What Are the Different Types of Management Accounting Jobs?

Management accounting jobs represent positions offered by private companies to accountants who have backgrounds in cost accounting or budgets. These positions are often at manufacturing or production companies, although many other businesses have management accounting jobs. Common job types include cost accountants, budget analysts, and accounting managers. The positions review and allocate costs to manufactured goods, create annual operating budgets, and supervise other accountants while providing decision support information, respectively. A college degree is typically necessary to obtain these jobs as they have very particular tasks that need completion.

A cost accountant position is often among the most common management accounting jobs. The position usually conducts the most work in terms of gathering and allocating production costs. The cost accountant works with production supervisors and other individuals on the front line to gather information and review it for accuracy and validity. From here, the cost accountant enters the cost data into the company’s accounting software, allocating the costs to each good or batch of goods produced for a particular time period. Multiple positions may be necessary for large manufacturers who continually produce multiple product lines.

Budget analysts may work outside of the normal accounting office in a manufacturing or production company. The analyst position in management accounting jobs takes accounting information and creates a master or operating budget, among others necessary to track capital spent. Budget analysts usually review previous accounting periods and create budgets for future production periods. The analysts may also track budget variances, which occur when a company spends more or less than planned on specific operations. Other tasks include financial statement reviews or analyzing cost accounting systems to ensure they are adequately allocating manufacturing costs to products.

Accounting management positions are a staple of any accounting office or department. In management accounting jobs, however, accounting managers are typically team members on committees or other upper management task groups. This transforms the accounting management position into a collaborative source for information, where the manager bridges the gap between the accounting department and others in the business. Managers also gather information, prepare reports, and provide support for business decisions. In some companies, the manager may also help in the financial accounting department as well, connecting the two accounting types.

Other positions most certainly exist for management accounting jobs. In other cases, the jobs listed here may have slightly different tasks. A bachelor’s degree with a concentration in accounting would be a background for accounting management positions. Master's degrees or other higher education may allow for a focus on specific managerial accounting tasks.