Making the Numbers Count The Accountant as Change Agent on the World-Class Team

The first edition of Brian Maskell‘s now classic work proved that when given the chance, accountants would prefer not to serve out their working days as number crunching automatons. With its energetic tone and common sense approach, the book inspired numbers people at all levels to become true allies in their companies lean revolutions. It enco

The Proactive AccountantManufacturing in the Twenty-First CenturyCriticism of Accountants and ControllersThe Proactive AccountantAttributes of a World-Class Management AccountantTools and TechniquesThe Role of the Management Accountant Shortcomings of Traditional Accounting MethodsHistory of Management AccountingProblems with Management Accounting Lack of Relevance Cost Distortion Inflexibility Incompatibility with Lean Principles Inappropriate Links to the Financial Accounts Lean ManufacturingWhat Is Real Manufacturing?The Five Critical Issues of Lean Manufacturing Issue 1: Quality Issue 2: Just-in-Time Manufacturing Issue 3: World-Class People Issue 4: Flexibility Issue 5: Value to the CustomerAgile Manufacturing Simplification of Accounting SystemsAspects of Traditional Accounting SystemsWhy Are Complex Systems Needed?The Lean ManufacturerNew Accounting GoalsA Four-Stage Approach to SimplificationValue-Stream AccountingHow Does Value-Stream Accounting Work?Plain-English Income StatementsFinancial Benefits of Lean ImprovementProduct Costing Value-Added ManagementWhat Is a Process? Value-Added AnalysisProcess MappingRoot-Cause AnalysisProcess Improvement and Reengineering Performance MeasurementCharacteristics of the New Performance MeasuresExamples of New Performance Measures at WorkImplementing New Performance Measurements A New Approach to Product DesignWhat Is Wrong with the Traditional Design Approach?Concurrent EngineeringTarget CostingValue EngineeringLife-Cycle CostingQuality Function DeploymentVariety Effectiveness AnalysisContinuous Improvement Implementing the New Approach to AccountingMaking the ChangesImplementing the Accounting ChangesWhat’s an Accountant to Do?Interlude: Accounting Is Boring, but Controllership Is NotInterlude: Bean Counters No More South Central Bell Automatic Feed CompanyAppendix: Accounting and Measurement QuestionnaireInstructionsReferences Each chapter concludes with a Summary & Questions

Brian H. Maskell has more than 25 years' experience in manufacturing and distribution industry. He has held a variety of management positions from the shop-floor of an electronics company to Manager of European Inventories for the Xerox Corporation to Vice President of Product Development and Customer Service of the Unitronix Corporation. Over the past ten years Mr. Maskell's consulting practice has taken him to many manufacturing and distribution companies in the United States, England, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, and Europe. He has assisted these companies in the implementation of advanced manufacturing techniques including lean and agile manufacturing methods, logistics and supply chain management, lean accounting, value-stream costing/management, new performance measurement, process re-engineering, enterprise information systems, and total quality management.A sought after speaker, Brian Maskell is the author of Practical Lean Accounting (2004), Performance Measurement for World Class Manufacturing (1991), Software and the Agile Manufacturer (1993), New Performance Measures (1994), and the software product Putting Performance Measurement to Work (1999) from Productivity Press. Mr. Maskell‘s works address the needs of manufacturers, distributors, healthcare, insurance companies, banks, and service industries, as they move into the increasingly competitive 21st century. Mr. Maskell conducts seminars and workshops around the world on such subjects as Lean Accounting, the Lean Management System, Performance Measurement for World Class Manufacturing, Lean Manufacturing, Software and the Agile Manufacturer, Value Stream Cost Management, and Agile Manufacturing.Mr. Maskell has an engineering degree from the University of Sussex, England. He is certified with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and is a Fellow of the American Produ