Edward J. Blocher is professor of accounting at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His undergraduate degree (economics) is from Rice University, his MBA from Tulane University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Blocher presents regularly on strategic cost management at the national meetings of both the American Accounting Association (AAA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

While he is involved in a number of accounting organizations, Professor Blocher has been most continually active in the IMA, where he is now a member of the IMA’s Research Foundation. He is a certified management accountant (CMA), has taught review courses for the CMA exam, and has served on the IMA’s national education committee. Professor Blocher is also the author or co-author of several articles in management accounting and in other areas of accounting and has served as associate editor and reviewer for a number of accounting journals. Recently he published an article in Issues in Accounting Education (February 2009) on the topic of teaching strategic cost management.

Putting research and teaching into practice is important to Professor Blocher, who has worked closely with other firms and organizations in developing products, publications, and teaching materials. He was a member of the task force for the IMA that developed a new definition of management accounting in 2008. He currently serves on the IMA’s Research Foundation to review academic research proposals for possible funding by the IMA. Also, he has provided expert testimony and has consulted with a number of organizations regarding cost management matters.

David E. Stout is the John S. and Doris M. Andrews Professor of Accounting, Williamson College of Business Administration, Youngstown State University. Previously, he held the position of the John M. Cooney Professor of Accounting, School of Business, Villanova University. David earned his Ph.D. in accounting (1982) from the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, and teaches in the cost/managerial accounting area. He served previously as editor of Issues in Accounting Education and serves currently as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Accounting Education and as a member of the editorial board of each of the following journals: Journal of International Accounting, Auditing & Taxation; China Finance and Accounting Review; IMA Educational Case Journal; and Management Accounting Quarterly/Strategic Finance. Professor Stout has published over 80 articles in numerous professional and academic journals including Advances in Accounting Education, Issues in Accounting Education, the Journal of Accounting Education, The Accounting Educators’ Journal, Advances in International Accounting, Behavioral Research in Accounting (BRIA), The CPA Journal, Educational and Psychological Measurement, the IMA Educational Case Journal, Managerial Finance, Management Accounting, Management Accounting Quarterly, Financial Practice and Education, Strategic Finance, and Advances in Accounting. David is past president of the Teaching, Learning & Curriculum (TLC) Section of the AAA, past president of the Academy of Business Education (ABE), and past president of the Ohio Region, American Accounting Association (AAA). During the period 2011–2014, he served as a member of the AAA Board of Directors. In 2007, he was the recipient of the R. Lee Brummet Award for Distinguished Accounting Educators, Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), and the Ohio Outstanding Accounting Educator Award, which is cosponsored by the Ohio Society of CPAs and the AAA’s Ohio Region. In 2008, David received the Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award from the AICPA, and the Distinguished Service Award for Educators given by the IMA. Also in 2008, David was inducted into the Hall of Honor, TLC Section of the AAA and was selected by Ohio Magazine as one of Ohio’s Outstanding College and University Teachers.

In 2012, he was a co-recipient of the Jim Bulloch Award for Innovations in Management Accounting Education, an award given annually by the Management Accounting Section (MAS) of the AAA and sponsored by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

Paul E. Juras is a professor of accountancy at Babson College. Previously he was a professor of accountancy at Wake Forest University. He earned both his BBA and MBA at Pace University and his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. He is a certified management accountant (CMA) and has a certified public accountant (CPA) license from New York. Professor Juras has expertise in strategic management accounting. He has published articles and cases in many journals, including the Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance, Issues in Accounting Education, The CPA Journal, and Strategic Finance. He has made numerous presentations at meetings of both the American Accounting Association (AAA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

Professor Juras teaches managerial accounting and strategic cost management courses and has taught in the undergraduate program, the Masters of Science in Accountancy program, and the MBA program at Wake Forest University. He currently teaches in the fulltime MBA program, the evening MBA program, and the blended-learning fast track MBA program at Babson College.

While he is active in CAM-I, the Consortium for Advanced Management- International, and has served in leadership roles in the Management Accounting Section of the AAA, Professor Juras has dedicated most of his efforts outside the classroom to the IMA. He is currently a member of the IMA Global Board of Directors and recently served as a Regent of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants, the organization responsible for the CMA certification. In addition, Professor Juras served a three-year term as the chair of the IMA Research Foundation and is an associate editor of the IMA Educational Case Journal.

Gary Cokins is a principal consultant involved with performance-management solutions with SAS, a leading provider of business analytics software. Gary is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, and author in advanced cost management and performance-improvement systems. He received a BS degree in industrial engineering/operations research (with honors) from Cornell University in 1971 and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 1974. Gary began his career as a strategic planner with FMC Corporation and then served as a financial controller and operations manager. In 1981 he began his management consulting career with Deloitte Consulting and continued with KPMG Peat Marwick. He then headed the National Cost Management Consulting Services for Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Gary was the lead author of the acclaimed A Manager’s Primer on ABC Costing, published by the IMA. He also has four successful books in Activity-Based Costing and Enterprise Performance Management. Gary participates and serves on professional society committees including: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Consortium for Advanced Management-International (CAM-I), the Supply Chain Council, the IMA, and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). He is also a member of Journal of Cost Management Editorial Advisory Board. Gary is a regular writer and blogger for websites including www.businessfinance.com, www.smartdatacollective.com, and www.iianalytics.com.

The Author Team: Selected to provide a leading book in cost management based on leadership in teaching experience, commitment to learning, and a connection to practice that provides them with up-to-date knowledge of real-world management accounting issues and practices.