Management accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management accounting - Essay Example BA is flying to over 550 destinations and to 155 countries worldwide including Americas, UK, Europe, Middle East and South Asia, Africa, and Asia/Pacific (â€Å"British Airways,† 2010). It has been considered as one of the leader in the airline industry worldwide and known for its excellence, quality, and full air and ground services. Aside from being the largest international scheduled airline in UK, BA offered several services and facilities to their customers to guarantee their convenience. The company has been privatised and shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) under the ticker symbol BAY (â€Å"London Stock Exchange,† 2011). As history trace its origins back, BA was formed with the mergence of BOAC, BEA, Cambrian Airways, and Northeast Airlines last 1974 (â€Å"British Airways,† n.d.). ... They have decided to merge because of recession that badly hit the operations of the two airlines (BBC News, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to explain how management accounting can supply information to assist the management of British Airways, particularly the key techniques that are favourable to the company. Review of the Nature and Role of Management Accounting Management accounting is an exclusive type of accounting wherein the supplied information is more specific. Furthermore, it â€Å"exists to serve managers helping them work as decision makers, planners, and controllers of their respective departments or areas of responsibility† (Atrill & McLaney, 1994, p.14). In other words, the role of management accounting is to assist the managers in making decisions or problem solving, and provide accounting information necessary to make realistic future plans. They are expected to provide financial or economic information particularly available to those in managerial posit ion. These are needed in carrying the tasks of decision-making, planning, and control so that organization will be managed effectively and efficiently. Decision making and planning is one of the crucial tasks played by management accounting. There are instances that the management needs to settle with the best option to be pursued which at the same time favourable to the organization. The determined courses of action will be evaluated as to their costs and benefits which is the role of planning. Furthermore, the information will be more effective if the result of the appraisal showed that the benefits outweigh the costs. Control is the second primary tasked that â€Å"involves a comparison of actual performance with the plan so that