Definition of an MBA GraduateAn MBA is a degree awarded to individuals who complete the required courses in the field of management sciences. The title MBA stands for Master of Business Administration and implies that the person holding the degree is qualified to hold a senior management position within a company. An MBA manager is like the captain of a ship. He is responsible for making decisions and plans regarding the company and controlling the company's employees. The goal of an MBA manager is to maximize company value through the use of the company's tangible and intangible assets. It maximizes this value by obtaining the highest possible profits. In the following discussion, I will examine how senior management in general and MBA graduates in particular can use the field of management accounting to make decisions/plan and control employees to maximize profits. For clarity throughout this essay, senior executives and MBA graduates should be considered one and the same. Management Accounting Definition Management accounting is the process of using information systems to provide data to senior managers who then use that data for decision making/planning and monitoring. employee performance to maximize profits. The data used by senior managers is provided by the Financial Accounting function. This information is used to improve the performance of the Marketing function, which typically provides the company's revenue, and the Operations function, which typically bears most of the operating costs. Marketing and operations are therefore the functional areas generally concerned with an MBA graduate. Management accounting is essential to business success because it quantifies a company's performance. By quantifying certain performance variables, senior management can fulfill its two most important functions: 1) Decision making/planning and 2) Controlling employee behavior. The theory of the firm tells us that a company exists to maximize the value of the shares that investors have provided. Profits result from decisions about what items to produce and sell (Marketing) and from planning the inputs needed for that production and distribution activity (Operations). Maximizing value results from maximizing revenue and minimizing total costs. In business, resources are always limited or finite. Therefore, they must be employed in the most economical and productive manner...... middle of paper ...... Statement. Suppose that top management has noticed a decline in profits from the lemon-lime soda produced by the company. While reviewing financial accounting data, they discovered an unexpected increase in the cost of lime flavoring used because a supplier of that product went bankrupt. Here, an MBA manager must make a decision regarding the alternative sources available for the flavoring and, as always, look to purchase it at a lower price. Once again, financial accounting data (cost information from the income statement) was used by senior management to solve a planning/decision-making problem within the Operations function.SummaryIn conclusion, financial accounting Management is a process that MBA-educated managers can use to better understand planning/decision-making and employee control. The process involves reviewing financial accounting data and then applying that information to..