Scope, practice, and application of Management accounting

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) states that management accounting as practice extends to the following three areas:

• Strategic management—advancing the role of the management accountant as a strategic partner in the organization.
• Performance management—developing the practice of business decision-making and managing the performance of the organization.
• Risk management—contributing to frameworks and practices for identifying, measuring, managing and reporting risks to the achievement of the objectives of the organization.

The Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA) states "A management accountant applies his or her professional knowledge and skill in the preparation and presentation of financial and other decision oriented information in such a way as to assist management in the formulation of policies and in the planning and control of the operation of the undertaking". 

Management accountants therefore are seen as the "value-creators" amongst the accountants. They are more concerned with forward looking and taking decisions that will affect the future of the organization, than in the historical recording and compliance (score keeping) aspects of the profession. Management accounting knowledge and experience can therefore be obtained from varied fields and functions within an organization, such as information management, treasury, efficiency auditing, marketing, valuation, pricing and logistics. 

In 2014 CIMA created the Global Management Accounting Principles (GMAPs). The result of research from across 20 countries in five continents, the principles aim to guide best practice in the discipline.