The primary characteristics of management accounting information are: reliability, relevance, comparability, understandability, substance over form, materiality, prudence and timeliness are the secondary quality requirements of accounting information.
The characteristics of modern management accounting can be discussed in terms of it as a discipline and as a type of accounting work respectively.
1, from the nature of the discipline:
Modern management accounting is an emerging discipline, is developed since the 1950s of this century, based on modern management science as a comprehensive cross-discipline.
Specifically manifested in: in order to adapt to the needs of management modernization, it breaks through the limitations of the traditional accounting framework, from many related disciplines (such as advanced mathematics, operations research, mathematical statistics, forecasting and decision-making science, microeconomics, macroeconomics, technical economics, managerial economics, investment economics, information economics, and behavioral sciences, etc.) absorbed, the introduction of the relevant scientific results, so as to become an integral part of modern management accounting. Become an integral part of modern management accounting.
Thus, it has added new contents and gained new life, and has been developed rapidly under the new historical conditions. The creation of modern management accounting and its continuous development, greatly enriching the content of accounting science, marking the accounting science into a new stage of development.
2, from the nature of the work:
Modern management accounting is a subsystem of the management information system, is an important part of the decision support system. As we all know, modern management science raises decision-making to an unprecedented position, that management is first of all decision-making, decision-making is the primary function of leaders and managers.
And decision-making can not be separated from the information, because information is regarded as the management of the "medium". Management from a certain sense can also be said: management is the correct collection, processing and utilization of information to make decisions, it briefly shows the management, decision-making, information between the intrinsic link. Modern management science from the point of view of decision-making a complete management system is distinguished into three levels: one is the decision-making system, the second is the decision support system, the third is the implementation and control system.
Corresponding to this, the management personnel can also be distinguished into three different types: one is the decision-making personnel; second is the staff; third is the implementation of personnel. Accountants, as information specialists, belong to the staff of the decision support system.
The chief accountant as the head of the information experts in the enterprise, although belonging to the status of staff, and does not directly carry out decision-making or control of the production and management activities of the enterprise, but they provide information through the information, analysis, interpretation, can be on the enterprise how to correctly carry out the decision-making and control of the exert a significant impact on the professional services can form an important force to help promote the improvement of enterprise management, improve efficiency. management, improve efficiency.