All courses

Management control

Management Control for SMEs

The foundations of management control for an SME: costs, margins, responsibility centres and a control model sized to the company.

Reference duration
24 hours
Structure
6 sections · 24 one-hour chapters
Approach
Foundational, managerial, applied
Bring this course to your team

What people learn

  1. 01

    Tell statutory accounts from management accounts.

  2. 02

    Understand how company costs are structured.

  3. 03

    Set up a cost accounting model.

  4. 04

    Calculate margins by product, customer, job or area.

  5. 05

    Read the main economic levers of the business.

  6. 06

    Set up a basic management control model for an SME.

How it runs

  1. 01 · 4 hManagement control fundamentals
  2. 02 · 4 hThe company’s economic structure
  3. 03 · 4 hCost accounting and cost centres
  4. 04 · 4 hProduct cost and operating processes
  5. 05 · 4 hMargins, break-even and economic levers
  6. 06 · 4 hA control model for the SME

Programme

6 sections, 24 hours.

Durations and programmes are the reference structure: content, level, examples and format are agreed with each company.

  1. 014 h

    Management control fundamentals

    1. Why management control matters in SMEsPurpose, accounting control versus management control, the role of economic information in decisions.
    2. Financial, cost and management accountingStatutory, tax, cost and management accounting; using accounting data to decide.
    3. From statutory to management accountsLimits of statutory accounts, economic reclassification and a management reading of results.
    4. Responsibilities in management controlThe roles of owner, administration, controller, function heads and operations.

  2. 024 h

    The company’s economic structure

    1. Fixed, variable and semi-variable costsHow costs behave with volume; effects on margins, operating risk and break-even.
    2. Direct, indirect, specific and common costsAssigning costs to cost objects and the risks of misallocation.
    3. Revenue, discounts, commissions and commercial itemsA management reading of sales: discounts, rebates, commissions, returns and freight.
    4. Gross margin, contribution margin and operating resultBuilding margins step by step: industrial, commercial and overall.

  3. 034 h

    Cost accounting and cost centres

    1. Cost objects: product, customer, job, departmentChoosing the dimensions to analyse, consistent with the business model.
    2. Cost centres and responsibility centresProduction, support, sales, administrative and general centres.
    3. Allocation drivers and recharge rulesLabour hours, machine hours, floor space, volumes, sales and other bases.
    4. Common cost accounting mistakesToo much detail, unsuitable drivers, arbitrary allocations, stale data.

  4. 044 h

    Product cost and operating processes

    1. Bills of materials and material costRaw materials, components, scrap, yields, standard and actual costs.
    2. Routings and labour costCycle times, operations, hourly rates, efficiency and utilisation.
    3. Internal and subcontracted work, factory overheadsSubcontracting, shared factory costs and production services.
    4. Standard cost, actual cost and differencesStandard cost as a reference; estimate, actual and standard compared.

  5. 054 h

    Margins, break-even and economic levers

    1. Margins by product and familyMargins by item, line, family or commercial category.
    2. Margins by customer and channelCustomer profitability with discounts, sales costs, logistics and services.
    3. Break-even pointBreak-even, margin of safety and minimum volumes.
    4. Operating leverage, mix and utilisationHow volume, mix, capacity and cost structure move the result.

  6. 064 h

    A control model for the SME

    1. A model sized to the SMEThe right level of detail between simplicity, reliability and usefulness.
    2. Essential management KPIsMargins, cost ratios, productivity, utilisation, value added, management EBITDA.
    3. Lab: a management income statementGuided exercise on revenue, direct and indirect costs and intermediate margins.
    4. Final case: an SME’s economic diagnosisMargin areas, issues and possible corrective actions on a case.

Let’s fit the course to your team’s work.

Durations and programmes are the reference structure: content, level, examples and format are agreed with each company.

Plan the course

How training runs

  1. 01Company coursesCommon ground for people who work with data and models.
  2. 02Solution trainingBy role, on the tools and models that were adopted.
  3. 03Everyday useRepeatable processes and independent users.