Difference Between Financial And Managerial Accounting

Posted by Articles Point on Friday, August 10, 2012

While managing the accounts as a function is among the most crucial business functions one can execute in any organization, principally there is a vast difference between financial accounting and its managerial counter-part.

For starters, financial account practices involve generating reports for the purpose of sharing with external parties such as government bodies, creditors and shareholders and managerial accounting are created purely for internal purposes with respect to financial strategizing and decision making.

This is the core point behind all the major discriminating factors between financial and managerial account practices. In spite of typically referring to the same financial data, it is now evident that their objectives and purposes are completely different.

In addition to the underlying difference of the end benefactors of these documents, financial and managerial accounting also vary with respect to the reference of the past and future. This means, that while one gives an account of the past transactions the other will focus on strategizing and future plans.

Making Futuristic Financial Plans:

Planning is an integral part of any manager’s work profile. Accounting Vancouver experts value the significance of futuristic financial planning and thus make great emphasis in managerial accounts.

In contrast, financial account management involves generation of summaries that provide sufficient information on past transactions and overall performance of a business from a financial perspective. These are equally useful when it comes to making decisions and planning for the future, since it is a reflection of what may happen in the future.

Accountants are expected to make informed strategic decisions on based on past records and prevailing economic conditions.

Generating Significant Information:

While financial accountants are expected to generate data that is purely objective, managerial accountant need to provide a more comprehensive overview of existing financial information. While sales forecast may be irrelevant to people who have access to financial information, it is extremely important to gather these figures for the purpose of managerial decision making. This means, managerial accounting information needs to be more holistic, and flexible.

Time versus Precision:

When it comes to effective managerial accounting, one rather receives estimated figures within a given time frame than accurate figures that take longer to deliver. Since this mainly a function designed to aid the strategies and business decisions, an estimate figure would suffice to achieve the required goals. On the other side, financial accountants need to provide accurate information that will be testimony to the organizations performance and will be shared with a number of stakeholders.

A major difference between both these accounting functions is that the financial accountant’s job is mandatory while managerial accountants may be hired depending on the requirement of the business.

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