Question：
Which of the following is true regarding
the comparison of managerial and financial accounting?
A. Managerial
accounting is generally more precise.
B. Managerial
accounting has a past focus, and financial accounting has a future focus.
C. The
emphasis on managerial accounting is relevance, and the emphasis on financial
accounting is timeliness.
D. Managerial
accounting need not follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP),
while financial accounting must follow them.
Answer：
Answer (A) is incorrect.
Managerial accounting may be no more
precise than financial accounting. For example, it relies on allocations of
certain product costs (e.g., overhead) that are based on assumptions rather
than on cause-and-effect relationships.
Answer (B) is incorrect.
Only managerial accounting is
forward-looking. Financial accounting essentially records what has already
occurred.
Answer (C) is incorrect.
Choices of financial accounting information
to be reported must balance relevance (including timeliness) and reliability.
External parties will not find financial accounting information useful if it is
timely but unreliable.
Answer (D) is correct.
Managerial accounting assists management
decision making, planning, and control. Financial accounting addresses
accounting for an entity’s assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, and other
elements of financial statements. Financial statements are the primary method
of communicating to external parties information about the entity’s results of
operations, financial position, and cash flows. For general-purpose financial
statements to be useful to external parties, they must be prepared in
conformity with accounting principles that are generally accepted in the United
States. However, managerial accounting information is primarily directed to
specific internal users. Hence, it ordinarily need not follow such guidance.
管理会计又称为内部会计，是旨在提高企业经济效益，并通过一系列专门方法，利用财务会计提供的资料及其他资料进行加工、整理和报告，使企业各级管理人员能据以对日常发生的各项经济活动进行规划与控制，并帮助决策者作出各种专门决策的一个会计分支。具有未来性、内部性和决策性三个特点。
财务会计又称为外部会计，将历史财务信息按照普遍认可的会计准则（GAAP）制成财务报表，使用者是投资者、银行、供应商等外部人群。财务会计具有历史性、外部性和符合性三个特点。
上财CMA 管理会计师的摇篮上海财经大学CMA
