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Activity based costing case study
Activity based costing case study
Activity based costing strengths and weaknesses
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For this case study I chose an article titled “Activity-Based Costing: Is It Still Relevant?” that is based on the managerial concept of activity-based costing, shortened to ABC. The article is a report on a survey that the authors conducted. It begins by mentioning that, in the early 1990s, activity-based costing methods were being used at an increasing rate. Then, in the new millennium, a debate arose as to whether or not the method was still relevant and useful. The article mentions that previous surveys have shown a decrease in the supposed value of and thoughts on the decline of activity-based costing. Some of the criticisms of ABC included comments like, “Many companies abandoned activity-based costing because it did not capture the complexity of their operations,” and, “ABC proved notoriously difficult in practice (Stratton, Desroches, Lawson, & Hatch, 2009).” The article then goes on to discuss how the authors decided to create a group, called the Business Research and Analysis Group, and conduct a survey on activity-based costing methods and other costing methods, sponsore...
The Chester team will implement a Broad Cost Leader and Broad Differentiation strategy, maintaining a presence in every segment of the market place. We hope to gain a competitive advantage by getting R&D costs, production costs, and raw material costs as low as possible. Our Cost Leader position will help us with a competitive advantage based on price, we will price our products fairly average. Not too low but not too high either. Our products will keep up with the changes in the market, also offering improved size and performance and if needed improved reliability. We will moderately increase automation levels to improve our contribution margins
Activity-based costing (ABC) is a costing method that is usually used as a supplement to a company’s usual costing system, and is therefore used for internal decision-making. It is designed to inform managers of costing information for decisions (strategic and others) that potentially affect capacity and consequently “fixed” as well as variable costs. In addition, ABC can also be used to pinpoint activities that would benefit from process improvements.
how applying six sigma methodology can do to address these problems. According to the author the two most common causes of software project failures are customer requirement problems and estimating problems. He offers two case studies as examples of how six sigma can address these aspects of software implementation. The first case study discusses some of the ways six sigma can help with customer requirements, and the second case discusses the role of six sigma in schedule estimating.
Lean is best defined as “a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste (non-value added activities) through continuous improvement by flowing the product only when the customer needs it (called pull) in pursuit of perfection” (Sarkar, 2008, p. 1). Lean thinking along with Six Sigma have generated interest all industries. This can be seen by the countless studies and quality improvement efforts undertaken by many corporations, with training and building staff as certified Lean Six Sigma experts.
Spokane Industries has contracted Franklin Electronics for an 18 month product development contract. Franklin Electronics is new to using project management methodologies and has not been exposed to earned value management methodologies. Even though Franklin and Spokane have worked together in the past, they have mainly used fixed-price contracts with little to no stipulations. For this project, Spokane Industries is requiring Franklin Electronics to use formalized project management methodologies, earned value cost schedules, and schedules for reports and meetings. Since Franklin Electronics had no experience with earned value management, the cost accounting group was trained in the methodology in order to bid for the project.
If done right, I believe that all of the costs can be allocated to each of the three products through both direct and overhead costs. The only direct costs that are being included currently are labor and manufacturing costs. I broke up overhead into overhead based off direct labor and overhead based on units sold.
This, in order to identify what are the true costs of each customer and each order, enables the company to fully understand its cost structure thereby providing the base for better business choices and higher profitability. These are very sensible goals indeed. Even though the company is profitable, implementing a new, activity-based cost accounting system will allow the company to improve its margins and become even more focused and competitive in the future. 2.2. What is the difference between a.... ...
"College Accounting Coach." Process Costing-Definitions And Features(Part1) « Process Costing « Cost Accounting «. Feb. 2007. Web
The contained paper has been prepared with objectives of elaborating over the three different costing methods namely, Absorption/Full Costing, Variable/Marginal Costing, and Activity Based accounting. The first segment of the report seeks to define and illustrate the costing methods based on the personal understanding of the writer gained through the class room and the academic readings. Part two of the report takes a form of short essay, written critically to evaluate the application of standard costing and variance analysis to any size of business, and concludes with a verdict that whether or not standard costing and variance analysis is applicable to each business with consideration of its costs and benefits of the system.
Cost Accounting: Its role and ethical considerations Introduction: Accounting is the process of identifying, measuring, and communicating economic information about an entity for the purpose of making decisions and informed judgements. The major areas of within the accounting are: Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting/Cost Accounting and Auditing- Public Accounting Managerial accounting is concerned with the use of economic and financial information to plan and control the activities of an entity and to support the management in planning and decision-making process. Cost accounting is the subset of managerial accounting and it helps management in determination and accumulation of product, process or service cost. Role of Cost Accounting: Increased competition and uncertain business conditions have put significant pressure on corporate management to make informed business decisions and maximize their company?s financial performance. In response to this pressure, a range of management accounting tools and techniques has emerged.
Leonard Prescott, vice president and general manager of Weaver-Yamazaki Pharmaceutical of Japan, believed that John Higgins, his executive assistant, was losing effectiveness in representing the U.S. parent company because of an extraordinary identification with the Japanese culture.
From the A12 redesign proposal, it shows that the current standard cost system is unable to link the reduction in the number of parts to activity reductions and cost savings. The labor-direct-based standard cost system reflects the cost of A12 is distorted. Using the ABC system, according to the activities of A12 allocate the overhead cost to A12 that could find that the current overhead cost of A12 was overstated by the standard cost system. At last, A12 Junction Box could be identified it is an attractive and profitable product, at the same time, it demonstrates the value of ABC.
First we will talk about activity based costing and we will start by giving the definition of it ; Activity based costing means refining the costing system by concentrating on individual activities as essential or primary cost object or tool . ABC system has a lot of benefits and we will discuss them now, ABC helps in understanding overhead much better and the percentage of prim cost and overhead is the same in both ABC and traditional system; but what gives advantage of ABC over traditional is by using ABC system it helps to know the detail of overhead so that it can identifies how is the activity to avoid.
Activity-Based Costing ( ABC ) Summary The business environment in the 1990s is markedly different from that of the past when conventional cost accounting procedures were established. Activity-based costing (ABC), pioneered in the late 1980s, offered a new costing approach consistent with the changed environment. However, ABC did not diffuse rapidly into the business community.
Activity-based costing (ABC) is a costing method that is designed to provide managers with cost information for strategic and other decisions that potentially affect capacity and therefore “fixed” as well as variable costs. Activity-based costing is mostly used for internal decision making and managing activities while traditional costing method is used to provide data for external financial reports. Most organization uses activity-based costing as an addition system for using traditional absorption costing as sometimes the traditional cost system misleads the product’s profitability. In a company, there are many products on sale, if one product is sold at a high price with low product margin and a product with high product margin at a low price, it may result in a loss. In addition, due to the reason that cost drivers and enterprises business may change, activity-based costing analysis also needs to be revised periodically. This amendment should be prompted to change pricing, product, customer focus and market share strategy to improve corporate profitability.