Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Develop cost reports within an organization
Analyze cost data and its impacts on strategic decisions within an organization
Communicate strategic recommendations and impacts based on cost data analysis to executive leadership
Scenario
You are a management accountant at Emerald Office Supply, Inc., an organization that manages and sells office supplies to a variety of companies throughout the country. Your manager is interested in lowering the company’s carbon footprint. To better understand which resources are used, your manager has asked you to create an executive report about the budgeting process for the organization. You will use the completed client profile and then compile an analysis of all the findings, as well as prepare recommendations for future strategies for a leadership panel.
Directions
For this project, you will complete an executive report that outlines and analyzes your findings for a break-even analysis and a master budget. You will also create recommendations in an executive summary.
Part One: Analysis of Cost Report
Using the client profile in the Supporting Materials section, analyze the cost report based on the break-even analysis and the cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Compare the different types of costs used to develop a cost report in the organization.
Analyze the benefits of job order costing versus process costing in the organization.
Differentiate the preparation of a break-even analysis from that of a master budget. Include differences between the following in your response:
Target profit planning
Sensitivity analysis
Explain the relationship between the operating cycle of an organization and the cost structure of an organization.
Part Two: Analysis of Master Budget
Using the client profile, analyze the financial and operational strengths and weaknesses of the organization by using the data from the cash budget and the master budget.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Assess the effectiveness of the sensitivity analysis in the master budget.
Analyze the effectiveness of various budgeting techniques for the organization.
Explain how the budgeting is informing decision making in the organization.
Assess the importance of activity-based costing in the organization’s cost structure.
Explain the importance of components of the master budget to the organization’s financial stability.
Part Three: Executive Summary
Propose recommendations to the organization’s leadership panel based on your analysis of the cost report and the master budget.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Evaluate the effectiveness of the budgeting process to reduce the total cost of future purchases in the organization.
Create strategies for financial and operational improvements for future profitability.
Explain how the use of a balanced scorecard informs the strategic analysis of the organization.
Summarize how to effectively present the balanced scorecard to the organization.
Determine the impact of the cost data analysis and the master budget on future profitability. Consider the following in your response:
Financial stability
Connection to ESG initiatives
Provide financial recommendations to a leadership panel based on the cost data analysis and the master budget.
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:
Executive Report
Your submission should be a 7- to 9-page Word document with 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to APA style.
