This book is about how manager’s use cost management to build a successful company as those at Wal-Mart and Target have done. Everyone wants to be a winner, and so it is in business and accounting. We are interested in how the management accountant can play a key role in making a firm or organization successful.

    Now you might be asking, Don’t we have to know what you mean by success? Absolutely! A firm must define clearly what it means by success in is mission statement. Then it must develop a road map to accomplish that mission, which we call strategy. In Wal-Mart’s case, the mission is to achieve customer value, and the strategy involves the extensive use of technology, a management structure that welcomes change and a constant focus on customer service.

    For Target, the competitive focus is promise of value through brand recognition, customer service, store location, differentiated offerings, quality, fashion, and price.