Managerial Accounting

Reviewed by Salina Siddique, Assistant Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 5/22/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook covers the all the major concepts of managerial accounting. Although they are followed in a slightly different way and order than are pursued in the textbook I am currently using. I found the book easy to follow; however, a number of concepts could have been stretched further, such as, First-in-first-out method for Process Costing in Chapter 4, Lease or sell decision and replacing an old equipment with a new one etc. in Chapter 7 and Budgeting for merchandising organizations in Chapter 9 are some examples to mention. Inclusion of Table of Contents in the PDF version would have assisted with the reviewing of the textbook. A comprehensive list of learning objective would be useful at the beginning of each chapter. In addition, inclusion of an index/glossary would have been really helpful for quick search.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The definitions are comprehensive. I have randomly checked a number of problems for mathematical accuracy and found no errors. However, I was wondering if the answers for the end of the chapter exercises are also available to the reviewers for establishing the accuracy.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

In terms of contents, the textbook covered all the major concepts of managerial accounting and hence, remain relevant for a considerable period of time. However, there are scopes for adding more examples and recent business phenomena and reference to current information technology.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is easy reading. I really like the introduction of each chapter, which starts with a business scenario in the form of dialogues that raises a particular management issue and then points out the necessity of learning the managerial accounting concepts covered in that chapter to solve such issue.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent in terms of terminology and organization format.

Modularity rating: 5

Splitting each concepts into smaller chunks/sections supplemented by relevant questions and answers and examples would make the reading easy to the students.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics in the text are presented in a logical and workable manner.

Interface rating: 4

Throughout the book, spaces are omitted between the words in the "Key equation" boxes in the PDF version, which may confuse the reader. Some of the tables are hazy and interferes with the reading.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I have not noticed any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I have not perceived any culturally insensitive content or example in any way.

Comments

I greatly appreciate the effort of the authors in completing this book and making it available to students at no charge.

Reviewed by David Milton, Community Faculty, MnSCU on 10/25/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Comprehensive introduction to the key concepts and methodologies of costing, including budgeting, cash flow forecasting, decision analysis, performance evaluation, and non financial measures.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Lots of examples and no mathematical errors were noted.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Good examples of how concepts are actually used, and the impact on financial statements.

Clarity rating: 4

Good definitions and and thought-provoking questions to strengthen understanding of the concepts.

Consistency rating: 5

Concepts build upon each other and are sequentially introduced.

Modularity rating: 5

Well tagged and compartmentalized.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Fair organization. It would help if the answers to problems or exercises were on a different page or indexed in the back of the book.

Interface rating: 1

The tables in the pdf version are completely illegible and blurred, even when you zoom in. The online version is better.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

None were obvious.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

People (professionals) referenced in the examples were gender neutral with a representative balance.

Comments

I am not appreciating the muted green and blue shadings on all the tables and exercise problems. It makes it difficult to read. The fonts on some of the tables and exercise problems are entirely too small.

The introduction and explanation of the concepts are fairly well done and they make good use of challenges faced by contemporary companies.

Reviewed by Phebe Davis, Clinical Assistant Professor, Clemson University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

There is no glossary or index included, which would assist greatly with quick referencing of the information. However, the table of contents presents a comprehensive detailed overview of the book's chapters and related sections. The material coverage is as complete as the book I currently use, though presented in a slightly different order. This does not reduce the effectiveness of the information. I enjoyed seeing the review problems after each chapter section rather than all at the end of the chapter. I think students might be more likely to work the review problems in this manner as the questions appear more relevant when presented right after the applicable information. The key takeaways are also nice as they seem to reinforce the learning objectives. Overall, I think the book is effective for the purpose of an Introduction to Managerial Accounting.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The information appears accurate. No errors noted.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The material in this book appears relevant and consistent with other managerial textbooks. This type of information does not change frequently. The book should be easy to update should changes become necessary.

Clarity rating: 4

The information is clear with easy to follow examples and problems. The simple writing of this textbook helps reduce cognitive overload.

Consistency rating: 4

The book follows a logical pattern in presenting the topical information, though slightly different from how I currently teach managerial accounting. Terminology and layout is consistent throughout the textbook.

Modularity rating: 4

I appreciate the subheadings with the key takeaways and review problem after each chapter sub-section. The flow allows a simple way to ensure the learning objectives have been met. Each chapter is comprehensive enough to stand-alone.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Text is organized logically and has good information flow. Easy to follow and understand.

Interface rating: 3

I reviewed the online book and noticed spacing issues that were a bit distracting. I think the example sections should have a brighter background color scheme. The gray is boring and looks dull. Some of the more compressed pictures were not completely clear. Overall, the images are decent.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors noted.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The textbook is culturally neutral.

Comments

Given that the book covers the same material as my current managerial text but without the steep cost, I will strongly consider switching to this text. I appreciate the open availability of this book.

