Fundamentals of cost accounting and environmental management accounting

This course is designed to provide you with a solid understanding of the principles and practices of cost accounting. Cost accounting enables managers to understand the true costs of products, services and processes in order to help them make informed decisions, control costs and improve the overall performance of the organisation. Throughout this session, you will explore various aspects of cost accounting which will lay the foundation for further studies in management accounting. You will learn that to distinguish between fixed costs and variable costs allows for a range of important decisions in any business. An understanding of basic cost behaviour is essential to the work of management accountants. In the final section you will look at the concept of environmental management accounting and analyse the impact of environmental costs and their implications for management accounting. First published on Wed, 19 Nov 2025 as Fundamentals of cost accounting and environmental management accounting. To find out more visit The Open University's Openlearn website. Creative-Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 2025