Responsibility centers and reporting segments a centralized organization allows managers very little freedom to make decisions. in contrast, a decentralized organization spreads decision making to managers at different responsibility center levels. a responsibility center, also called a strategic business unit (sbu), is any portion of a business that grants the center's manager responsibility over costs, profits, revenues, or investments. this topic covers different types of responsibility centers, including cost centers, profit centers, and investment centers. reporting segments and contribution reporting are also discussed in this topic. read the learning outcome statements (los) for this topic as found in appendix a and then study the concepts and calculations presented here to be sure you understand the content you could be tested on in the cma exam.