Reviewed by Jill Gillett, Faculty, Lane Community College on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The contents of this book are very comprehensive and comparable to other Managerial Accounting texts I have used in the past from major publishers. All of the major subjects I expected to find in an introductory managerial text were listed. There were some subject areas that I felt could have been expanded, particularly with more introductory/context-building information, but overall, everything is included. The table of contents was organized in a clear, logical progression. The table of contents is missing from the pdf version of the text, but included in the online version; this is not a big draw back since the content could be covered "out of order" in a course, or students could be directed to the specific pages to read. One thing I would like to see is some expansion of the learning objectives. Objectives are included in the text at the beginning of a section, but they are all numbered "1" and are not summarized anywhere. Other reviewers have mentioned the lack of index/glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I recalculated several of the chapter example problems and found no errors. There are no solutions provided for end-of-chapter exercises, so those could not be checked.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content included in an introductory managerial accounting course does not change substantially annually. I believe this text will remain relevant for a while. Another reviewer mentioned that there may be a need to update some of the example companies after a while.

Clarity rating: 5

Overall, most of the text is very concise. Sentences are not overly long, and the language used is a good blend of technical vocabulary that the student should become accustomed to, and layperson terms. I think this is an advantage of this text - most students dislike having to "wade through" a lot of dense writing to get to the point of the chapter or section.

Consistency rating: 5

The text uses vocabulary consistently throughout. The structure of chapters, practice problems, examples, all follow a consistent pattern. See numbering of learning objectives comment above.

Modularity rating: 5

This is another advantage of this text - the concise presentation of most of the topics make it easy to subdivide and reorder.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This is largely addressed in the "comprehensiveness" section. Very clear, logical progression through the content.

Interface rating: 3

The online version was much easier to navigate than the pdf. There were a lot of formatting issues in the pdf that made it distracting to my eye at times (uneven highlighting, indenting, spacing, some graphics were blurry). A lot of these issues could be alleviated by recompiling parts of the text into an LMS learning tool (such as a Moodle Book), or webpage.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

While there are many spacing issues throughout (which could be attributed to formatting), I did not find any significant grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not find any part of the text culturally insensitive or offensive. It could expand on some of the illustrative examples to include multi-cultural products and/or company names.

Comments

I think this text is a good starting point for OER content for an introductory managerial accounting course. I would not be comfortable relying solely on this text for content - there is not enough contextualization nor enough visual aids for some of the material.

Reviewed by Christine Stinson, Associate Professor, Ferrum College on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text "Managerial Accounting" provides a comprehensive and broad review of the major topics usually covered in an introductory Managerial Accounting course. There is no index. New terms are explained well in the text when they are first introduced. There is no Table of Contents in the downloadable PDF but a Table of Contents is available at the Open Textbook Library (OTL) webpage where one would download the text. I do use this text in my teaching and I refer students to the OTL Table of Contents.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have not discovered any errors in the text. I have used this text for several semesters.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content of the book is excellent for an introductory course. I suspect most professors will bring in supplemental, current examples to compliment the generalized examples in the text. Nevertheless, the text's examples are sufficient and illustrative.

Clarity rating: 5

My students find the text accessible and useful. For me, that is the single best measure of any text's clarity.

Consistency rating: 5

Examples used in the chapter text lend themselves to being used a guides when students work on assigned problems from the end every chapter. I am quite satisfied with the text's internal consistency.

Modularity rating: 5

This text is very easily divided (or reordered) into modules to suit different teaching objectives. I teach several of the chapters "out of order" so that I bring in some concepts early in the semester.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text topics are presented in a logical fashion (but, as noted above, one can easily reorder several of the chapters to suit individual teaching needs).

Interface rating: 5

The PDF file is easy to scroll through and clearly organized.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammatical errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found no parts of the text to be culturally insensitive.

Comments

I think it is wonderful that this text is available to students at no charge. I appreciate the generosity of the authors in making this possible.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Ahrens, Assistant Professor, Minnesota State University, Mankato on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Differences between managerial and financial accounting seems to be abbreviated in chapter 1. Trends such as lean operations, social responsibility, sustainability or global marketplace not included. Overall very complete.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

No biases detected.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Sections of book were clearly identified and coverage seemed to flow consistently.

Clarity rating: 5

Good use of real world examples.

Consistency rating: 5

Terminology was used consistently throughout the textbook.

Modularity rating: 4

Some sections/chapters seemed long. Could possibly be condensed but could be easily adapted to content coverage in the course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Good job on organization of book.

Interface rating: 5

No issues with the book's interface. Charts were clear and readable.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

Pg. 12 - First paragraph needs space between words (This is the planning function). Pg 15 -Managerial Accountant paragraph needs space after term cost accountant. Pg. 28 - spacing in answer is incorrect, I noticed spacing issues throughout the textbook.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I didn't find any culturally insensitive or offensive material.

Comments

The textbook would be more than adequate for a lower level course in managerial accounting. Some content that could have been included is information about the global marketplace and lean accounting techniques.

