The Certified General Accountants Executive program has been an excellent source of learning and information for me since the program commenced in September, 2007.During the weekend of March 15-16, 2008 my classmates and I met in Ottawa to discuss and review the latest in Management Accounting techniques. Management Accounting, with its focus on budgets and variance analysis, has always played a pivotal role in controlling a business. The establishment of a Strategic Plan, followed by a rigorous Budget process, followed by a monthly variance analysis of actual results to a benchmark (budget or forecast) can provide management with excellent tools to identify and correct problems or “variances” throughout the year. Variance follow up and action is critical but this process can be time consuming and often intensive, which has led to “management by exception” as a way of highlighting the significant issues. The entire planning and controlling process is obviously very important, and therefore companies should take care to ensure that they have what is required to do this properly including; staffing, information systems, and a rigorous and disciplined review process.