While these may seem dated, they all illustrate in some measure how the relevance of cost and managerial accounting in business practice has not changed over the last 80 years or so. Students will read one of the articles and comment on their thoughts as well as articulate and discuss how points made in the historic article are relevant to current business practices. Students will be required to provide examples of current practices (of their employer ideally) and how these relate to the points made in one of the historic (dated) articles.

Articles:

• McNiece, T. M. (1928). Analysis of Wholesaler's Operating Costs. Harvard Business Review, 7(1), 20.

• McDonald, H. E., & Stromberger, T. L. (1969). Cost control for the professional service firm. Harvard Business Review, 47(1), 109-121.

• Dearden, J. (1978). Cost accounting comes to service industries. Harvard Business Review, 56(5), 132-140.

• Gardner, F. V. (1954). Breakeven Point Control for Higher Profits. Harvard Business Review, 32(5), 123-130.

• Cooper, R., & Kaplan, R. S. (1988). Measure Costs Right: Make the Right Decision. Harvard Business Review, 66(5), 96-103.
• Drucker, P. F. (1963). Managing for Business Effectiveness. Harvard Business Review, 41(3), 53-60.