Real Numbers

Management Accounting in a Lean Organization
Are you getting a true picture of your company’s performance?

The disturbing answer, for most senior managers and CFOs today, is no. The culprit? Current management accounting practices produce financial statements that are unnecessarily complex and confusing. As a result, most companies are run by executives who do not fully understand their own financial information.

This explosive issue and its implications are fully explored in Real Numbers. The authors, each a chief financial executive, describe how management accounting evolved to this point and how simplicity and clarity can be restored – particularly in a lean organization.

Companies throughout the world are using lean principles to dramatically change the competitive landscape while generating new profitability and market share. As these companies transform, however, financial executives are usually not prepared for how lean principles affect finance and do not know how to streamline accounting. The management accounting model illustrated in Real Numbers points the way to unlocking the true profit potential of lean.

The authors, both leaders in their companies’ lean transformations, guide the reader through the necessary changes in finance that will allow accountants to become valued business partners instead of bean counters. You will also learn the simple rules of an accounting system that replaces the outdated approach focused on inventory value.