AMA ™ Accredited Management Accountant

AMA AAFM ® Course Overview - Professional Development Program

The role of management accounting and controlling and costs is the single most important function in any company. Managing incoming funds and knowing the primary sources of these funds is very important for the modern-day management accountant and corporate controller. The ability to control, use and manipulate accounting and cash flow can have a dramatic effect on a company’s fortunes and can turn an organization from one that is surviving on a day-to-day basis to one that is highly profitable and reputable. This practical, highly interactive program will provide you with the necessary skills and techniques to successfully analyze and report the cost contribution to your company’s performance.

By Attending This Highly Intensive Course You Will Be Able To:

• Implement new strategies to improve your corporate performance measurement

• Enhance your cost control and cost management processes

• Identify different ways to calculate costs and how best to determine your company’s profitability and

plan for future investments and expansion

• Supply cost information for use in pricing decision making

• Predict cost behavior by estimating costs

• Become a Certified Cost Controller awarded from the American Academy of Financial Management

Who Should Attend?

• Finance Managers/Directors

• Cash Flow Managers

• Accountants/Financial Assistants

• Budget Accountants/Officers/Analysts

• Accounts Managers

• Financial Controllers/Analysts/Planners

• Budgeting and Planning Managers/ Controllers

• Credit Managers

• Any finance professional who has an interest in controlling cash flow

Course Methodology

You will analyse case studies individually and in group discussion. Interactive discussions and debate are integral parts of the case study experience. Furthermore, you will benefit from the extensive experience of the expert course director, Dr. Sebastian Bombaci, as a practitioner and a training facilitator.

Benefits and Certification

The American Academy of Financial Management ® (AAFM) accredits this professional development program. A formal certification will be provided by the AAFM ®  in recognition of successful completion of the course, along with the status as a member of the Academy. This course gains you credits from the recognized American Academy of Financial Management, AAFM. All participants will receive a AMA Accredited Management Accountant awarded by the AAFM. For those wishing to obtain certification, all five days must be completed with active participation in group and individual exercises during the course. The exact qualification will be Accredited Management Accountant with the post nominal AMA Accounting.

Course Outline

Introduction And Objectives Of The AMA Course

• The changing business environment

• The need for cost control and cost management

• The use of cost information in pricing decisions

Management Accountant Cost Concepts

• General cost classifications

• Product costs vs. period costs

• Cost behavior – fixed, variable and mixed costs

• Direct and indirect costs

• Opportunity cost and sunk cost

• Relevant range

Management Accountant Estimating Costs And Predicting Cost Behavior

• High-low method, regression analysis

Management Accountant - Job Costing

• Direct materials and labor

• Manufacturing overhead

• Estimating predetermined overhead rates

• Job cost sheets

• Flow of costs within a job costing environment

Management Accountant - Process Costing

• Similarities and differences to job costing

• Flow of costs within a process costing environment

• Preparing a production report

• Processes, activities, resource consumption and the firm value chain

Management Accountant - Cost Volume Profit (CVP) Analysis

• Contribution margin concept

• Contribution margin ratio

• Break-even analysis

• Target profit calculations

• The margin of safety

• Operating leverage and profit performance

• Sales mix considerations

Management Accountant - Variable Vs. Absorption Costing

• Income comparisons

• Effect of changes in production on profit

Cost Of Quality (COQ)

Management Accountant - Activity Based Costing (ABC)

• Comparisons with traditional costing

• Designing an ABC system

• The mechanics of ABC

Management Accountant - Budgeting

• Purpose and use of budgeting

• Approaches to budgeting: incremental vs. zero-based budgeting

• Preparing a budget – master, sales, production budget

• Direct materials, labor and overhead budget

Management Accountant - Standard Costing

• What is it?

• Setting standards

• Types of variances, variance analysis

• Target costing and reverse engineering

The Basic Business Planning Strategy

Leadership Skills For The Manager and ‘Controller’

Performance Measurement

• Strategy and the balanced scorecard

• The four firm dimensions

• Costing human capital

Using E-Business And CRM To Affect Process Re-Engineering

Case Study Method:

AAFM uses the case study method to develop program and to help students absorb key skills and knowledge. When you are presented with a case, you place yourselves in the role of the decision maker as you read through the situation and identify the problem you are faced with. You perform the required analysis – examining the causes and considering appropriate courses of actions to come to a set of recommendations.

Under an agreement with the Law School , graduates of qualified accredited programs may apply directly for certification.  See LLM Program http://llmprogram.org/aafm.html

Under an agreement with the Business School Accreditation Agency, graduates of qualified accredited business degree courses, exams and programs may apply directly for certification review.  See ACBSP Press Release

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.