Knowledge and Abilities in Finance Were Improved

¶ … knowledge and abilities in finance were improved dramatically. There were a number of different concepts covered in this course including aspects of both financial and managerial accounting. The latter I feel as been especially valuable to me. I can envision in my career as a manager. Consider the different uses of managerial accounting -- making financial decisions, strategic and operational planning and cost management (Owens, 2012). All of these areas were covered in the course. Throughout the course I always took time to see how each of these concepts could apply to my past and future managerial experience, and I could see these uses right away. I also think that the combination of the different concepts was very useful. For example, activity-based costing can be combined with contribution margin to make better determinations about pricing, and what products should be maintained in a business portfolio.

I think that for the most part, I have performed quite well during this course. I found the subject matter engaging and I feel that this was reflected in the work. I could have improved, I think, in the first module about the different accounting systems. I know that since there is a convergence process underway between GAAP and IFRS I should be familiar with the different issues. However, as somebody more oriented to making managerial decisions, I feel that I am not as engaged by things like financial reporting issues. My focus maybe waned a bit there, and I think that is an area where I can improve in the future.

The big reason I took this course is because I think that the material covered can benefit me in the future. I believe that my managerial decision-making in particular can be improved. Thus, I think that my performance in the future can be measured in part by the improvements in my managerial decision making. My unit's performance therefore is something of a proxy for measuring my performance. I believe that by using the techniques I have acquired in this course that I will be able to deliver superior results compared with my past work.

Overall, I believe that I have achieved the course objectives. For example, I know that activity-based costing is an alternative view of overhead allocation, based on the proportion of the activity's direct costs (The Economist, 2009). This is a more accurate means of allocating overhead that will allow me to make managerial decisions. I know that decision-making in my company often incorporates costs that should be categorized as irrelevant. Armed with a better understanding of relevant costs, I should be able to help my company improve its decision-making by cutting out things like overhead allocations, opportunity costs and sunk costs. My knowledge of contribution margin has also improved considerably, and this is something that will help make better product decisions in the future.