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Student Workbook
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BSBFIM501 Manage budgets
and financial plans
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SA

1st Edition 2015


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Part of a suite of support materials for the


BSB Business Services Training Package
Copyright and Trade Mark statement
© 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd

All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher, Innovation and Business Industry Skills
Council Ltd (‘IBSA’).

Use of this work for purposes other than those indicated above requires the prior written permission of IBSA. Requests
should be addressed to Product Development Manager, IBSA, Level 11, 176 Wellington Pde, East Melbourne VIC 3002
or email sales@ibsa.org.au.

‘Innovation and Business Skills Australia’, ‘IBSA’ and the IBSA logo are trademarks of IBSA.

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Care has been taken in the preparation of the material in this document; however, to the extent permitted by law, IBSA
and the original developer do not warrant that any licensing or registration requirements specified in this document are
either complete or up to date for your State or Territory or that the information contained in this document is error free
or fit for any particular purpose. To the extent permitted by law, IBSA and the original developer do not accept any

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person as a result of relying on the information contained in this document.

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is taken for any information or services which may appear on any linked websites, or other linked information sources,
that are not controlled by IBSA. Use of versions of this document made available online or in other electronic formats is

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subject to the applicable terms of use.
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To the extent permitted by law, all implied terms are excluded from the arrangement under which this document is
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purchased from IBSA, and, if any term or condition that cannot lawfully be excluded is implied by law into, or deemed to
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apply to, that arrangement, then the liability of IBSA, and the purchaser’s sole remedy, for a breach of the term or condition
is limited, at IBSA’s option, to any one of the following, as applicable:
(a) if the breach relates to goods: (i) repairing; (ii) replacing; or (iii) paying the cost of repairing or replacing, the goods;
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or
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(b) if the breach relates to services: (i) resupplying; or (ii) paying the cost of resupplying, the services.
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Published by: Innovation and Business Industry 1st edition published: April 2015
Skills Council Ltd
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1st edition version: 1


Level 11
176 Wellington Pde Release date: April 2015
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East Melbourne VIC 3002


Phone: +61 3 9815 7000
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Fax: +61 3 9815 7001


email: reception@ibsa.org.au
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www.ibsa.org.au
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ISBN: 978-1-925123-60-9
Stock code: BSBFIM5011W
Table of Contents
Introduction ...........................................................................................................................1
Features of the training program ...................................................................................1
Structure of the training program ...................................................................................1
Recommended reading ...................................................................................................1

Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management ..................................................3


What skills will you need? ...............................................................................................3
Standard accounting practices.......................................................................................4
Cash and accrual accounting methods..........................................................................5

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Management accounting ................................................................................................7
Cost accounting: Overview ..............................................................................................9

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Cost accounting: Cost classifications .......................................................................... 11
Cost accounting: Concepts and models...................................................................... 14

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Budget classifications .................................................................................................. 21
Cost centre allocations................................................................................................. 26
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Section summary .......................................................................................................... 28
Further reading ............................................................................................................. 29
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Section checklist........................................................................................................... 29
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Section 2 – Plan Financial Management Approaches .................................................... 30


What skills will you need? ............................................................................................ 31
Ensure access to budgets and financial plans ........................................................... 31
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Clarify the budgets and financial plans....................................................................... 33


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Negotiate budgets and financial plans ....................................................................... 38


Risk management ........................................................................................................ 42
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Contingency planning ................................................................................................... 47


Section summary .......................................................................................................... 51
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Further reading ............................................................................................................. 51


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Section checklist........................................................................................................... 51

Section 3 – Implement Financial Management Approaches ......................................... 52


What skills will you need? ............................................................................................ 53
The management cycle: Budgeting and leadership ................................................... 53
Communicate to team.................................................................................................. 55
Identify and set accountabilities ................................................................................. 58
Budget management and human behaviour.............................................................. 63
Support team to achieve goals .................................................................................... 66
Organise resources and systems ................................................................................ 72
Use electronic spreadsheets to manage budgets ...................................................... 75
Section summary .......................................................................................................... 78
Further reading ............................................................................................................. 78
Section checklist........................................................................................................... 78

Section 4 – Monitor and Control Finances ...................................................................... 79


