Chapter 10

General and Administrative Expenses

The category of expenses known as general and administrative (G&A) expense relates primarily to the costs of the various top management functions at the headquarters level having to do with overall policy determination and direction of the business. This chapter discusses the accounts included in the G&A category, allocation of cost, and G&A cost control.

Functions Involved

The typical medium- to large-size company would include the cost of these departments in the G&A expense category:

  • Office of the chairman of the board
  • Office of the president
  • Financial organization:
    • Office of the chief financial officer
    • Investor relations department
    • Office of the controller

      Accounting department

      Tax department

      Financial planning and control department

      Financial information systems

    • Office of the treasurer
    • Cash administration

      Risk management

      Retirement plan investments

    • Office of the chief internal auditor

      Financial auditing

      Systems auditing

      Special reviews

  • Legal department:
    • Office of the vice president—legal

      Office of the corporate secretary

      Litigation

      SEC relations

      Patents and trademarks

  • Corporate offices for the direction and control of these major functions:
    • Marketing
    • Manufacturing
    • Research and development
    • Human resources
    • Management information systems
    • Public relations
    • Strategic planning

To the extent that the purpose of these departments or organizational units have to do with overall policy determination, planning, direction, and ...

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