Differences between Managerial and Financial Accountants (Coursework Sample)

Differences between Managerial and Financial Accountants- Question # 00389083
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1. What is the difference between a managerial accountant and a financial accountant?
Accounting is defined as the process of identifying, measuring, and communicating economic information to permit informed judgements and decisions by the users of the information (Wood, 1996). There are two broad branches of accounting i.e. financial accounting and managerial accounting where the people tasked with communicating economic information to the various users as per the two branches are known as the financial accountants and the managerial accountants respectively.
Managerial accountants and financial accountants are both critical professionals in any business organization, but these have differences. While managerial accountants deal with providing both the qualitative and quantitative information to the managers to assist in planning, controlling and decision making within the organization, the financial accountants provide qualitative and quantitative information to the external users like creditors, shareholders, and customers. Financial accountants follow certain standards i.e. GAAP or IFRS and formats in reporting, and their information is for public reporting while management accountants do not follow any prescribed format and their information is largely confidential. Fi...