Company Overview
The aim of the report is to evaluate the roles of the managerial accounting in the business operations by making the use of the latest financial statements which can find from the annual report, company website and from other sources. The company that has been selected for the analysis is Hitachi. Hitachi is one of the well-known Japanese manufacturing conglomerate companies with the headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan (Hitachi, 2018). The company established in the year 1910 by electrical engineer Namihei Odaira in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The mission of the company is to bring together a range of world-class simulation, information and control products along with the advanced traffic management systems. This advance system positively impacts the safety, performance and challenges related to the capacity that is faced by the railway networks (Hitachi, 2018).
The vision of the Hitachi Company is to deliver the integrated systems with effective business operations and different digital technologies that will contribute effectively to the safer society and efficient railway operations.
Hitachi Company managerial highlights include different activities that have been followed to improve their performance. The managerial activities which majorly offer the benefit include the recognition of the social responsibility. In addition to this, the company major activity is to manage the 11 business units which are difficult to be managed because of the different conflicts that might take place. The management is handled by the Toshiaki Higashihara
Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO (Hitachi, 2018).
Hitachi Company is considered as one of the diversified company who operates their business operations in approx. 11 business segments which include a wide range of products and services. These business segments majorly include Information and telecommunication systems, social infrastructure, high functional material and components, financial services, power system, construction machinery, electronic system and equipment’s, digital media and consumer products, automotive systems, railway and urban systems with different systems (Hitachi, 2018).
The performance of the company can be presented with the information about the revenue that has been evaluated from the profit. This has been found that Hitachi business is able to maintain their revenue with the consistent amount which shows that they are managing it effectively. Though, the company should try to increase their revenue which shows their performance in the market.
(Source: Statista, 2018)
The above image shows the revenue which has been earned by the company from the last few years. In the fiscal year of 2017, the Japanese multinational conglomerate company generate the revenue of 83.2 billion according to the US dollars (Statista, 2018).
Value Chain of Hitachi
The value chain is referred to as the processes or activities that the companies use with the motive to add the value to their products. This section includes value chain of Hitachi company which makes the organisation be able to deliver the product and service for which the customer is willing to pay more of the costs of all the activities in the value chain (Baker, 2014).
(Source: Chernev, 2018)
The above diagram shows that value chain majorly includes two activities which include primary and supportive activities.
The primary activities are considered as the major activities which are perfumed by the company. In the inbound logistics is a major activity in which the Hitachi Company receive and store the raw material so that they can effectively offer the service and products to the customers. The systems and machinery which are offered by the company include the sourcing of software’s and equipment’s which help the company to meet the demand of the customers. In the sourcing activity, they make use of resources effectively so that they can get the best resources. The operations activity helps the company to convert the inputs into the output (Rothaermel, 2015). Hitachi Company makes use of resources and their capabilities to enhance the quality of the operations so that they can offer effective services. The operations activities help in ensuring that the company is able to meet the demand of customers.
Outbound activities are also part of the primary activities in which the Hitachi Company distribute the products to their end users or customers. The company offer its products through online mode and also on their stores. This activity is supported by the activity of marketing and sales. The activity of marketing and sales is conducted by the company in which they make the customers aware of the products and services with their advantages. Hitachi Company has good market share and value due to which marketing and sales are easily done (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). Service is another important component which considered in which Hitachi ensure that they offer after sales service 24/7.
Supportive activities provide assistance to primary activities majorly include procurement, in which the resources of Hitachi are procured by the company. This procurement helps the company to effectively manage the demand and supply of the products and services. Further, human resource management helps Hitachi company in performing the operations effectively (Armstrong, Adam, Denize and Kotler, 2014). Hitachi Company ensures that they update software and make use of the advanced technology in which they ensure to manage the information processing efficiently. The technology contributes effectively in providing the updates products to the customers. Moreover, technology makes the process simpler in less time. Further, the infrastructure of Hitachi Company majorly includes the wide range of the support system and it functions like finance, planning, quality control and others.