What skills will you need? ............................................................................................ 80
Budgetary control ......................................................................................................... 80
Monitor expenditure and variance .............................................................................. 88
Implement contingency plans...................................................................................... 89
Reporting requirements ............................................................................................... 91
Government reporting requirements........................................................................... 93

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Section summary .......................................................................................................... 98
Further reading ............................................................................................................. 98

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Section checklist........................................................................................................... 98

Section 5 – Review and Evaluate Financial Management Processes ........................... 99

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What skills will you need? ............................................................................................ 99
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Financial management data ...................................................................................... 100
Analyse variance ......................................................................................................... 102
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Analyse cash flow ....................................................................................................... 109


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Analyse profit .............................................................................................................. 114
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Implement corrections and improvements............................................................... 116


Section summary ........................................................................................................ 119
Further reading ........................................................................................................... 119
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Section checklist......................................................................................................... 119


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Glossary............................................................................................................................ 120
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Appendices....................................................................................................................... 124
Appendix 1 – Cash flow 2011/12: Dolly’s Delight ................................................... 124
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Appendix 2 – Master budget template: Dolly’s Delight............................................ 125


Appendix 3 – Strategic goals and operational plans: Dolly’s Delight...................... 127
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Appendix 4 – Dolly’s Delight profit and loss ............................................................. 130


Appendix 5 – Dolly’s Delight policies and procedures ............................................. 131

BSBFIM501 Manage budgets and financial plans 1st edition version: 1


© 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd
Student Workbook Introduction

Introduction
Features of the training program
The key features of this program are:
● Student Workbook – Self-paced learning activities to help you to develop an
understanding of key concepts and terms. The Student Workbook is broken down
into several sections.
● Facilitator-led sessions – Challenging and interesting learning activities that can be
completed in the classroom or by distance learning that will help you consolidate
and apply what you have learned in the Student Workbook.
● Assessment Tasks – Summative assessments where you can apply your new skills

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and knowledge to solve authentic workplace tasks and problems.

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Structure of the training program

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This training program introduces you to managing budgets and financial plans.
Specifically, you will develop the skills and knowledge in the following topic areas:
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1. Review concepts of financial management
2. Plan financial management approaches
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3. Implement financial management approaches
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4. Monitor and control finances


5. Review and evaluate financial management processes.
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Your facilitator may choose to combine or split sessions. For example, in some cases, this
training program may be delivered in two or three sessions, or in others, as many as eight
sessions.
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Recommended reading
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Some recommended reading for this unit includes:


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● Bear, C., Blythe, P. and Flanders, D., 2005, Introduction to budgeting, 4th edn,
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Thomson, Melbourne.
● Daft, R. and Samson, D., 2009, Fundamentals of management, 3rd edn, Cengage
Learning, Melbourne.
● Hilton, R., 2008, Managerial accounting, 8th edn, McGraw-Hill, Boston.
● Langfield-Smith, K., Thorne, H., Hilton, R., 2006, Management accounting:
information for managing and creating value, 4th edn, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
● Swann, M., and McEachern, W., 2001, Microeconomics: a contemporary
introduction, Nelson Thomson Learning, Melbourne.
● Wrice, M., 2004, First steps in retail management, 2nd edn, Macmillan Publishers
Australia Pty Ltd, South Yarra.

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© 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 1 of 136
Introduction Student Workbook

Please note that any URLs contained in the recommended reading, learning content and
learning activities of this publication were checked for currency during the production
process. Note, however, that IBSA cannot vouch for the ongoing currency of URLs.
Every endeavour has been made to provide a full reference for all web links. Where URLs
are not current we recommend using the reference information provided dto search for
the course in your chosen search engine.

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1st edition version: 1 BSBFIM501 Manage budgets and financial plans


Page 2 of 136 © 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd
Student Workbook Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management

Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial


Management
The focus of this unit is on the skills and knowledge required by managers to manage
budgets and financial plans. Section 1 provides an overview of fundamental principles
and techniques of budgeting and financial planning. This section also provides an
overview of types of budgets applicable to this unit as well as an introduction to cost
centre allocations.

Scenario: Dolly’s Delight – Doll house manufacturer

Dolly’s Delight Pty Ltd Manufacturing Company builds and sells dolls houses to

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retailers. The company employs 70 people in the manufacturing side of the business
and 16 people in the administration side of the business.

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The company was formed ten years ago, initially funded by Eden Black, the present
CEO.

