IMA has developed a variety of case studies to support your management accounting curriculum. They are available free of charge in electronic format. Teaching notes can be obtained by contacting Jodi Ryan at jryan@imanet.org. Please specify which case or volume of cases you’d like to use.

Carl Menconi Ethics Case Competition
The objective of the Competition is to develop and distribute cases focusing on business ethics with specific application to management accounting and finance issues. The cases must utilize IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice as a guidance tool/reference.

2010

MEOU: This Co-Op Scratches Rather than Purrs
Teaching Notes *Password Protected
Cecily Raiborn, CMA, CPA, and Roselyn Morris, CPA
The winning entry in the 2009 Carl Menconi Case Writing Competition focuses on the actions of a fictitious electric cooperative in Mississippi. The case poses the questions of what the cooperative’s chief accountant, a CMA, could and should have done in circumstances that potentially point to fiduciary inconsistencies and what consequences such actions might have. Key issues include fiduciary responsibility to member-owners, corporate governance, and internal controls.

2009

Academic Advising at Bay State
Teaching Notes, Exhibits *Password Protected
Janice E. Bell, CPA, and Shahid L. Ansari
In this case study, students assume a role as a member of the task force charged with improving the academic advising functions performed by the College of Business at Bay State University, a fictional public state school. The university president would like the task force to make budget recommendations for the upcoming year and specific suggestions regarding how to cut recurring operating costs by 15% while improving the advising function’s performance against various benchmarks.

2008

Manipulating the Balanced Scorecard
Teaching Notes *Password Protected
Natalia Mintchik and Jennifer Blaskovich, CPA
Mary Brown, CMA, CPA, is a 29-year-old senior accountant at a branch of IFS, a global financial services holding company. When it’s time to summarize the branch’s performance for the year and submit the results to corporate management, she’s concerned that her newly promoted boss may have the wrong motives for choosing which balanced scorecard metric they report. After sharing some of her concerns with him and being rebuffed, she seeks the advice of a fellow IMA member.

2007

Virtues in Conflict
Teaching Notes *Password Protected
Elizabeth Dunn, CPA
Winner of the Carl Menconi Case Writing Competition
A CFO is given information about increased cost of materials that will have a significant effect on the profits and the very future of her company. Assured by a manager that the information will change soon and that there’s no need to alert stakeholders, she has to reassess the facts, the rules of reporting, any alternatives that might exist, and the consequences of her decisions.

IMA Student Case Competition Cases

2008 - Building Processes for a Solid Financial Foundation: The Case of Community Health Initiatives
Teaching Notes *Password Protected
Sandra Richtermeyer, CMA, CPA
The case study follows an auditor as she takes on a new professional role as director of finance for a company that needs to create a new budget process and more sophisticated financial information for its board of directors. Students are asked to guide and advise both the vocational and corporate changes.

2007 - Alternative Costing Methods: Precision
Teaching Notes *Password Protected
Paint Shop's Dilemma
Eileen Peacock and Paul Juras
Based on a real Midwest company, this case study challenges students to analyze its ABC system and determine whether or not it provides the right information for the company to achieve its strategic goals. To accomplish the task, they must weigh the value of ABC vs. TOC vs. RCA cost information in their presentations.