Overview Successful entrepreneurs understand all aspects of business, especially costs and costing systems. Managerial accounting provides a framework for strategic analysis and planning with regard to cost behaviors and costing systems. In this final project, you have the opportunity to act as an entrepreneur and apply managerial accounting principles to evaluate and manage costs related to your products within a costing system. Additionally, you will demonstrate your ability to communicate your findings effectively to internal stakeholders, just as an actual business owner would need to do.

Specifically, you will assume the role of the owner of a hypothetical small business. In your milestone work, you will develop financial strategies prior to opening your business. For the final submission, you will create a presentation for your investors after your business has been in operation for a certain period of time. You will use the provided scenarios to complete your project.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

· ACC-202-01: Apply fundamental costing systems to optimize operations within a business

· ACC-202-02: Assess financial performance to communicate financial planning strategies to internal stakeholders

· ACC-202-03: Leverage fundamental managerial accounting methods to support the mission of an organization

Prompt

In a detailed presentation (12 to 15 slides in length, plus speaker notes and an addendum), explain and defend your costing strategies (i.e., the business plan created in your first and second milestones) and share your business’s performance to-date (i.e., the work from your third milestone). Be sure to effectively communicate to your stakeholders by breaking down concepts and using investor-friendly language to build their trust and confidence.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed. Most of the critical elements align with a particular course outcome (shown in brackets).

I. Introduce your presentation

a. Outline your company’s profile, including its name, location, and mission and vision.

b. Explain for your investors the purpose of the presentation. What do you plan to communicate, and why should your investors pay attention? In other words, try to persuade your investors that the accounting information you are about to share is important. [ACC-202-03]

c. Explain and defend your methods for generating the information that you are about to share in terms of your adherence to industry standards and the AICPA code of ethics. In other words, why should your investors trust that you are delivering accurate financial data and that your decision-making process has been ethical?

d. Specifically, be sure to illustrate how your managerial accounting methods support the mission of your organization, using examples. [ACC-202- 03]

II. Financial Strategy: Review your original business plan and costing strategies using the prior-to-opening scenario information.

a. Justify your use of job order costing. Be sure to compare and contrast the various costing systems you learned about in this course as part of your defense. [ACC-202-01]

b. Explain and defend the selling prices that you established for grooming, day care, and boarding. Be sure to reference your cost-volume-profit analysis in your defense. [ACC-202-02]

c. Explain and defend your selected target profits for each area of your business. Be sure to reference your cost-volume-profit analysis in your defense. [ACC-202-02]

d. Explain and defend your contribution margin per unit and contribution margin ratio. Be sure to reference your cost-volume-profit analysis in your defense. [ACC-202-02]

III. Financial Statements: Assess your financial performance to-date using the post-opening scenario information.

a. Financial Statements

1. Share the statement of cost of goods manufactured and logically interpret the business’s performance against the provided benchmarks. [ACC-202-02]

2. Share the income statement and logically interpret the business’s performance against the provided benchmarks. [ACC-202-02]

b. Variance Analysis

1. Identify all variances for the direct labor time and the materials price. [ACC-202-02]

2. Evaluate the significance of the variances in terms of the potential to impact future budgeting decisions and planning. [ACC-202-02]

IV. In an addendum, submit your completed workbook, including the following:

c. Accurately classify all of your costs in the “Cost Classification” tab. [ACC-202-01]

d. Conduct a cost-volume profit analysis:

1. Determine your contribution margin per unit and contribution margin ratio in the “Contribution Margin Analysis” tab. [ACC-202-01]

2. Determine your break-even points for achieving your target profits in the “Break-even analysis” tab. [ACC-202-01]

Final Project Rubric

Guidelines for Submission: Your presentation to investors must be at least 12–15 slides plus speaker notes, and all citations should follow APA formatting

Critical Elements

Exemplary (100%)

Proficient (85%)

Needs Improvement (55%)

Not Evident (0%)

Value

Introduce: Company’s Profile

Meets “Proficient” criteria and judiciously includes details relevant to the target audience of the presentation

Outlines the company’s profile, including its name, location, and mission and vision

Outlines the company’s profile but fails to include its name, location, and mission and vision

Does not outline the company’s profile

Introduce: Purpose [ACC-202-03]

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates nuanced appreciation for the role of managerial accounting in ethically supporting the mission of an organization

Explains the purpose of the presentation, including a persuasive case for the importance of the accounting information to be shared

Explains the purpose of the presentation, but fails to fully or persuasively make a case for the importance of the accounting information

Does not explain the purpose of the presentation

Introduce: Defend of Methods

[ACC-202-03]

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates nuanced appreciation for the role of managerial accounting in ethically supporting the mission of an organization

Explains and defends the methods for generating the information in the presentation in terms of their adherence to industry standards and the AICPA code of ethics

Explains the methods for generating the information in the presentation, but fails to fully defend the methods in terms of their adherence to industry standards and the AICPA code of ethics

Does not explain the methods for generating the information in the presentation

Introduce: Support the Mission

[ACC-202-03]

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates nuanced appreciation for the role of managerial accounting in ethically supporting the mission of an organization

Illustrates how the managerial accounting methods support the mission of the organization using specific examples

Discusses how the managerial accounting methods support the mission of the organization, but fails to fully or accurately illustrate using specific examples

Does not discuss illustrate how the managerial accounting methods support the mission of the organization

Financial Strategy: Costing Systems [ACC-202-01]

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates keen insight into key cost behaviors and cost systems

Justifies the use of job order costing by comparing and contrasting the various costing systems covered in the course

Discusses the use of job order costing but fails to fully or accurately justify its use by comparing and contrasting the various costing systems covered in the course

Does not discuss the use of job order costing

Financial Strategy: Selling Prices

[ACC-202-02]

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates strategic ability to propose costing solutions supported by the financial data

Explains and defends the selling prices for grooming, day care, and boarding by citing financial data from the cost-volume-profit analysis

Explains the selling prices for grooming, day care, and boarding, but fails to fully or accurately defend each price by citing financial data from the cost-volume-profit analysis

Does not explain the selling prices for grooming, day care, and boarding

Financial Strategy: Target Profits

[ACC-202-02]

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates strategic ability to propose costing solutions supported by the financial data

Explains and defends the target profits for each area of the business by citing financial data from the cost-volume-profit analysis

Explains the target profits for each area of the business, but fails to fully or accurately defend each one by citing financial data from the cost-volume-profit analysis

Does not explain the target profits for each area of the business

Financial Strategy: Contribution Margin [ACC-202-02]

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates strategic ability to propose costing solutions supported by the financial data

Explains the contribution margin per unit and contribution margin ratio, but fails to fully or accurately defend each by citing financial data from the cost volume-profit analysis

Does not explain the contribution margin per unit and contribution margin ratio

Financial Statements: Statement of Cost of Goods Manufactured

[ACC-202-02]