Final answer:
Managerial accounting characteristics include providing information to the management team, being future oriented, and valuing relevance over reliability compared to financial accounting. Therefore, all listed options are characteristics of managerial accounting. D) all are characteristics of managerial accounting"
Step-by-step explanation:
The characteristics of managerial accounting information include aspects that differentiate it significantly from financial accounting. Primarily, managerial accounting information:
- Provides information to the company's management team.
- Is future oriented, focusing on forecasting and decision-making.
- Is more willing to sacrifice reliability to gain relevance than is financial accounting, which means it may include estimates and models that provide insight, even if they are not as precise as historical financial data.
Using these parameters, the correct answer to the student's question is D) all are characteristics of managerial accounting. Managerial accounting serves an internal purpose to aid managers in making decisions that affect the future of the organization, such as budgeting, strategic planning, and cost management. While financial accounting is geared towards providing historical financial information to external parties, managerial accounting is more concerned with providing relevant and timely data to internal users to inform strategy and daily operations.