Report of the Committee on Courses in Managerial Accounting.

Abstract The article highlights the report of the Committee on Courses in Managerial Accounting of the American Accounting Association. The problem is to analyze our present-day environment to determine the information needs of users and then relate managerial accounting to the information-need environment. The role of accounting within an organization has changed and will continue to change. For instance, accounting was primarily defined as "the art of recording, classifying, summarizing and reporting financial data." Presently it is defined in terms of the measurement and communication of economic data. Originally, most organizations began formalizing an information system to meet an external reporting requirement. In order for students to fully comprehend management accounting, they must acquire a requisite foundation in underlying concepts. These reporting requirements included the Internal Revenue Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, other Federal, State or Local government units, creditors and absentee owners requirements for information. While the product of a management accounting system should always be evaluated in terms of some informational content, the concept means different things to different people. Thus, with certain reservations these basic concepts are assumed to represent those foundation components essential to the student's understanding of managerial accounting.