Major step in professionalising decision-making as world’s first management accounting standard published

CIMA has sponsored the creation of the world’s first management accounting standard, codifying a universal framework for best practice in decision making.

PAS 1919:2016 Guide to management accounting principles has been published this week by the British Standards Institute, with input from organisations including Sky, The Environment Agency, Fujitsu, the NHS and Siemens. It is designed as a best-practice guide to management accounting, allowing organisations to benchmark their finance function and to unlock the full contribution that management accountancy can make.

Tony Manwaring, CIMA’s Executive Director, External Affairs, said: “In today’s fast-paced and challenging climate it is critical that organisations across all sectors, geographies and of all sizes can take the right decisions to drive success in the short, medium and long-term. PAS 1919 provides a best-in-class framework to enable leaders across the private and public and third sectors to achieve this.”

The specification was based on the Global Management Accounting Principles, created in 2014 by CIMA and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. CIMA is currently piloting a self-assessment diagnostic tool based on the Principles. The PAS, which will be launched later this year, will provide a practical resource to diagnose the effective- ness of management accounting within organisations both large and small.

Tony Manwaring said: “As management accountancy moves towards its second century, our principles provide the framework that ensures information in organisations is influential, relevant and underpins analysis on a basis of trust across the business in a way that enables organisations across the world to create and preserve value.”