OEC Management-Control System Helps China Haier Group Achieve Competitive Advantage
By Thomas W. Lin, Ph.D.
A nearly bankrupt refrigerator factory in Qingdao, China, became a leading worldwide brand through the combination of a new corporate culture that emphasizes excellence, a changed business strategy, and a management-control system of work rules and discipline. As part of an IMA research project, the author studied the Haier Group and shares some of his experiences here.

How Management Accountants Make Physicians' Practices More Profitable
By Marsha Scheidt, DBA, CMA, and Greg Thibadoux, Ph.D.
While most businesses’ revenue sources are sales and fees, physician practices depend on the organizational structure of the healthcare revenue reimbursement relationships among provider, patient, and third-party insurer. If a management accountant is called on to help make these practices more profitable, he or she needs to understand indemnity, preferred provider organizations (PPOs), and healthcare maintenance organizations (HMOs).

Control Premiums: Minimizing Cost of Your Next Acquisition
By Michael Davis, Ph.D.
Obtaining a controlling interest in an acquisition may cost a company more than planned if executives do not understand the fundamental principles involved. The author offers a step-by-step guide to these principles to help financial professionals explain the concepts to upper management so they can lower their risk and make sure the company does not overpay.(Note: This article may not be copied in any fashion. If you want permission to make copies, you must contact Alice Schulman at aschulman@imanet.org.)

Cost Management by Customer Choice
By Eileen Peacock, Ph.D., CMA, CPA
Many companies accept customers and jobs without understanding their real impact on overall costs and sometimes lose money because of these actions. In a detailed case study, the author describes a complex workplace where costs are beginning to outweigh revenues and offers some advice on how to achieve better customer and cost management, which can lead to profitability.

The Perils and Promises of Advanced Costing in Goverment Contracting
By Wm. Leon Grange, DBA, CMA, CFM, CPCM, CPIM
Although many commercial companies have been using activity-based cost management (ABCM) to help them focus on profitability and revenue growth, government contractors have been reluctant to adopt it. The author, who works for a defense contractor, describes the environment in which government contractors work, discusses the stumbling blocks to ABCM, and offers an accounting approach that he says can lead to a change in the way costing, contract negotiation, and pricing are done in government contracting.