CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Cost accounting (CA), which measures and reports financial and non-financial information related to the organization’s acquisition or consumption of resources, has an exceptionally important position within the entire accounting information system of an organization because it provides information to both management accounting and financial accounting as subsystems of the accounting information system. When its information is intended for the financial accounting it measures product costs in compliance with the strict legal and professional regulations. When its information is used for internal purposes it provides the basis for planning, control, and decision-making. Accounting data used for external reporting very oen do not completely satisfy managers‟ needs for decision-making purposes. Attempts at slight modifications of financial accounting systems for managerial purposes rarely end happily and far from eective (Wikipedia, 2015). According to the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA): “Management accounting is a profession that involves partnering in management decision making, devising planning and performance management systems, and providing expertise in financial reporting and control to assist management in the formulation and implementation of an organization’s strategy”.
The primary focus of economic planning and management in Nigeria over the years has been the transformation of the economy through industrialization, however, desired results are yet to be obtained. The Nigerian economy is far from being fully industrialized and the manufacturing sector is yet to take a prominent place in the scheme of things (Ayodele & Falokun, 2003). The country has not been able to shi its export base, from crude oil and agriculture to manufactures. Up to date, on the average, the manufacturing sector’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) has been unimpressive ranging between 3 to 6 percent since the turn of the millennium. For instance, manufacturing contribution to GDP declined from about 6% in 2000 to 3.91% in 2006 and between 4.03% and 4.17% from 2007 to 2010 (National Bureau of Statistics 2011). The need to increase company level efficiency has been a dominant suggestion offered as the key to reversing this unimpressive performance. As Soderbom and Teal (2002) suggested, a key policy issue the Nigerian government should face is to understand and address the factors that will enable the efficiencies of companies and consequently their competitiveness to increase. Ayodele and Falokun (2003) also suggested the adoption of the combination of suitable management techniques with suitable technology and other resources in addressing the low productivity of the sector.