PACE Academic IG

Our spring semester is wrapping up, so how have you included profitability analytics in your courses this term?

Had a conversation with an alum recently. They had been working in a demand planning role officially housed in the supply chain unit, but working in close coordination with accounting/finance and were moving into an FP&A analyst role. As conversation progressed got to the question of "Who owns the model?". In many ways, our work in management accounting is being able to model how what we're doing turns into profit/loss. Supply chain does something similar, but their language is units instead of dollars. The IT folks run algorithms and stats when we can't do it ourselves. So, who ultimately owns the model is a core question, I think, and I would argue that accounting/finance is the proper place with a unique position to best manage the model.

As I'm developing an Accounting Analytics course for the fall, it crosses my mind that many accountants do not truly have much grounding in what makes good measurement or in the sophisticated use statistics to support decision making. So, that makes me wonder, do we need more instruction on those types of topics in a robust accounting curriculum that is preparing the next generation of accountants for what accounting will be?

Introduction

In an article titled "Why Not a Degree in Management Accounting?” I proposed a management accounting degree program in management accounting.  Two articles followed the initial article.  The first article described a financial accounting course, and the second article described a managerial accounting course.  Both articles were written to provide a foundation for the degree program.  This article is the first in a series of articles describing how to build on the foundation.

Expansion