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Management Accountant
is often 
appointed with status equal to the financial controller and separate responsibilities. 

Cost 
accounting 

Budgets and budgetary control 

Financial management of projects 
(c) 
A very large organisation might have a 
Treasurer
in charge of treasury work. 

Raising funds by borrowing 

Investing surplus funds on the money market or other investment markets 

Cash flow control 
Sections in the accounts department 
(a) The 
financial accounts 
section is divided up into sections, with a supervisor responsible for each 
section (eg for credit control, payroll, purchase ledger, sales ledger).
(b) Similarly, 
management accounting 
work is divided up, with a number of cost accountants as 
supervisors of sections responsible for keeping cost records of different items (eg materials, labour 
and overheads; or production, research and development, and marketing).
BPP Tutor Toolkit Copy

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CHAPTER 8
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THE ROLE OF ACCOUNTING 
 
205 
(c) 
Some companies that spend large amounts on 
capital projects 
might have a section assigned 
exclusively to capital project appraisal (payback appraisal, DCF appraisal, sensitivity analysis, the 
capital budget). 
An accounts function is depicted in the following diagram. People are grouped together by the type of 
work they do. In an area structure, accounts staff might be dispersed throughout the different regions of 
an organisation. Management accounting work is often decentralised to departments because it provides 
vital information for management control purposes. 
FINANCE DIRECTO
R
TREASURER
FINANCIAL CONTROLLER
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT
CASHIER
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTANTS
COST ACCOUNTANTS
Receivables ledger
Non-current asset register
Debt collection
Credit control
Payables ledger
Wages and salaries (payroll)
Financial accounts (general
ledger, quarterly accounts, etc)
Statutory accounts
Sales tax (VAT) returns
Taxation
Cost accounting
– inventory reporting and valuation
– materials costing
– labour costing/payroll
– expense and overheads costing
– job costing (contract costing)
– process costing
– budgetary control reports
(eg variance analysis)
Management accounting
– budget co-ordination
– analysis and investigations
– project appraisal
Note that some of these functions may be brought together under a single job description, particularly in 
smaller businesses. For example, there may be one person who does the job of a financial accountant 
and a cost accountant. 
Many organisations have an