Cambridge Business Publishers

CHANGES TO THE 5TH EDITION

Excellent assignment material is a must-have component of any successful textbook (and class). We went to great lengths to create the best assignments possible. We tried to include assignments that reflect our belief that students should be trained in analyzing accounting information to make business decisions, as opposed to working on mechanical computations. Assignments encourage students to analyze accounting information, interpret it, and apply the knowledge gained to a business decision. There are five categories of assignments: Discussion Questions, Mini Exercises, Exercises, Problems, and Cases. The following is a representative example:

CHANGES TO THE 5TH EDITION

The revisions made in the 5th edition are substantial. In addition to the new pedagogy and the updating of vignettes, examples, and assignments, we have reorganized and streamlined the book based on adopter and reviewer feedback. Some of the more signifi cant content changes include:

• All chapters now include a chapter outline, a mid chapter review with solution, and a managerial decision question with suggested answer. Mini exercises have also been added to chapter assignment materials, and many of the other exercises and problems have been expanded to include critical thinking requirements.
• Chapter 2: The section on potential errors with the unit-level approach was deleted because it is more appropriate for an advanced text. The appendix on least-squares regression using a spreadsheet was also deleted.
• Chapter 3: The appendix on sales mix analysis from the 4th edition has been incorporated into the chapter and the section on profitability analysis and unit and nonunit cost drivers has been moved to Appendix 3A.
• Chapter 4: Includes expanded coverage of the make-or-buy decision with emphasis on outsourcing as a major business strategy.
• Chapter 5: The illustration of job costing, presented in Chapter 6 of the 4th edition, has been simplified. The appendix on journal entries from the 4th edition has been eliminated in favor of the use of T-accounts incorporated into the body of the chapter. The illustration of absorption and variable costing, presented in Chapter 8 of the 4th edition, has been simplified to focus on essentials important to all business students and moved to Appendix 5A.
  Chapter 6: The activity based costing and activity based management topics that spanned Chapters 5 and 7 in the 4th edition have been consolidated into a single chapter. In addition, a major new section on customer profitability analysis has been added.
• Chapter 7: This chapter continues to include the topic of service department cost assignment, but in this edition it also includes the topic of just-in-time inventory management (from Chapter 8 in the 4th edition), expanded and modified to emphasize the growing trend toward lean production and lean accounting. The appendix illustrating the algebra method of service department cost allocation was deleted.
• Chapter 8: This chapter presents the topic of value chain management and analysis (from Chapter 5 in the 4th edition) along with the related product management models, including target costing, continuous improvement and benchmarking (which were covered in Chapter 9 in the 4th edition) .
• Chapter 9: The illustration of operational budgeting, presented in Chapter 11 of the 4th edition, has been simplified. The illustration of budgeting in a manufacturing organization, a chapter appendix in the 4th edition, has also been simplified and incorporated into the chapter.
• Chapter 10: The discussion of responsibility accounting, Chapter 12 in the 4th edition, has been streamlined. The illustration of variance analysis for variable costs has been simplified. Materials on variable overhead variances and the fixed overhead budget variance have been moved from a chapter appendix in the 4th edition into the body of the text. The illustration of variance analysis for revenue centers has been simplified.
• Chapter 11: The topics of segment reporting, transfer pricing, and balanced scorecard, presented in Chapter 13 of the 4th edition, have been updated and moved to Chapter 11.
• Chapter 12: The chapter on capital budgeting, Chapter 10 in the 4th edition, has been moved to the end of the book.
• Appendix A: The appendix on the managerial reporting of cash flows is no longer in the book but is available for download from the book’s Website. The appendix on managerial analysis of financial statements is now Appendix A.