As you know from BUS103: Introduction to Financial Accounting, firms are required to track various forms of data to report to their customers, investors, regulators, business associates, and vendors.
Business managers use managerial accounting to help make decisions about their future activities: they need more information and detailed than the data they provide in reports to their external stakeholders. They may need data tailored to meet the needs of a particular business unit, which is not applicable to the firm as a whole. While departmental managers have different needs, most management decisions deal with the same key issues: cost, price, and profit.

In managerial accounting, we examine complex financial decision-making and identify the tools and methods managers use to make informed decisions. We begin by introducing the terms we will reference in later units. We will discuss various methods and theories managers use to track costs and profits. In the final section, we explore how managers’ report the overall performance of a firm or department for internal use.