Reviewed by Craig Moore, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Stout on 1/7/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text provides a comprehensive course in Managerial Accounting. All Managerial Accounting topics that would typically be covered in an Accounting II course are also covered. The text does not cover the Financial Accounting topics that would typically be covered in an Accounting II course---but that is not an objective of the book. The text could stand alone as the sole text for a course in pure Managerial Accounting. Alternatively, the book could serve to cover the Managerial Accounting topics in a typical Accounting II course.

The text lacks an index or glossary. While these would be desirable, this is not a huge shortcoming for this particular subject matter. The lack of a Table of Contents or chapter listing within the PDF of the book itself is an issue.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Coverage of the content appeared to be accurate, unbiased, and consistent with current Managerial Accounting principles. While I did not review every example or problem, I noted no errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The material covered is completely relevant to current Managerial Accounting thinking. These concepts should not change dramatically, so in terms of concepts the text should remain relevant. Some of the case studies may not age as well and could eventually date the book, but this is a hazard in any business text. Some of the discussions of information technology solutions might not remain relevant either.

Clarity rating: 5

This is a strong point of the book. I really appreciated the less formal, less dense style. Managerial Accounting students can be discouraged by the tendency of their textbook to be overly laden with jargon and numeric calculations. While the book does provide the required terminology and numeric examples, it is much more readable than a typical textbook in the field.

Consistency rating: 5

The text was consistent in its approach both stylistically and conceptually.

Modularity rating: 5

The text’s divisibility was another strong point. Using some previously presented information is inevitable in a Managerial Accounting class; however, many of the individual chapters could be presented on a stand-alone basis with some instructor introduction. Using individual chapters in a modular fashion would also be particularly attractive if the text was being used as supplemental text for a typical Accounting II course. Specific chapters relating to Managerial topics could be used as supplementary material in an Accounting II course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

I noted no issues with organization or structure, and the ordering of topics appears reasonable. The author's sequence is not identical to what I am used to teaching, but it appears logical, workable and perhaps superior. This also speaks to the book’s modularity, as it is possible to present these topics in a different order if needed.

Interface rating: 3

The lack of a Table of Contents hinders navigation. Some of the smaller graphics/charts were hard to read on my display. The larger graphics had a fuzziness to them compared to the standard text. I observed some unusual omitted spaces, but that was possibly a function of my specific PDF viewer. Generally the book can be navigated as easily any PDF.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I noted no egregious errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text is as successful at being culturally relevant as a Managerial Accounting text could be. The subject matter does not lend itself to promoting diversity nor to generating content that is offensive or controversial.

Comments

A student could encounter this book as the sole text in a Managerial Accounting course, as a text that covers Managerial Accounting topics in an Accounting II class, or as a supplementary text using selected chapters to cover special topics. In all of these cases the student would have a quality educational resource.

Reviewed by Karen Bangs, Professor, California Polytechnic State University on 7/15/14

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book covers all I need and more. In fact I will probably use Ch 8 to supplement my Engineering Economics class. This text covers types of costs, contribution margin, product costing (ABC, process and job), absorption costing, standard costs, variance analysis, budgeting (capital and operating), Financial statement analysis (all 3) and ratio analysis, ethics and sensitivity anlaysis sprinkled throughout. There is no index/glossary or even a lead in listing of chapters.. that would be a helpful add. I had the chapter titles listed in the "about" doc so could tell where I was going.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Obviously I didn't look at every example or problem but the ones I did were correct. On page 478 the formula should be Fn*(1+r)^-n.... it currently reads Fn*(1+r)*n

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Great... excellent organization in my opinion. The only "relevance" issue might be the companies used as examples are great for today, might not be in 10 years. But for the most part they are very well known (I think with college age students as well) so most likely helps peak interest.

Clarity rating: 5

Great.. I love the introduction with the Q&A from an actual business scenario and how answering those questions are what drives the chapter/section. The break down of topics is very readable/digestable in small doses.

Consistency rating: 5

Yes... reference comments in "clarity" section. I also appreciated the reference to earlier sections, that helps to intregrate the material for the reader (in my opinion).

Modularity rating: 5

Yes... great "chunks" of information and each chunk supplemented with problems and relevance to well known and interesting companies.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Yes... see "modularity". I am happy with the organization of chapters, I could see some re-arrangement. But I think that's a matter of personal preference not impacting the learning experience for the student.

Interface rating: 4

Some of the images are blurry (alot of the tables/forms with the green background), most are readable but a few are not. The margin/indentations could use some organization. I didn't see any spelling errors but sometimes words are scrunched together (no space where there should be some).

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

None that I noticed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

It would be a little difficult for this topic to be culturally offensive (I think). The choice of companies for examples were very neutral (in my opinion) and easily and non-offensively cut across race/gender/ethnicity/etc... The choice of companies for examples seem very relevent in help increase interest in the subject matter.

Comments

I think it's great and will plan to incorporate it next time I teach my Industrial Cost & Controls (aka Managerial Finance) class. At this review I prefer this text to the one I've been using.