Recently you were hired as a cost accountant for the Elliott Manufacturing Company. On your first day at work, the controller gave you a schedule for preparing cost reports; it appears rather tight. The controller stresses that the cost statements and analyses must be on the president’s desk by 9 A.M. on the specified day.

After the accounting period ends, you must work overtime to be certain that the statements are prepared on time. A fellow accountant tells you not to spend too much time on the reports, since there is never any feedback. He also comments, “Don’t get any bright ideas and suggest to the controller that we start investigating any deviations from planned results, since our workload is heavy enough now.”

Required:

List the strong points and weak points of the present cost accounting reporting system.