Cost analysis of a manufacturing company encountering a failing financial situation: a pedagogical teaching case using learning activities model

Abstract

The case focuses on automatic factory (AF), a small-sized manufacturing company; which produces and sells multiple construction products in the United Arab Emirates. For years, AF made operating profits, but during 2011-2013 it recorded operating losses, which the company management was anxious to have explained. AF's main concern was to acquire actionable knowledge and diffuse it throughout the company's hierarchy. To remedy the failing situation, an organisational learning activities model was adopted that would put the company on a sustainable footing and save it from dissolution. The aim of the present case study is to discuss and analyse this situation, using relevant management accounting techniques as a means of organisational learning. Participants are encouraged to discuss and analyse the AF's cost structure, breakeven analysis and sales mix, emphasising that such techniques should overlap with the learning activities undertaken by the company.