Managerial Accounting - 3rd Edition of a Comprehensive Guide

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Export and its financing in the SME segment. Case study from Slovakia

The export orientation of small and medium enterprises represents an important attribute of the enterprises' competitive ability. In this context, the area of export financing becomes a very important field of company management. The aim of this study is to define and quantify relevant approaches of entrepreneurs to the export activities and export financing, with regard to the impact of the selected socio-economic factors (gender, level of education and age). The study is based on the research of Slovak business environment carried out in 2016, which was evaluated by the tools of descriptive statistics, including percentages and averages, pivot tables, the methods of comparison and deduction, Pearson's chi-square statistics at 5% significance level. Our results suggest that Slovak entrepreneurs primarily supply their products and services on the domestic market, while their export potential is limited. The assessment of the state support of export activities is rather negative. An alarming finding is that Slovak entrepreneurs in the SME segment do not use even basic tools of financial risk reduction to a higher extent, and that the usage of services of the state export bank Eximbank is negligible

Profitability analysis of urban mass transport lines using activity-based costing method: An evidence from the Czech Republic

The objective of this study is to present how could be Activity-Based Costing method used for the purpose of the profitability analysis of individual bus and trolleybus lines in an urban mass transport company which operates the land public transport inside the medium sized town in Czech Republic. Activity-Based Costing method had been used, in order to causal allocation of overhead costs to individual operations in order to measure the profitability of particular transport lines. The performed study showed the application process of the Activity-Based Costing and possible information outputs for an urban mass transport company as well as the limitations of the method use in the field of transportation services. The study also analyses the obstacles in effective data collection and processing which implementation team faced during the analysis. The primary limitation of the analysis, is similarly as in other studies, is the quality of the non-financial information which had to be obtained. Study discusses problems related with the fare system, which does not provide the information regarding the route taken by individual passenger. The study presents the how could be ABC method used for the decision making support in urban mass transport company and shows a real example of the ABC system information outputs. © 2016, Institut za Istrazivanja. All rights reserved

Economics of the international ridesharing services - A trap for amateurs

An explosively growing international business model of peer-to-peer ridesharing brings benefits to the customers and provides part-time and full-time jobs for the drivers. While the services are provided mostly by the drivers with low knowledge of economics and finance, provision of the services might be a trap for them in case that they do not take into consideration all costs related to the service provision. The aim of the study was to investigate the economics of the ridesharing providers in case of UBER in Prague, and to create a simulation model estimating the annual performance of the ridesharing transport service operators and classic taxi service from the point of view of individual drivers, considering certain deviations and random effects defined by the stochastic methods using Monte Carlo approach. The results of the modelling show that the net income of Uber drivers is compatible with the taxi drivers only in case of the most expensive Uber Black category, but the net income of ridesharing providers in the category of Uber Pop and Uber Select hardly covers the costs of service provision. The alarming fact is that most of the drivers, who took part in our research, were not capable to acknowledge the hidden costs of ridesharing and were blinded by the vision of a short-term cash incomes without any awareness of the existence of the postponed or implicit costs. While our results confirm that Uber drivers in general are significantly underpaid, Uber Pop and Uber Select services generate a loss for the driver when we take into account the implicit costs of the driver's salary at the level of an average salary in the Czech Republic

The perception of budgeting in Czech firms - results of a survey

Research background: Budgeting was developed during the Great Depression as a managerial tool to help enterprises survive a critical period characterized by fluctuations in macroeconomic indicators. Now, after more than eighty years, budgeting is criticized for the same reason why it was created - for lack of adaptability to unexpected changes in the business environment. Based on these facts, the presented study focuses on the specifics of budgeting in the current business environment. Purpose of the article: The aim of the work is to explore selected aspects of budgeting process in Czech firms, and to assess how the budgetary process is influenced by the progression of the business environment. Methods: To achieve presented target, the authors designed the questionnaire survey submitted to employees of companies in the Czech Republic. Findings & Value added: The first part of this paper displays the state of knowledge on budgeting, the following part presents results of the survey. The study identified several trends, especially in the use of budgeting in Czech firms, characteristics of budgets in these subjects and evaluation of the sustainability of a company's environment.Czech Science Foundation [GA 17-13518S/P403]; Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University in Zlin [IGA/FaME/2016/005

How Czech firms deal with operational budgets? – Survey results

In recent decades, academics and practitioners started a deep discussion about the limitations and perspectives of enterprise budgeting systems. Traditional budgets are frequently criticized due to their inflexibility, weak connection to corporate performance and demand on manager’s time. Recently, we have observed more frequent examples of firms which have undertaken budgeting system transformation and the adoption of modern, flexible and performance-based budgets. In this study, we have studied some trends in the budgeting of Czech firms with a focus on the manager´s behaviour. This paper contributes to the existing knowledge in two fields: Firstly, it summarizes the existing state of the art regarding the budgeting transformation; secondly, it presents the survey results focused on the operational budget utilization and its impact on the manager’s behaviour. Overall, the study presents some findings regarding the impact of an operational budget on the manager’s behaviour. We have tested how frequently situations occur, more specifically those frequently discussed in literature, in a given Czech firm´s budgeting practices. © Foundation of International Studies and CSR, 2017.17-13518S/P403, GA, FP7 Coordination of Non-Community Research Programmes; IGA/FaME/2016/005, UTB, Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlín

