Strategic Cost Transformation

Abstract

Whether considered a goal or an objective, one thing is for certain; to survive and thrive, companies need to make money. To be effective at making money, employees need tools, models, and insights that lead to decisions that enable improved cash generation. We typically look to and rely on accounting information as a basis for these analyses and the resulting decisions.

In my last book, Lies, Damned Lies, and Cost Accounting, I argued cost accounting is ill-equipped to provide cash information about a company. It wasn’t a knock on cost accounting. Instead, it pointed out we are asking cost accounting to do something and provide information it wasn’t designed for.

Upon reading Lies, many asked, “If cost accounting isn’t what we should ...