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Responsibility Accounting

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Responsibility Accounting - an accounting information system and a managerial control device that involves:
1) identifying responsibility centers with their corresponding objectives
2) developing measures of achievement of such objectives
3) preparing/analyzing reports of such measures by the responsibility centers

Responsibility Center -a sub-unit of an organization, such as a department, division, plant, business process or any segment whose manager has authority over, and is responsible and accountable for a specific or defined group of activities.
1) Cost Center - a responsibility center where a manager has control over the incurrence of costs but not over revenues or investments. Example: Maintenance Department
2) Revenue Center- the manager has control over revenues. Example: Sales Department
3) Profit Center- the manager has control over both costs and revenues. Example: A branch
4) Investment Center- the manager has control over both costs and revenues, as well as over investment in plant and equipment, receivable, inventory and other assets.
5) Service Center- usually operated as a cost center. It exists primarily and sometimes solely to provide specialized support to the other segments or sub-units of the organization.

Organization Structures
1) Centralized organization- top management makes most decisions and controls most activities of the organizational segments from the firm’s central office.
2) Decentralized organization- there is employee empowerment; top management grants subordinate managers a significant degree of autonomy and independence in operating and making decisions relating to their sphere of responsibility.

- A responsibility accounting system works best in a decentralized organization
Benefits of Decentralization
1) Greater

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