Analysis of overhead cost behavior: Case study on decision-making approach

Cost management is one of the most significant issues in company performance and company financial management which any enterprise has to solve as in the periods of declines of sales revenues, as well as during their growth. In this study we designed and tested several regression models that could be suitable for cost behavior prediction and subsequent decision-making based on these predictions. We used multiple linear regression models with a point estimate and with interval estimate of the model parameters. Comparison of regression models of cost behavior and their reliability was carried out due to the quality of the data collected for the case of basic and adjusted data. The overheads were divided into several groups of relevant costs and their dependences were examined on different factors other than only the production volume using the correlation matrix. From the results of the transformed model we believe that asymmetric cost behavior is affected by asymmetric behavior of the chosen factors. As the final one was intended the model representing the change in costs in time shifting about one-month period. This model can be used for examining costs in time shift by a short period (e.g., months) and thus it is possible to provecost asymmetric behavior called “sticky costs”. We used the model adjusted in accordance with Anderson et al. (2003). and we kept the model clearly transformed and assembled so that there remained only those variables that had a statistically significant effect on the dependent variable. The limitations of these models were also defined. Finally, graphical analyses of deviations were performed to find similarities in cost through cost centres and through the examined periods. © Foundation of International Studies, 2017. and CSR, 2017

Cost variability and cost behaviour in manufacturing enterprises

The paper is focused to the variability of costs, cost behaviour and discusses the issues of sticky costs. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the issue of the author´s project targeted at the topic of cost behaviour and its projection to the costing systems and confront it with the current state of knowledge in the field. Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of the sticky cost It highlights the importance of this topic at this time of adverse economic developments. The first part of the paper analyzes the general historical changes in the enterprise’s cost structures. There is also analyzed the cost behaviour and variability of costs due to the standard view of company performance. Attention is also paid to current view on the issue of costing systems and costing methods. In the second part there are presented findings of completed surveys as proof of the relevance of this issue. From the researches it was found that in recent years there has been a rise in the share of indirect costs up to 40% (till 2009), while almost half of the companies shows steady growth in the portion of these costs. Discussion then follows of this section, in which special attention is paid to area of sticky costs. The author further provides additional research hypotheses and research questions which underlines the need for further exploration of this issue. © 2014, Centre of Sociological Research. All rights reserved

Comparison of managerial implications for utilization of variable costing and throughput accounting methods

The aim of the paper is to compare the principles, information outputs and consequent managerial implications of the variable costing method and throughput accounting, according to their different perceptions of cost variability. These two approaches could give rise to various product mix decisions and findings relating to effect on profitability. The paper also provides a practical example of limitations experienced on two production lines for certain items. Comparison is made between these two approaches as to which elicits a relevant decision on production mix. Both the variable costing method and throughput accounting represent very similar methods based on variable costs that do not reflect fixed costs. Variable costing methods examine costs that change in accordance with volume of output. On the contrary, throughput accounting merely acknowledges total variable costs, and focuses on limitations which exist in a given company. © 2016, Institut za Istrazivanja. All rights reserved.GACR, Grantová Agentura České Republik

Measuring diagnosis and patient profitability in healthcare: Economics vs ethics

Th is paper focuses on issues relating to gauging profi tability under circumstances in Czech healthcare organizations. At present, the trend in healthcare management is for more frequent utilization of advanced economic and cost accounting tools. Th ese qualitatively improve the decision- making process in healthcare establishments, as well as aiding provision of accurate data on the cost and revenue of the outputs of hospital organizations, such as the various diagnoses and types of patients. Herein the authors present analysis of the profi tability of such patient and diagnose- types (DRG) in selected hospital departments of Czech regional hospital. Revenue from insurance payments is compared with costs calculated via the Activity-Based Costing method so as to discern more accurately the proceeds of a given DRG and patient. Th e results of the study highlighted crucial diff erences between the income generated by individual cost objects (i.e. patients and DRGs). Utilizing such information could greatly benefi t decision-making and enhance cost eff ectiveness of the hospital services. However, any healthcare establishment worldwide is strictly curtailed in this by the ethical standards it must uphold when making decisions on potentially raising profi tability. Th e fi nal part of the study discusses the fi ndings of the profi tability analysis performed by the authors in the given context of general healthcare organizations management. © 2015, Economics and Sociology. All rights reserved