Performance of Hitachi
In the management accounting or managerial accounting, the managers of the company make use of the provisions related to the accounting information that can improve them before deciding the matters that take place within the organisation. The management accounting is also known as cost accounting or managerial accounting (Trotman and Carson, 2018). Hitachi Company makes use of the management accounting information as it helps the company in taking the decisions. There are different tools which are used to present management accounting for Hitachi Company. These tools are discussed below: –
Tools which are based on cost accounting include marginal costing, activity-based costing, standard costing, ratio analysis, budgeting and many others. Some of the tools are used by the company which is clearly mentioned below.
Marginal costing: – Marginal cost is considered as the costing technique which shows the change in total cost that takes place when the quantity produced increase by one unit of product. This method helps in controlling the cost and provides the estimation of the cost (Gitman, Juchau and Flanagan, 2015).
Activity-based costing: – Activity-based costing is one the of accounting tool that determines and assign the cost to the activities that are overhead and then it assigns those cost to the products which are manufactured by the company. This is one of the effective management accounting tools.
Ratio analysis: – Ratio analysis is the management information tool which is majorly used for forecasting, planning, communication and control of the operations effectively. Hitachi Company makes use of the ratio analysis as this analysis support the company is taking the right steps (Accounting tools, 2017). Moreover, this tool helps the company to get more and more attention of the investors who are willing to invest in the company.
Standard costing: – Standard costing is an accounting technique or tool that is used by the Hitachi Company to determine the differences or variances between the actual costs of goods and the cost which occurred while manufacturing the goods.
Budgeting: – Hitachi Company makes use of budgeting, which is a process of forming that shows the amount spend by the company. This process is done by the company as this helps them in forming the estimation of the amount that is required by them for the future expenses and manages their resources wisely.
From the above analysis, this has been suggested to the company to make use of the management accounting tool effectively. It is suggested to the company to make use of the Activity base costing technique as this technique will help the company in effective decision making. The approach will help the company in assigning the cost according to the consumption of the product. Another tool of management accounting information that is suggested to the Hitachi Company is a marginal cost. This method can be used by the Hitachi Company mainly for the decision making which shows that they should produce an additional unit of product or should not as cost or amount that they incur get reflected in this accounting tool. These tools will help the company in effectively managing the cost accounting of the 11 business units.
References
Accounting tools (2017) Cost Accounting [Online]. Available from: https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/2017/9/21/cost-accounting [Accessed on 22nd January 2018]
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P. (2014) Principles of marketing. 6th edition. Welbourne: Pearson Australia.
Baker, M. J. (2014) Marketing strategy and management. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Chernev, A. (2018) Strategic marketing management. Chicago: Cerebellum Press.
Gitman, L. J., Juchau, R., and Flanagan, J. (2015) Principles of managerial finance. AU: Pearson Higher Education.
Hitachi (2018) About Hitachi [Online]. Available from: https://www.hitachi.com/corporate/about/index.html [Accessed on 22nd January 2018]
Hitachi (2018) Mission and Vision [Online]. Available from: https://www.hitachi-infocon.com/about/company/mission-vision/ [Accessed on 22nd January 2018]
Hitachi (2018) Products and services [Online]. Available from: https://www.hitachi.com/businesses/category/index.html [Accessed on 22nd January 2018]
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P. (2015) Services marketing. Australia: Pearson.
Pilbeam, K. (2018) Finance & financial markets. UK: Macmillan International Higher Education.
Rothaermel, F.T. (2015) Strategic management. UK: McGraw-Hill Education.
Statista (2018) Hitachi’s revenue from FY 2003 to FY 2017 (in billion U.S. dollars) [Online]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263364/revenue-of-hitachi/ [Accessed on 22nd January 2018]
Trotman, K., and Carson, E. (2018) Financial accounting: an integrated approach. AU: Cengage.
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