Management Accounting & Employee Empowerment

Empowered employees need information to act.

Employees have watched the fall of giant corporations and seen how the workers suffered from the actions of the few at the top. They do not want to sit back and wait for that to happen in their own company. They want to contribute to the success. When employees are empowered within the organization, they will take their role more seriously. Management accounting is a tool that allows employees to be more empowered in their daily work lives. Management accounting provides relevant information to managers and employees in a timely fashion, allowing them to act.

Information

Management accountants create reports that share information with managers and employees. This information can be used to make decisions that fall under their individual job responsibilities. These reports may include labor hours, customer account information, detailed expense reports, detailed cash receipts and more. Reports can be created to show any classification of information and organized in a format requested.

Timeliness

Obtaining complete and accurate data can take an accountant several weeks to compile and verify before sharing with others in the organization. While this is important, it is difficult to act when the data is several weeks old. Management accounting focuses more on timeliness than accuracy. The management accountant uses the most complete information available when she prepares the report for a manager or fellow employee. It is understood that the final numbers may change at a later date.

Relevance

Individual reports are created based on the needs of individual managers. Each manager receives only the information that pertains to his department and over which he has control. It is not necessary for him to sift through reports containing information beyond his control or of which he has no interest in. In today's fast-paced world, the manager or employee does not have time to sift through a mound of papers to find the information relevant for her. These reports, then, would be based on her specific requirements.

Action

When information is received in a timely fashion and is relevant, it gives that person more options. She could choose to share with her team members. If a piece of the information requires further investigation, she could delegate one of her employees to investigate or choose to investigate herself. She has the choice of acting immediately to situations that require immediate action rather than waiting for several weeks to learn the status of things taking place in her area.

Workforce Investment

When an employee has the authority to act and the information to act appropriately, he feels empowered. Empowered employees behave more loyally toward the company and feel a sense of ownership. They are less likely to seek other employment opportunities, choosing instead to grow with the company they are working for. They also make decisions making the interest of the company a priority.

References

• About Management Accounting