: As I have talked about with you before, managing the resources of an organisation and looking closely at its budgetary control is absolutely vital in business. It improves performance over every department and gives the business management team a clear view on where they can expand and develop in the future.…

    • 1608 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting assigns costs and revenues to “responsibility centers” that correspond to the decision authority of managers. This allows the firm to measure performance based on the results of decisions by the manager. An effective corporate cost allocation system separates the results of decisions by corporate managers from those of business unit managers.…

    • 6223 Words
    • 25 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The use of budgets will not guarantee success, but they do help to avoid failure. Budget in management accounting comes in many forms and serves many functions. The use of budgets is important because it helps to understand on future expenses and revenues, thus, being effective. Budgeting allows the management to measure the actual financial performance of its business. To highlight on the significant use of budgets, it was found that “a local authority usually prepares a budget on the basis of what it is likely to spend.” (Dyson, 2004, p. 380). A budget requires planning, control and performance evaluation (Peavler, 2013). Without the preparation and use of budget, the management is not planning; therefore, there may be a chance of overspending. The budgetary control method helps achieve the financial goals and objectives of the business. The performance evaluation helps the business understand their performances at the end of the time period that the budget covers.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Accounting is specifically “a system by which economic information is identified, recorded, summarized and reported for the use of decision makers”; however, accounting involves interpretation and analyzing of all financial information, including taxing, personal financial information and investment (Alba, Bathija, & Thonton, 2005). Accounting is defined as the language of business, in that it specifically records the financial data that is required for businesses to operate both efficiently and effectively. Modern accounting includes investigation, forecasting, analyzing, compliance, as well as record keeping and report generation (Gaylord & Ried, 2006). Accounting is said to be a service activity designed to accumulate, measure, and communicate financial information about businesses and other organizations and to provide information for making informed decisions about the business and about how to best utilize resources within the business (Albreacht, Stice, Stice, & Swain, 2008). Accounting leads to the generation of reports and documents, which include financial statements. If accounting is the language of business, then accounting financial statements are the dictionary that defines the terms and the rules of the language (Horngren, Harrison, & Oliver, 2012).…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Accountability Formation

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The dictionary states that the meaning of the word accountability is “the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable”. This means to me that if I don’t hold accountability for all my gear than I am not doing my duty as a soldier. Holding accountability for my gear is important for many different reasons in fact. For one if anything were to happen to my gear I am held sole responsible for it. Also if it is stolen or ruined for my lack of accountability and due to my actions the company is held back from doing their duties or even I completing mine, I would also be the one held accountable for the hold back. If the gear was stolen I would need to pay for it and it wouldn’t be anyone else’s fault except my own, even if it were simply damaged I would need to replace and/or fix as swiftly as possible to complete my duties so that I am not the one holding back others. Specially with it coming so close to leaving on a mission it is crucial that I hold exceptional accountability for my gear for I would not want to be the sole reason for a glitch in the mission before even leaving, with everyone working so hard to get ready to leave and to have everything in working condition in order for the mission to hopefully go off without a hitch. Being accountable for my gear is to be dependable. Being dependable in keeping track of all my gear so that I am ready for anything that would be needed of me at any time, rather it’s from my country, my superiors, or my fellow soldiers. It is also crucial for me to hold accountability for my gear being a specialist I am setting an example for other soldiers below me and for me not to hold that accountability it doesn’t make me look like a very good role model to look upon in time of need, for any reason. Showing accountability is also a duty for me as a soldier to keep track of all of my gear. If my equipment was taken they could of tampered with the gear and then given it back with me not…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    what is Accountability?

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Accountability is often used synonymously with such terms as answerability, responsibility, liability and other terms associated with accountability. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private (corporation) worlds. At its root, accountability involves either the expectation or assumption of account-giving behavior. For some people it is extremely hard to take accountability for their actions. They refuse to take responsibility for what they have done. As a child our parents teach us that when we do something wrong we are punished for it. As adults we are less prone to take that responsibility if we do something wrong, be it at work or at home.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Viability of an organization needs to be determined by the appropriate financial party or parties. Each financial department has multiple roles and responsibilities. The main function of the main financial department is to make financial policies, financial planning, supervising financial activities, and more (Cleverley, Song, & Cleverley, 2011). Accounting is a sub function of the main financial department. Accounting is usually responsible for standard bookkeeping, taxes, financial reporting, payroll, taxes, inside auditing and more (Cleverley, Song, & Cleverley, 2011). However the roles and responsibilities will vary depending on the size of the organization. Both departments are crucial to…

    • 555 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Accounting – System for producing information about an entity and communicating it to users for…

    • 13709 Words
    • 55 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    morally right, legally required. A soldier is a responsible for a seemingly countless number of…

    • 781 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to allbusiness.com, responsibility accounting is defined as a “collection, summarization, and reporting of financial information about various decision centers (responsibility centers) throughout an organization” (allbusiness.com). The article also explains that responsibility accounting helps an organization trace costs, revenues and profits to the individual managers who are responsible for decision making. Responsibility accounting also measures performance of each manager in regards to how he or she manages these costs, revenues, and profits.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Accountant Responsibility

    • 2438 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Greene, F., Petrocine, A., & FitzPatrick, R. (2003). Holding Accountants Accountable: The Liability of Accountants to Third Parties. Employee Responsibilities & Rights Journal, 15(1), 23-29. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.…

    • 2438 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Responsibility to me is acknowledging responsibility for actions and decisions made, accepting the consequences that may follow from them, and understanding that others around will be involved. Every day choices or decisions are made from experiences taught or from experiences learned. The only choices people want to be responsible for are the decisions…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics