Cost & Management Accounting and Financial Management

• Cost & Management Accounting is a branch of accounting that aims to overcome the limitations of Financial Accounting. The idea is to manage revenues and expenses to maximise profitability  
• Financial Management is nothing but applying general management principles such as planning, organising etc. to financial resources so that the organisational goals and objectives are met 

• Cost & Management Accounting is one of the core competency areas of a CMA 
• As a CMA, you need to identify ways to maximise revenue and ensure that the company runs smoothly in terms of operations 
• You will help business keep their costs at a minimum and to leverage their resources properly 
• Financial Management is important because it helps you to make decisions that will maximise the value of the business 

Under Cost & Management Accounting, you will: 

• Get an introduction to cost and management accounting 
• Understand the necessary decision-making tools 
• Understand budgeting and budgetary control 

• Understand the concepts of standard costing and variance analysis 
• Know what a learning curve is 

Under Financial Management, you  

• Get an introduction to Financial Management and its objectives 
• Gain knowledge of the tools used for Financial Analysis and Planning 

• Understand the concept of Working Capital Management, Cost of Capital, Capital Structure Theories, Dividend Decisions and Leverage Analysis 
• The concepts behind Capital Budgeting and Investment Decisions 

• Concentrate on understanding the theoretical concepts  
• Practice a lot of problems in the domain 

• Refer to previous years’ examination papers to get an idea of the questions 
• Understand the formulae and concepts involved rather than mugging them up 
• While studying from online video lectures take an active role rather than a passive one. Take short notes while watching videos to retain concepts in your memory