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The company had been struggling financially for the past four years. After a recent
reshuffle of staff and a few changes in management, the business has now become
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stable again and is beginning to make a profit. The company has decided to outsource
what it can and has moved some of the aspects of the business to contractors and
outside organisations. This has included sections of the business such as the basic
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bookkeeping and payroll, the distribution of its goods to outside businesses, website
design and updates.
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The company made a net profit last year of $320,000 (before income tax) and aims to
increase this by 20% in this financial year. The company intends to make a small profit
compared to revenue but build its reputation in the market for quality and customer
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service with a view to increasing profits much more over coming financial years.
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What skills will you need?


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In order to work effectively with budgets and financial plans, you must be able to:
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 identify and apply management accounting principles and techniques to financial


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planning: standard accounting practices, cash and accrual accounting,


management accounting and cost accounting

 identify types of budgets

 identify cost centre allocations.

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© 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 3 of 136
Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management Student Workbook

Standard accounting practices


Although this unit does not require you to apply accounting practices and techniques to
produce, for example, financial statements or make entries into journals or ledgers, this
Student Workbook assumes some knowledge of standard accounting practices. The
standard accounting practices assumed by this Student Workbook include the following:
● the application of the accounting cycle

● the use of journals and ledgers

● the use of double-entry bookkeeping

● the use of the account groups: assets (including receivables and inventories),
liabilities, capital (owner’s equity), revenue and expenses
● the practice of making year-end closing entries for the preparation of financial

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statements.

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The above accounting practices underpin the financial reporting system of a firm dealing
with past business transactions. Although financial planning focuses on future projections
of organisational performance to facilitate planning, the assumption of standard

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accounting practices is important because managers engaged in financial planning derive
much of their information from the output of standard accounting practices, namely, the
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financial statements and various account balances such as cost of goods sold (COGS), for
example.
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Basic accounting principles
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Five fundamental principles of accounting, relating to the generally accepted accounting


principles (GAAP), are revenue, expense, matching, cost and objectivity.
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Learning activity: Basic accounting principles


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Go to a website to find a list of basic principles of accounting and record the terms and
their definitions below:
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Compare sources of information. Are there any differences in terms and/or definitions?
How do you explain the differences?

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management

Cash and accrual accounting methods


There are two approaches that a business in Australia can adopt when recording
transactions, producing financial reports and reporting to the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
These methods are called ‘cash’ and ‘accrual’ accounting.
Cash accounting only recognises, records and processes a financial transaction when
cash is actually received or paid. Accrual accounting recognises, records, and processes a
financial transaction when the transaction actually occurs regardless of when it is to
be paid.
A simple example of this difference would be a plumber doing work on a project that
finishes in the last week of July. The plumber issues the client with the invoice for $1,000
in July but does not receive payment until August. Under the cash accounting system, the
money becomes income for the plumber in August, whereas under the accrual accounting

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system the income was really earned in July because that is when the client became
legally responsible for payment for the work.

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The matching principle of accrual accounting sets out to ensure that in a given accounting
period, the income and the expenses incurred in earning that income are accurately

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matched and reflected in the accounts and the reports.
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Benefits of accrual accounting
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Accrual accounting is an accounting process designed to more accurately reflect the true
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nature of a business’ financial position and performance. After centuries of accounting


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practice, accrual accounting has become the standard for reporting. Adopting the accrual
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accounting method aligns with AASB (Australian Accounting Standards Board) standards
and with the practice of larger corporations. Other benefits for adopting the accrual
accounting method include:
● more accurately reporting the profit of a business for a given period
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● providing a better method for planning expenses, as well as preparing monthly and
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yearly budgets
● provides the true value of a business
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● being suited to tracking large volumes of transactions

● giving a more accurate picture of the organisation's overall financial performance


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and financial position


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● allowing external stakeholders like banks and creditors to be better informed about
the business’ prospects
● being more comprehensive and focusing on total resources, not just cash

● accrual accounting methods allowing for a seamless transition from small to large
as the business grows and expands
● the focus on total resources providing a better and more comprehensive measure
of financial performance and facilitating resource allocation.

