寶鋼集團有限公司成本控制問題分析-資料下載頁

　　

【正文】 perations.Control refers to management39。s effort to influence the actions of individuals who are responsible for performing tasks, incurring costs, and generating revenues. Management is a twophased process: planningrefers to the way that management plans and wants people to perform, while controlrefers to the procedures employed to determine whether actual performance plies with these plans. Through the budget process and accounting control, management establishes overall pany objectives, defines the centers of responsibility, determines specific objectives for each responsibility center, and designs procedures and standards for reporting and evaluation.A budget segments the business into its ponents or centers where the responsible party initiates and controls action. Responsibility centersrepresent applicable organizational units, functions, departments, and divisions. Generally a single individual heads the responsibility center exercising substantial, if not plete, control over the activities of people or processes within the center and controlling the results of their activity. Cost centersare accountable only for expenses, that is, they do not generate revenue. Examples include accounting departments, human resources departments, and similar areas of the business that provide internal services. Profit centersaccept responsibility for both revenue and expenses. For example, a product line or an autonomous business unit might be considered profit centers. If the profit center has its own assets, it may also be considered an investment center,for which returns on investment can be determined. The use of responsibility centers allows management to design control reports to pinpoint accountability, thus aiding in profit planning.A budget also sets standards to indicate the level of activity expected from each responsible person or decision unit, and the amount of resources that a responsible party should use in achieving that level of activity. A budget establishes the responsibility center, delegates the conitant responsibilities, and determines the decision points within an organization.The planning process provides for two types of control mechanisms:Feedforward: providing a basis for control at the point of action (the decision point)。 andFeedback: providing a basis for measuring the effectiveness of control after implementation.Management39。s role is to feedforwarda futuristic vision of where the pany is going and how it is to get there, and to make clear decisions coordinating and directing employee activities. Management also oversees the development of procedures to collect, record, and evaluate , effective management controls results from leading people by force of personality and through persuasion。 providing and maintaining proper training, planning, and resources。 and improving quality and results through evaluation and feedback.Control reports are informational reports that tell management about an entity39。s activities. Management requests control reports only for internal use, and, therefore, directs the accounting department to develop tailormade reporting formats. Accounting provides management with a format designed to detect variations that need investigating. In addition, management also refers to conventional reports such as the ine statement and funds statement, and external reports on the general economy and the specific industry.Control reports, then, need to provide an adequate amount of information so that management may determine the reasons for any cost variances from the original budget. A good control report highlights significant information by focusing management39。s attention on those items in which actual performance significantly differs from the standard.Because key success factors shift in type and number, accounting revises control reports when necessary. Accounting also varies the control period covered by the control report to enpass a period in which management can take useful remedial action. In addition, accounting disseminates control reports in a timely fashion to give management adequate time to act before the issuance of the next report.Managers perform effectively when they attain the goals and objectives set by the budget. With respect to profits, managers succeed by the degree to which revenues continually exceed expenses. In applying the following simple formula, managers, especially those in operations, realize that they exercise more control over expenses than they do over revenue.While they cannot predict the timing and volume of actual sales, they can determine the utilization rate of most of their resources, that is, they can influence the cost side. Hence, the evaluation of management39。s performance and its operations is cost control.For cost control purposes, a budget provides standard costs. As management constructs budgets, it lays out a road map to guide its efforts. It states a number of assumptions about the relationships and interaction among the economy, market dynamics, the abilities of its sales force, and its capacity to provide the proper quantity and quality of products demanded.Accounting plays a key role in all planning and control. It does this in four key areas: (1) data collection, (2) data analysis, (3) budget control and administration, and (4) consolidation and review.The accountants play a key role in designing and securing support for the procedural aspects of the planning process. In addition, they design and distribute forms for the collection and booking of detailed data on all aspects of the business.Although operating managers have the main responsibility of planning, accounting piles and coordinates the elements. Accountants subject proposed budgets to feasibility and profitability analyses to determine conformity to accepted standards and practices.Management relies on such accounting data and analysis to choose from several cost control alternatives, or management may di