Statistical Regression Analysis

Abstract

As statistical regression analysis for cost estimation and forecasting was discussed in the management accounting literature in the mid-1960s, it could be considered part of the conventional wisdom of management accounting. However, the use of such statistical methods requires acceptance, at least implicitly, that costs and revenues are uncertain. Thus, it could be argued that this discussion of statistics in the management accounting literature represented a first step away from the certainty assumption of the economic model discussed in Chapter 2.