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© 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 5 of 136
Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management Student Workbook

Budget projections derived from financial reports based on the accrual accounting
method are more likely to be accurate and fair representations of the future financial
position of the business. In addition, as we shall see later with regard to the principles of
cost accounting, keeping track of costs associated with business operations, as they are
incurred, is far more useful to budgeting and financial planning than merely tracking the
initial outlay of cash, for example, for raw materials. The level of detail and point-in-time
accuracy provided through accrual accounting can lead to more detailed, reliable and
meaningful budgeting.

Learning activity: Accrual accounting and budgets

Consider your own organisation or an organisation you are already familiar with or wish
to research.
Which method of accounting, cash or accrual, does the organisation use?

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How is information from the accounting system used to inform budgets?

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How reliable is the information?


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How does (or would) the use of the accrual method improve the accuracy and reliability
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of budgets produce by or for the organisation?


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Student Workbook Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management

Management accounting
Accounting may be divided into two branches: financial accounting and management
accounting. As illustrated in the diagram below, each branch has its own area of concern,
methods and key stakeholders.

Accounting

Financial Management
Accounting Accounting

External Users Internal Users

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Set Reports Custom Reports

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Directors
Government Agencies
and CEO

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Line Managers
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Investors
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Creditors
Employees
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Loan Funders
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Trade Associations
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Financial accounting is focused on producing a limited set of specific prescribed financial


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statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The central


outputs from financial accounting are audited financial statements such as the balance
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sheet and income statement that provides a scorecard by which a company's overall past
performance can be judged by outsiders.
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Managerial accounting, on the other hand, deals with information that is not made public
and is used for internal decision-making only. Reports are far more detailed than financial
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accounting and can cover performances and activities by departments, products,


customers and employees. It is an accounting system that helps management achieve
the goals and objectives of the organisation with an emphasis on the measurement,
analysis, communication and the control of financial and non-financial information.
This branch of accounting is primarily interested in assisting the organisation’s
department heads, division managers, and supervisors to make better decisions about
the day-to-day operations of the business and in particular, those relating to the planning
and control decisions

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Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management Student Workbook

The essential data is conveyed in a wide variety of reports and is specifically targeted at
those who direct and control the organisation. These reports help to promote more
efficient and effective planning, resource organisation, personnel management,
performance evaluation, and operations control.
Unlike financial accounting, there are no external rules governing management
accounting. The emphasis in this branch is on making decisions that affect the future with
actual results being compared to, for example, budgets, activity-based costing, financial
planning, or to industry benchmarks. These reports are delivered frequently and in a
timely way according to the requirements of management. Most reports are analytical in
nature with a heavy emphasis on variances in the key indicators that monitor the financial
performance of the business. A more specialised area of management accounting is cost
accounting, which will be examined in more detail below.

Management accounting: planning and control

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Planning and control are two key and related components of management accounting.

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Planning involves formulating the firm’s objectives and includes the detailed description
of the steps needed to meet these objectives. Planning involves custom reports derived
from information in financial statements and activities such as:

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● cash flow projections
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● long term budgets and plans
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● operational plans
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● short term budgets and plans


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● financial projections

● setting targets and key performance indicators for aspects of business


performance such as production, sales, income and expenditure, etc; targets may
be set for organisational performance as well as for team performance.
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Control involves the continuous assessment of actual performance against a budget or


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standard/target. Importantly, it also involves taking corrective action through following or


forming contingency plans to keep financial plans on track. Control may also include
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revising plans or targets. In other words, planning and control may influence each other in
a process of continuous and reciprocal improvement.
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Planning Control

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Page 8 of 136 © 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd
Student Workbook Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management

Learning activity: Planning and control

Planning and control are two key elements in financial management. From your
experience, identify and describe at least one activity that you have done or witnessed
for each element.

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Cost accounting: Overview


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Cost accounting is an approach to evaluating the overall costs that are associated with
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conducting business. Managers use cost accounting to support decision-making. Cost
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accounting is recognised as a form of management accounting, because its primary use


is for internal managers rather than outside users.
Typically, you will need to use data from the most recent year ended, or reporting period,
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since that is the only way to have accurate numbers to accompany a budget. It is
important to note that past year expenditures can be affected by unusual circumstances
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and any variances like this must be carefully accounted for. Apart from financial
statements, data can come from a range of sources, but typically these are:
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● inventory, materials and finished product records

● consumables records
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● records of purchases and associated costs


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● sales information

● labour utilisation records

● materials used

● payroll records

● manufacturing and general overhead costs.

