Organizational changes in Management Accounting Essay

Organizational changes in Management Accounting - Essay Example Kaplan (1984) remarks; "Despite considerable change in the nature of organizations and the dimensions of competition during the past 60 years, there has been little innovation in the design and implementation of cost accounting and management control systems." In spite of important changes taking place in the quality and operations of organisations, the techniques adopted by companies and those mentioned in text books of management accounting date back to 1925. Thus Kaplan and many other scholars, encourage researchers to develop the subject of managerial accounting by conducting research and case studies. They state that "to describe and document the innovative practices that seem to work for successful companies" more and more research work and case studies have to be taken up. Following Kaplan and others call for research work and case studies a plethora of novel procedures in management accounting found its way into the field. A few of such new techniques were Just-in-Time (JIT), activity-based costing (ABC), and total quality management (TQM) which were accepted. According to Wendy L. Currie (1999) the objective he states is to incorporate into a single framework a number of factors that tempt the function of management accounting techniques in organisations using cases or degrees of organisational alterations categorised by N. Venkataraman. N. N. Venkataraman (1994) remarks that "The underlying goal for the framework is designed to reveal the distinctiveness of each technique in the organisational change context. Specifically, is there a systematic approach to applying change techniques and anticipating issues we may encounter in the change process" This paper examines the thesis statement which is; "Is this the hour to critically evaluate and reconcile the need for new management accounting techniques in the 21st Century with the compelling case for understanding and applying aspects of management accounting that have been taught traditionally" (Anthony, R, 1965) Formulating the theoretical account Thomas Walther, et al, (1997), remarks that the new environment which is produced by the authority of computing and the dislodgment of conventional accounting tasks, companies are counting on their financial specialists to "act as business partners with operations managers" by furnishing information to back up decision making. Christopher D. et al (1997 a, and 1997 b) states thus; "Accountants are increasingly involved in strategic management through the development and implementation of new accounting models integrating financial and non financial information". If the essence of the techniques intersects, accountants must clarify these intersecting areas to demonstrate how they may enforce to patronise different strategic intentions. Factors which call for changes in Management Accounting Internal organisational elements like organisational structure and culture, determine change and the execution of management accounting methods. But still sometimes these factors are not considered while implementing management accounting techniques. According to Jerold L. Zimmerman, (2001): "Total quality management, reengineering, activity-based costing, the theory of constraints, value chain management, just-in-time, and the balanced scorecard all assume that agents will enthusiastically adopt the new approach because it promises to maximize firm value." J. H. Waterhouse and Peter Tiessen (1978)

Challenge that Faces Positive Marketing of Healthy Behaviour Essay

Challenge that Faces Positive Marketing of Healthy Behaviour - Essay Example Most consumer items such as cigarette have side effects, which are supposed to be clearly indicated on their packaging. In most countries, advertisements or any marketing information of such commodities should be accompanied by any side effects (Bond, 1993). The main challenge of such advertisements is the message that promotes the product. For instance, cigarette advertisement uses healthy and successful people to show the positive side of smoking. In most cases, the advertisements use public icons such as musicians and sport men to advertise cigarettes. It is difficult to convince the audience of such information that cigarette smoking or junky foods are harmful to their health. The other challenge facing positive advertisements is lack of uncertainty in the message. For instance, a typical message against tobacco smoking will contain information such as cigarette smoking is harmful to your health, smoking can cause lung cancer and cigarette smoking increase anxiety. Such messages lack certainty and hence they are open to different forms of challenges (Rokeach, 1973). Firstly, the message stating that cigarette smoking is harmful to the health of a smoker fails to state the extent to which smoking is harmful. In addition, adequate studies have not been conducted to establish the extent to which these health problems are related to smoking. ... Cigarette ads should state that smoking a certain number of sticks per day increases the risk of developing cancer by a certain proportion. The other challenge facing positive advertisement is the attitude that people have towards negative behaviours. People associate these negative behaviours with lifestyles. For instance, smoking is associated with leisure while junk foods are associated with busy or wealthy people. It is difficult to change the mentality that people have on these commodities through positive advertisement messages. For instance telling parents to stop feeding their children with junk foods seems to lower their social status. On the other hand telling people to stop smoking is similar to telling them to stop associating themselves with a certain class of friends. People always oppose such information since it does not contribute to their social well-being. Advertisements that target negative behaviours and certain commodities such as cigarettes and fast foods tend to criminalize the commodities or behaviour (Rokeach, 1973). In addition, the ads portray the negative sides of the commodities or behaviours. People always oppose information that warns them against certain action. In addition, people always want to experiment with things that have been declared harmful. For instance, people want to experiment the negativities of cigarette smoking. The main reason why cigarette smoking has not been banned in most countries is that making the commodity illegal will make it more attractive (Bond, 1993). This is similar to hard drug such as cocaine and marijuana. Due to the illegal status of these drugs, people always use them as a way of showing their defiance towards the