Students Comments: "Very good questions. Very challenging with regards to the time required to complete the questions." CM

You will be tested in the following areas

A. External Financial Reporting Decisions (15% - Levels A, B, and C)

1. Financial statements a. Balance sheet b. Income statement c. Statement of changes in equity d. Statement of cash flows

2. Recognition, measurement, valuation, and disclosure a. Asset valuation b. Valuation of liabilities c. Equity transactions d. Revenue recognition e. Income measurement f. Major differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS

B. Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting (30% - Levels A, B, and C)

1. Strategic planning a. Analysis of external and internal factors affecting strategy b. Long-term mission and goals c. Alignment of tactics with long-term strategic goals d. Strategic planning models and analytical techniques e. Characteristics of successful strategic planning process

2. Budgeting concepts a. Operations and performance goals b. Characteristics of a successful budget process c. Resource allocation d. Other budgeting concepts

3. Forecasting techniques a. Regression analysis b. Learning curve analysis c. Expected Value

4. Budgeting methodologies a. Annual business plans (master budgets) b. Project budgeting c. Activity-based budgeting d. Zero-based budgeting e. Continuous (rolling) budgets f. Flexible budgeting

5. Annual profit plan and supporting schedules a. Operational budgets b. Financial budgets c. Capital budgets

6. Top-level planning and analysis a. Pro forma income b. Financial statement projections c. Cash flow projections

C. Performance Management (20% - Levels A, B, and C)

1. Cost and variance measures a. Comparison of actual to planned results b. Use of flexible budgets to analyze performance c. Management by exception d. Use of standard cost systems e. Analysis of variation from standard cost expectations

2. Responsibility centers and reporting segments a. Types of responsibility centers b. Transfer pricing models c. Reporting of organizational segments

3. Performance measures a. Product profitability analysis b. Business unit profitability analysis c. Customer profitability analysis d. Return on investment e. Residual income f. Investment base issues g. Key performance indicators (KPIs)

D. Cost Management (20% - Levels A, B, and C)

1. Measurement concepts a. Cost behavior and cost objects b. Actual and normal costs c. Standard costs d. Absorption (full) costing e Variable (direct) costing f. Joint and by-product costing

a2. Costing systems a. Job order costing b. Process costing c. Activity-based costing d. Life-cycle costing

3. Overhead costs a. Fixed and variable overhead expenses b. Plant-wide versus departmental overhead c. Determination of allocation base d. Allocation of service department costs 4. Supply Chain Management a. Lean manufacturing b. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) c. Theory of constraints and throughput costing d. Capacity management and analysis

5. Business process improvement a. Value chain analysis b. Value-added concepts c. Process analysis d. Activity-based management e. Continuous improvement concepts f. Best practice analysis g. Cost of quality analysis h. Efficient accounting processes