Lean Accounting
Streamline accounting and management control to drive continuous improvement within the company
course code 3.6
What is the course for
#1
Understand the risks and opportunities of traditional accounting methods in measuring business improvements
#2
Acquire the skills to introduce Lean Accounting to your business
#3
Discover the Lean Accounting solutions employed by leading companies
The traditional management control systems emerged and developed to support an equally traditional production management model, and are therefore ill-suited to an organisation practising Lean principles. Indeed traditional management control logic contradicts some of the key Lean Production processes. Sooner or later in every Lean project, the real advantages to be gained in practice will come up against this formidable obstacle on the journey towards improvement.
In particular, these systems provide untimely, over-aggregated and, above all, “distorted” reports and performance measures in the sense that they drive people to behaviours that are contrary to Lean logic.
The term Lean Accounting refers to a management control system that measures and supports Lean Thinking in a company starting from a single role, going through its “Value Stream” in order to evaluate the company’s entire performance.
Lean Accounting, reconcilable with national and international accounting principles, shows the true benefits of Lean change and drives continuous improvement within a company, as some of the world’s top companies have demonstrated.
The Lenovys’ Lean Accounting Training Course will teach you to master the core techniques of this proactive management model, allowing you to align your business language through a consistent vision, leading to a virtuous cycle of improvements and accurately measured economic benefits.
Goals
- Understand the risks and opportunities of traditional accounting methods in measuring business improvements
- Acquire the skills to introduce Lean Accounting to your business
- Discover the Lean Accounting solutions employed by leading companies
- Measure savings derived from Lean activities correctly
- Use Lean Thinking to streamline administrative and accounting processes
Addressed to
- Entrepreneurs
- General management, plant managers
- Value stream managers, corporate Lean Agents
- Administration, finance and control management
- Controllers
Contents
Introduction
- The Lean Production principles to take into account when measuring business results
- Defining the concept of Lean Accounting
- The strategic role of Lean Accounting
Critical analysis of traditional management control
- The functions of certain components of traditional cost accounting (standard costing, overhead absorption, variance analysis)
- What are the assumptions and inherent characteristics of traditional accounting systems?
- How are improvements measured?
- What behaviours does the measurement system promote in people?
- What things does the system consider to be “important”?
- Understanding the negative consequences of the traditional accounting system within a Lean company
- Elaborating concrete examples of mistakes in decision making
The features of a Lean Accounting system
- Quantifying the time saved by and the time devoted to value added activities
- Performance monitoring and value creation through KPIs
- Stimulating continuous improvement
- Starting the decision-making process
Measuring Lean Performance through Lean Accounting
- What is “box scoring”
- Applying box scoring
Tailoring Lean Accounting to the workplace
- A visual management system in the production sphere based on Lean Accounting
- Practical exercise: daily and weekly meetings
The role of Lean Accounting in the decision making process
- Explanation of the data sets that lead to the right business decisions
- Practical exercise: monthly meeting to decide whether to “make or buy”
Improving administrative processes using Lean methodology
- Introduction to the principal tools and management methods employed in order to streamline processes (process activity matrix, value stream mapping, standardisation, visual management, problem solving, continual improvement)
- Actual business cases and the benefits gained
How to set up a Lean Accounting project
- Explanation of gradual implementation
- The pilot project: how to set it up correctly
- Reference to other Lean Accounting tools (e.g. target costing)
You will experience
- How to recognise the managerial traps in traditional systems
- How to create a proactive system for goal-sharing and results between operations and finance
- How to manage meetings based on Lean Accounting data
- How to develop simulations and business cases using Lean Accounting
- How to apply Lean Thinking to administrative processes
- How to give greater strategic value to administration, finance and control roles