Cost Accounting Reporting System deals with the process of tracking, measuring, recording and classifying the appropriate allocation of expenditure (financial and non-financial) for the determination of the cost of product or service in an organization and for the presentation of suitably arranged data for the purpose of control and guidance of management (Horngren et al, 2010). Costs are measured in terms of Direct Costs, Indirect Costs and Overhead/Absorbed Costs. Managers use cost accounting to support decision making to reduce a company's costs of products and services and improve its profitability.
Management Accounting Reporting System is concerned with the process of identification, measurement, accumulation, analysis, preparation, interpretation and communication of financial and non- financial information used by managers to plan, evaluate and control within an entity and to assure appropriate use of and accountability for its resources to managers within organizations, to provide them with the basis in making informed business decisions that would allow them to be better equipped in their management and control functions thereby enhancing both customer and shareholder value (CIMA, 2010). Unlike financial accounting information, management accounting information is used within an organization typically for decision-making in varied areas like product design, production,marketing, and performance management. Management accounting systems also do not have to follow set principles and rules and is usually confidential and its access available only to a select few.
Cost Accounting operates within the parameters of Management Accounting. As businesses became more complex and diversified, a more comprehensive reporting system was needed in order to help management make decisions. Modern cost accounting systems take the perspective that collecting cost information is a function of the management decisions