When looking at a manufacturing company like Dolly’s Delight, it is useful to allocate


costs to a business activity. If we look at the total production process in a flow chart, we
can visualise where the costs are in the process and how they flow down through the
production process.

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© 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 9 of 136
Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management Student Workbook

Planning Processes

Research and Design and Supply of


development processes product

Production and Manufacture

Manufacturing Production

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Selling and Admin

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Marketing Distribution Customer service

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From the diagram above we can identify the costs involved in production and how they
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flow from the one stage in the process to the next. It is important to assign the costs to
activities so that we can work on identifying where the costs have come from and
anticipate future costs.
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● Planning and process costs: These costs identify the initial stages of the production
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process and include things such as the development of a new product and its
design, as well as working on the processes that will be involved with the
manufacture.
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● Production and manufacture costs: The direct costs involved with the manufacture
of the product for sale. It involves everything from the assembly, to the equipment
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used and the direct materials involved with the production.


● Selling and administration costs: The costs in this area involve all the final costs
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involved with getting the product into the market and the distribution of the final
item. It involves all the office and administration costs as well.
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As well as helping to plan operations for maximum benefit and produce accurate budgets,
cost accounting helps to provide the tools to analyse how well company resources are
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being used to generate revenue and achieve strategic goals. By identifying production
costs and further defining the cost of production, it is possible, for example, to note any
long term or short term trends that indicate a rise in production costs with respect to
budgeted output. In such cases, management may either apply the necessary controls to
correct budget variances or adapt budgets and financial plans to reflect new business
realities.

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management

Principles of cost accounting


An important principle in cost accounting is the practice of accounting for costs rather
than outlays. As discussed previously, the method of accrual accounting helps to provide
the detail necessary for operational budgeting. For example, accrual accounting records
the value of raw materials purchased for future production as an asset, not merely as an
outlay of cash, as would be the case using a purely cash accounting method. Each unit
produced, then, would be seen to incur a cost with regard to the value of the raw
materials held by the business.
Cost accounting allows these costs to be analysed and provides the basis for both
anticipating future costs and making sound strategic decisions relating to, as an example,
what to produce and how much to produce within a given time-frame. Other important
principles of cost accounting include the following:
● accounting for hidden costs and externalities

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● accounting for direct overheads/indirect costs

● accounting for past and future outlays

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● accounting for costs according to the lifecycle of the product.

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In order to gain a broad understanding of cost accounting this section provides a
summary of the terminology referred to above and then progresses to discuss important
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cost accounting concepts and models which can be usefully applied to financial planning.

Cost accounting: Cost classifications


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There are a number of different ways that costs can be classified. For example, they may
be classified by nature, function, traceability, variability, controllability, normality or
abnormality, etc. Costs may be classified and recorded on a cost sheet. Two
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classifications of cost accounting of key importance for this unit are variability and
traceability (direct or indirect costs).
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Variable and fixed costs


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Fixed costs per are those costs you need to spend to maintain your business or product
sales but which do not change in line with changes in your sales volume or business
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activity. Rent is a good illustration of a fixed cost. Regardless of how much you sell, the
rent is still going to be the same. Other fixed costs could include equipment rental or
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lease arrangements, insurance, interest on debt, plant and equipment expenses, utilities,
business licenses and salaries of permanent, full-time workers.
As the charts below show, total fixed costs do not change with increased volume of
production, yet the fixed cost per unit reduces the more volume is produced.

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Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management Student Workbook

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Learning activity: Why fixed?

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Give an explanation as to why the following are considered fixed costs.

Cost Answer

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A license to operate a food business.
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The interest costs on the loan taken out to
establish a business.
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Variable costs are those costs that do vary in line with and usually in direct proportion to
changes in sales volume or business activity. Usually the largest and most common
variable cost is the cost of buying or manufacturing the goods that are sold. This cost is
often referred to as cost of goods sold (COGS).
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Other variable costs might include packaging, and labour directly involved in a company's
manufacturing or sales process, vehicle fuel and salesperson’s telephone calls. As the
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chart below shows, variable costs will increase in line with volume yet the variable cost
per unit will remain the same.
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TOTAL VARIABLE COST VARIABLE COST PER UNIT


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Student Workbook Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management

Semi-variable costs are those costs that are a blend of the two. For example, electricity to
run the machinery that makes products is included on the same bill for the electricity that
lights the office, whether there is production happening or not. Staffing is another area
that could break up the costs between both concepts. Often staffing costs may increase
during a busy period if management makes a decision to employ temporary staff to
handle increased sales.

