The University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) has just appointed you as their management accountant to manage the transition of the existing UGBS structure. UGBS has six (6) central departments - Accounting, Finance, Operations & Management and Information Systems, Organisation & Human Resource Management, Public Administration & Health Service Management, and Marketing & Entrepreneurship - for educating business students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. It also has other supporting departments such as Academic Affairs, Stores, Computing and IT services, Facilities and Accounts. Over the years, the Accounts department has concentrated on only the financial accounting processes and reporting, which has led to some inefficiencies in operations and poor decision-making in recent times. For instance, it has been observed that regular maintenance of assets is not ensured, supervisory of services and control is weak, image and competitive advantage of the school is gradually being lost, and enrolment of students is under treat. A recent external panel review of operations recommended for a management accountant to assist with the information support system for the management function of the institution, hence your appointment. You are a bit unsure as to what your role will be in UGBS since it has already engaged consultants to design the new management accounting systems. You expected that the development of the new system would have been your responsibility as a management accountant.

You are required to:

report to the senior management committee (SMC) of UGBS to explain how, as the management accountant, you may contribute to the design and operation of the new management accounting systems for UGBS. In your report, also outline the types of management accounting information (both financial and non-financial) that the SMC may regularly require to manage the operations of the business school.