ManageMent accounting in support of the strategic ManageMent process – for More inforMation viSit www.ciMaglobal.coM 9 the strategic decisions described by the participants can be grouped into four main areas pricing, business/market development, product development, and merger and acquisition activity. within the area of pricing an understanding of the cost behaviour in terms of variable and fixed costs was significant but the pricing methods discussed fell into two main methods – market pricing and cost plus. there was a strong emphasis placed on margins and in one instance the margins achieved per market sector served were monitored, rather than individual product lines. the analysis and allocation of fixed costs was minimal with none of the organisations using techniques such as activity based costing. in fact there was only one instance of an abc exercise being discussed in detail which was undertaken within a manufacturing organisation as a one-off exercise for the purposes of checking costs and pricing. the main reason for not undertaking abc was the resources required and volume of information needed to undertake a meaningful analysis. in terms of business/market development the significance placed on the input provided from an accounting perspective was more for assurance purposes than a make or break situation for the decision. the degree of uncertainty was recognised. ‘… if you then made the decision on a cost benefit analysis you probably wouldn’t do it. But the reason we’re doing it is
