Joe Murphy opens a ski equipment store at snowy mountains. This single store soon grew into a chain of four outlets spreading from the Snowy Mountains to the Victorian Alps. Although the business was profitable, the sales tend to be seasonal with a slowdown once the snow had disappeared. Therefore, Murphy added ski trips which were arranged through local ski lodges and include ski hire lessons and lift passes. Report from the company's financial accounting system seemed to indicate that this part of the business was losing money because of increasing costs but Murphy could not be sure. "The traditional income statement is not too useful in assessing the problem", he noted. Also, my gut feeling is that we're not dealing with the best suppliers in terms of quality delivery reliability, and prices. Additional complications were caused by an increasingly competitive market price with many former customers now buying equipment through the Internet. Murphy was not sure what to do. The company's accountant was very good at keeping the books and preparing the financial statements and tax return, but she did not understand the way the business really worked.

Murphy approaches the accountant to seek her help in gathering and analyzing this information, but she responds: "You must be joking I am an accountant my job is to look after the money side of the business."

Required:

Do you agree with this statement and what action would you recommend that Murphy takes?