Learning activity: Variable or semi-variable?

Look at the following costs and determine if they are variable or semi-variable. If semi-
variable, then explain which part of the costs is fixed and which part is variable.

Cost Answer

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Telephone costs for the
office sales team.

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Salaries and wages to
operate a retail store over

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Christmas.
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Contributions under the
Superannuation Guarantee
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(Administration) Act 1992
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Advertising costs used for
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corporate branding and


branding specific product
promotions.
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Sales team members paid


on commission only.
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Fuel costs to operate a


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machine used in the


production of goods.
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Direct costs and indirect costs


Indirect costs are also referred to as overheads. Overheads are the costs incurred by the
firm but which cannot be attributed directly to a unit of production. One example of an
overhead is rent, which is a necessary cost of business but is not directly related to the
production of a specific product.
Direct costs are those costs incurred by a firm which can be directly attributed to units of
production. One example of a direct cost is raw material without which a final product
would not exist. Raw material is a direct cost because it can be directly attributed
proportionally to a unit of production.

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Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management Student Workbook

Learning activity: Name that cost

Look at the cost on the left and decide whether it is more fixed than variable and
whether it is more direct than indirect.

Cost Fixed Variable Direct Indirect

Rent

Casual
production
wages

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CEO salary

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Head office
building

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insurance
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Raw materials
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Electricity to
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run the plant

Cost accounting: Concepts and models


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Several concepts and models are important for cost accounting. These depend on the
cost classifications discussed above. This section will discuss manufacturing cost
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concepts and several models for budgeting costs.

Manufacturing cost concepts


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The ‘prime cost’ is composed of direct material costs and direct labour costs:
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Direct Direct Prime


Materials Labour Cost

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Student Workbook Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management

The production cost is composed of prime costs and indirect costs:

Direct Direct Factory Product


Materials Labour Overheads Costs

The conversion cost, the cost required to convert a product from raw material to a
product, is composed of indirect costs and direct labour costs.

Factory Direct Conversion

es
Overheads Labour Cost

os
All three cost concepts, particularly the production cost, may factor into the cost

rp
in E
accounting models discussed below.
in PL
Learning activity: Calculate the costs
pu
M

Given the information below, calculate the prime cost, the product cost and the
g
conversion costs.
SA

● Factory overheads – $100,000

● Direct materials – $50,000

● Direct labour – $20,000.


ra
rt

Cost Answer

Prime
fo

cost
ot

Production
cost
N

Conversion
cost

Marginal costing model


Marginal costing, also known as cost-volume-profit (CVP) costing, involves the analysis of
the relationship between production costs, sales volume and profit. Using CVP analysis
you can calculate the break-even point and the volume of sales required to earn a
particular profit.
Consider the following formula.

BSBFIM501 Manage budgets and financial plans 1st edition version: 1


© 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 15 of 136
Section 1 – Review Concepts of Financial Management Student Workbook

$𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 = $𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 + $𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 + $𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃


or
𝑃𝑃 × 𝑋𝑋 = (𝑉𝑉 × 𝑋𝑋) + 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 + 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃

P Price per unit

X Number of units

V Variable cost per unit, or unit cost

FC Fixed costs

An important concept for CVP costing is ‘unit contribution margin’:

es
os
Unit
Price Variable
contribution
per unit cost per unit
margin

rp
in E
in PL
pu
The unit contribution margin is related to profit. The unit contribution margin is the
marginal profit per unit of sale (or gross profit per unit).
M
g

Example: Dolly’s Delight


SA

Sales of dolls $3,000,000 (60,000 units * $50 )

Variable costs $1,780,000 (60,000 units * $29.66 per unit)


ra

Price per unit $50 (ex GST)


rt

Variable cost per unit $29.66

Total contribution margin $1,220,000


fo

Unit contribution margin $20.34


ot

Fixed Costs $900,000

Profit $320,000
N

The contribution margin may also be expressed as a ratio:


● Using unit figures:

𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 − 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢


𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 =
𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢
● Using total figures:

𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 − 𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐


𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 =
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆

1st edition version: 1 BSBFIM501 Manage budgets and financial plans


Page 16 of 136 © 2015 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd

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