COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Cost Accounting for Strategic Decision Making course. This program will equip you with the knowledge, analytical frameworks, and strategic insights required to use cost information effectively in organisational planning, performance evaluation, and long-term decision-making. You will explore the concepts, systems, and tools that underpin cost accounting, and learn how cost data drives value creation, strengthens competitive advantage, and supports managerial judgement across all stages of the value chain. This course also highlights the connection between cost accounting, ethics, cross-functional collaboration, and organisational strategy.

This course begins by examining what cost accounting is and the key cost concepts used in decision-making. You will explore how organisations create value, the components and activities within the value chain, and the associated costs that influence profitability and strategic positioning. This section also addresses the relationship between the value chain, the supply chain, and the distribution chain, and explains how managers can use cost information to increase value across interconnected operational activities. You will explore how accounting supports value chain analysis, the types of financial accounting information and cost accounting information available, and the differences between financial and cost accounting. This section also introduces cost accounting requirements under GAAP and IFRS and identifies the various “customers” of cost accounting—such as managers, owners, and external stakeholders—who rely on cost data for insight and decision support.

The next learning area focuses on systems, frameworks, and managerial requirements. You will explore the framework for assessing cost accounting systems, why managers require information to make decisions, and how to identify and eliminate activities that do not add value. This section also explains how to use cost analysis to identify strategic opportunities for improvement, how owners use cost information to evaluate managers, and how cost data supports a wide range of managerial decisions. You will also examine cost data for control and evaluation, differential costs, revenues, and profits, the role of responsibility centres, and how managers interpret revenues and costs to assess performance. This section also introduces the importance of comparing budget versus actual data and explains why different decisions require different types of cost data.

A further section explores trends in cost accounting throughout the value chain, beginning with research and development (R&D), moving through design, purchasing, production, marketing, distribution, and customer service. You will examine how cost accounting concepts apply at each stage, how costs are traced or allocated, and how managers use this information to support innovation, process improvement, pricing, and customer value. This section also introduces activity-based costing (ABC) as a method for identifying cost drivers more accurately and improving strategic insight.

The program then examines cost accounting infrastructure and organisational alignment. You will explore the role of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in integrating cost data across functions, improving visibility, and supporting real-time decision-making. This section also introduces the key financial players in the organisation, from cost accountants to controllers and CFOs, and explains how cross-functional teams add value by integrating financial, operational, and strategic perspectives when making decisions.

The final learning area focuses on ethics, professional conduct, and interdisciplinary integration. You will explore the ethical issues that accountants face, why ethics is essential to trustworthy financial reporting and managerial decision-making, and how cost accounting interacts with other business disciplines such as strategy, operations, marketing, finance, and human resources. This section also examines the role and responsibilities of the cost accountant, highlighting how the profession contributes to performance improvement, sustainability, governance, and organisational value creation.

By the end of this course you will be able to interpret and apply cost accounting information, analyse value chain activities, identify strategic opportunities through cost analysis, support managerial planning and control, collaborate effectively across business functions, uphold ethical standards, and use cost information to enhance organisational value and long-term competitiveness.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

·       What is cost accounting?

·       The cost concepts in decision making

·       Value creation in organisations

·       The value chain components, activities, and costs

·       Supply chain and distribution chain

·       How to use cost information to increase value?

·       Accounting and the value chain

·       The financial accounting information

·       The cost accounting information

·       Financial vs cost accounting

·       Cost accounting in GAAP, and IFRS

·       The customers of cost accounting

·       The framework for assessing cost accounting systems?

·       why managers require information to make decisions?

·       How to find and eliminate activities that don’t add value?

·       How to identify strategic opportunities using cost analysis?

·       How owners use cost information to evaluate managers?

·       Cost data for managerial decisions

·       Cost data for control and evaluation

·       The differential costs, revenues, and profits

·       The responsibility centres, revenues, and costs

·       Budget vs actual data

·       The different types of data for different decisions

·       The trends in cost accounting throughout the value chain

·       Cost accounting in research and development (R&D)

·       Cost accounting in design

·       Activity-based costing (ABC)

·       Cost accounting in purchasing

·       Cost accounting in production

·       Cost accounting in marketing

·       Cost accounting in distribution

·       Cost accounting in customer service

·       Enterprise resource planning

·       How to create value in the organisation?

·       The key financial players in the organisation

·       How cross-functional teams add value to decision making?

·       The ethical issues for accountants

·       What makes ethics so important?

·       Cost accounting and other business disciplines        

The cost accountant role and responsibilities

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.