Butte College

Course Outline

2026-2027 Catalog

AB 51 - Management Accounting for Agriculture

Catalog Description

Transfer Status
CSU
Prerequisite
AB 50 or ACCT 2
Unit(s)
3.00
  • Lecture: 34.00 Contact hours/68.00 Out of class hours/102.00 Total hours/2.00 Unit(s)
  • Lab: 51.00 Contact hours/0.00 Out of class hours/51.00 Total hours/1.00 Unit(s)
  • Total: 85.00 Contact hours/68.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)

Course Description: Management Accounting is a sub-area of accounting concerned with information needed to effectively plan and control economic unit operations and make good business decisions. This course will provide an introduction to selected management accounting topics including financial statements, product costing, cost-volume-profit analysis, and short-term decisions.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

  1. Distinguish management accounting from financial accounting
  2. Classify costs and prepare an income statement
  3. Demonstrate job order costing and process costing methods
  4. Explain how to utilize activity-based costing method (ABC)
  5. Use cost-volume-profit analysis to compute breakeven points
  6. Use relevant information and contribution approach to make short term decisions

Course Content

Topic Titles / Suggested Time Topic

Lecture

Lecture topics and suggested hours
TopicsLec Hrs

Decision-Making: relevant costs and benefits to an agricultural firm 

4.00

Basic cost management concepts

3.00

Cost-volume-profit analysis

3.00

Job-order and process costing

3.00

Activity-based costing

3.00

Profit planning and budgeting

3.00

Standard costing and flexible budgeting

3.00

Responsibility accounting, segment reporting, and performance analysis

3.00

Absorption and variable costing

3.00

Capital expenditure decisions

3.00

Ethical issues in managerial accounting

3.00
Total Hours:34.00

Lab

Lab topics and suggested hours
TopicsLab Hrs

Preparing the operating, investing and financial sections of a cash flow statement.

6.00

Analyzing financial statements to calculate various ratios to evaluate solvency and profitability.

6.00

Diagramming the flow of costs for a firm that uses the job order system.

6.00

Preparing a cost of production report for a process cost system.

6.00

Creating production budgets and reports using spreadsheets.

6.00

Creating various cash budgets using spreadsheets.

6.00

Performing break-even and target profit analysis.

6.00

Responding to various "what if" agribusiness scenarios using spreadsheets.

9.00
Total Hours:51.00

Methods of Instruction

  1. Class Activities
  2. Collaborative Group Work
  3. Group Discussions
  4. Homework: Students are required to complete two hours of outside-of-class homework for each hour of lecture
  5. Lecture
  6. Reading Assignments

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Exams/Tests
  2. Quizzes
  3. Papers
  4. Projects
  5. Homework
  6. Class participation

Examples of Assignments

Reading Assignments

  1. Read the assigned chapter on capital expenditure budgeting and be prepared to discuss the reading during class sessions.
  2. Read selected sections of the IRS Farmers Tax Guide and summarize key insights in an essay.

Writing Assignments

  1. Write a 400-500 word essay on the importance of professional ethics in agribusiness managerial accounting.
  2. Write a two-page instructional guide on how to analyze financial statements.

Out-of-Class Assignments

  1. Evaluate financial data from an agricultural product (e.g., dairy, vegetables) and calculate breakeven points.
  2. Determine the financial feasibility of an agribusiness introducing a new, value-added product (e.g., organic eggs, flavored honey) in a 1-2 page document.

Recommended Materials of Instruction

Tracie Miller-Nobles, Brenda Mattison. (2023). Horngren's Accounting: The Managerial Chapters. Pearson, 14th. 9780137884872.

Peter Brewer, Ray Garrison, Eric Noreen, Norma Montague. (2024). Introduction to Managerial Accounting. McGraw-Hill Education, Evergreen Release. 9781265059125.

John J. Wild, Ken W. Shaw. (2021). Managerial Accounting. McGraw Hill, 8th. 9781264207039.

Zero Cost Textbook

Managerial Accounting, Kurt Heisinger & Joe Hoyle, Copyright Year: 2012, Last Update: 2023, ISBN 13: 9781453345290, Publisher: Saylor Foundation, https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/137

Minimum Qualifications

Ag Business And Related Serv.

Accounting (Masters Required)