IMA Releases New Report on Revenue Management

Montvale, N.J., October 30, 2020 – IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) has released a new Statement on Management Accounting (SMA), “Revenue Management Fundamentals,” that describes the key ways management accountants can strengthen and accelerate the revenue management strategy and systems across all types of competitive organizations and industries.

“Organizations can use the methodology outlined in this report to develop a revenue management approach where management accounting is an effective partner with other business functions,” said Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, vice president of research and policy at IMA.

The SMA provides an essential foundation to understanding revenue management as a discipline across many types of organizations and how management accountants can work effectively with their organization to design systems that capture and analyze specific types of revenue drivers in order to improve revenue management practices. It presents a six-step process for improving an organization’s revenue management approach:

1. Do a quick assessment of the organization’s use of the four revenue management levers (pricing-basis, inventory allocation, product configuration and duration control)
2. Review levels of revenue management details to determine current practice and understand different intensities of practice
3. Analyze the organization’s business strategy and business environment to find issues that can assist or hinder revenue management improvement
4. Evaluate revenue and cost driver importance in the organization’s strategy, and identify gaps in current managerial and accounting attention
5. Design the appropriate level of revenue management and driver attention for the organization, consistent with its strategy
6. Establish a cross-functional team to implement new revenue management practices, supported by management accounting skill and tools

“For the last century, management accountants have been successfully employing management models and establishing causal drivers in partnership with executives to achieve strategic objectives involving costs and investments. This same work can and should be accomplished with sales and revenue,” added Lawson. “In partnership with marketing and sales functions, accountants can use this SMA to lay out a management model and causal driver approach that can be used to evaluate the sophistication of an organization’s revenue management system and then redesign that system with optimal analytics and metrics that support the organization’s strategic objectives.”  

The report also includes case examples of companies to illustrate the different approaches that firms can take to revenue management based on the four levers of revenue management. 

To read the full report, visit https://www.imanet.org/insights-and-trends/the-future-of-management-accounting/revenue-management-fundamentals.

About IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants)
IMA^®, named the 2017 and 2018 Professional Body of the Year by The Accountant/International Accounting Bulletin, is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA^® (Certified Management Accountant) and CSCA^® (Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis) programs, continuing education, networking and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global network of more than 125,000 members in 150 countries and 300 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe and Middle East/India. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org.

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