ACPEN: Making Effective Decisions When You Can’t Get Everything You Want

Overview

Even if managers have incomplete information or constraints, they still must make choices. This session provides advice for navigating rocky decision-making terrain encountered by managers who must make choices despite imperfect information and/or constrained resources. We explore ways to leverage available information to make effective decisions when seemingly critical details cannot be obtained. We also illustrate managerial accounting techniques for optimizing profitability when inputs or resources are constrained by supply chain disruptions or other limitations.

Highlights

• Decision-making fundamentals
• Cost-volume-profit refresher
• Optimization analysis
• Constraint mitigation strategies
• Coping with incomplete information
• Solver and other Excel capabilities
• Qualitative considerations

Prerequisites

Basic working knowledge of financial statements and business processes

Designed For

Accountants and other business professionals who make management decisions

Objectives

• Analyze decisions using relevant factors
• Recall fundamental cost-volume-profit techniques
• Determine plans that optimize profitability when a constraint exists
• Formulate strategies for reducing the impact of constraints
• Apply techniques to derive conclusions when complete information is unavailable
• Utilize Excel capabilities to support analysis
• Identify qualitative factors that may influence production decisions

Preparation

None