What are the differences between cost accountting and finanacial accounting?

Question

Give me more than one difference

Answer 1

Financial accounting provides information that is designed to satisfy the needs of external users. Such reporting is usually done in the form of financial statements.

Managerial accounting provides information that is useful in running a company by internal users. Such reporting is usually accomplished through custom designed reports.

Answer 2

Financial accounting is concerned with reporting to external parties such as owners, analysts, and creditors.  These external users rarely have access to the information that is internal to the organization, nor do they specify the exact information that will be presented.  Instead, they must rely on the general reports presented by the company.  Therefore, the reporting structure is well defined and standardized.  The methods of preparation and the reports presented are governed by rules of various standard-setting organizations.  Furthermore, the external users generally see only the summarized or aggregated data for an entity.

In contrast, managers of a specific business oftentimes need or desire far more detailed information.   This information must be tailored to specific decision-making tasks of managers, and its structure becomes more "free formed."  Such managerial accounting information tends to be focused on products, departments, and activities.  In this context, the management process is intended to be a broad reference to encompass marketing, finance, and other disciplines.  Simply put: managerial accounting is about providing information in support of the internal management processes.