Summarize managerial accounting and recent business trends (Learning Objectives 1, 2, 3, 5)

Your roommate is an engineering student who has developed a new marketable tech¬ nology as part of her graduate studies. As soon as she finishes her degree, she intends to start her own company to manufacture and sell the technology. She has not taken any business classes but has begun to read business periodicals to develop some busi¬ ness savvy. She has several issues on which she would like your input. Discuss what you know about the following:

1. Your roommate feels confident about her abilities as the company’s chief prod¬ uct engineer but questions whether she should manage the company herself. She wonders what her role as company manager would be.

2. She’s heard of financial and managerial accounting and wonders if they are the same thing.

3. Because you are taking an accounting class, she asks you to explain how to structure the financial arm of a large organization.

4. Your roommate has high hopes for her company. She’s already anticipating it to be publicly traded some day in the near future. She wants to know how SOX will affect her business.

5. The business magazines often mention TQM and the ISO. She wants to know more about TQM and the ISO 9001:2000 certification.

6. Your roommate also sees frequent references to JIT production. She would like to know what JIT is about and if she should consider adopting it.

7. Because she will sell the new technology to other companies rather than con¬ sumers, your roommate doesn’t see the need to set up an electronic purchasing Web site. Explain to her why e-commerce is helpful even if she isn’t selling directly to individual consumers.