The aim of the seventh edition is to explain the principles involved in the design and evaluation of management and cost accounting information systems. The emphasis in the book is on management accounting systems - those that are used to accumulate, classify, summarize and report information that will be used for internal decision-making purposes within an organisation. However, cost accounting systems, that record cost information for external reporting and internal profit measurement purposes, are also comprehensively covered.

In summary, this new edition has been brought fully up to date with the latest developments in the subject, is much shorter and more integrated with the web resources for the book, and reverts to the system of having lecturer's questions in the book, with answers on the password-protected side of the site