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Activity based costing theory and concept
Activity based costing theory and concept
Key features of activity based costing
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Engineering Cost Analysis Accurately forecasting the cost of projects is vital to the survival of any business or organization. Cost estimators develop the cost information that business owners or managers, professional design team members, and construction contractors need to make budgetary and feasibility determinations. From an Owner's perspective the cost estimate may be used to determine the project scope or whether the project should proceed. According to the U.S. Department of Labor there were about 198,000 cost estimators in 1994. That of which 58% work in the construction industry, 17% employed in manufacturing industries, and the remaining 25% elsewhere. From this we could conclude that a great deal of cost estimation lies in the construction industry, where multi-million dollar contracts are formed after a thorough cost estimation. Cost Analysis is an aspect of estimation that applies both formally and informally to the aspect of costing. Cost analysis is a formal discipline used to help appraise, or assess, the case for a project or proposal, and is an informal approach to making decisions of any kind. It is ultimately an economic tool to aid in logical decision making. In the case of construction cost estimates, the next step would be the cost analysis process. The sole purpose is to determine if the completed estimates are reasonable. Usually comparisons are made with similar projects done in the past to see if the number are within the same vicinity of each other. Though the estimates may differ from case to case, if the cost estimate is significantly higher or lower than the normal ra... ... middle of paper ... ...pplied. Cost estimation and analysis could ultimately determine major decisions in both the business and political worlds today, and play a crucial role even in our day to day lives. Through activity based costing one is able to see what areas need improvement and also whether or not a business will be successful after considering all the factors. These tools are very powerful in drawing wise conclusions from cost analysis and can be a priceless tool to have even in the field of engineering. Works Cited Horngren, Sundem, Stratton. Introduction to Management Accounting. 13th ed. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ., 2005 John D. Bledsoe, PhD. From Concept to Bid…Successful Estimating Methods, PE. Kingston, MA: R.S. Means Company, Inc., 1992. American Society of Professional Estimators Hand Book GCCRG—General Construction Cost Review Guide
Opting for coverage by a registered health spending account (RHSA) allows employees to choose the benefits that most benefit them. Health insurance covers only a certain number of services, which may not help everyone. Health spending accounts also aid employers financially as they allow them to save money. Instead of needing to pay for typical health benefits, a certain amount of money can be distributed to employees by means of an RHSA, which employees can then use as they please.
...bine it into the price for equipment rentals and labor. The grand total of these figures is the cost of the job, if we price under that number, we lose money. So, careful judgment is used to decide how much profit a job should bring in. We then decide how much over the total cost we want to charge, we type up an official, detailed quote for the job. If the contractor is happy with the price, he will accept our bid and we now have the job. Now all that’s left to do in this stage is to get all the permits and draw up the necessary contracts.
Process costing System is an accounting expression which describes one method to determine the manufacturing costs to the units manufactured . Processing is typically used when similar units are mass produced. Also process costing system is a type of accounting process costing which is used to determine the cost of a produced inventory. Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) defines process costing as " The costing method applicable where goods or services result from a sequence of continuous or repetitive operations or processes. Costs are average over the units produced during the period, being initially charged to the operation or process "( College Accounting Coach, 2007). Process costing is more important and appropriate for all businesses producing identical products during which production is an ongoing flow. Toyota is on the of the major companies in the world that used well-known new philosophic management to produce identical products using process costing system.
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-benefit analysis is an economic approach decision making that compares the strengths and weaknesses of each choice in order to determine which option will provide the most amount of benefits and the least amount of costs. This method is often applied to decisions that concern the environment as an attempt to determine the value of the environment before following through with decisions to preserve or utilize the environment for resources. Although many economists believe that cost-benefit analysis is an efficient way to make most decisions, some philosophers suggest that certain things, including the environment, have innumerable values, therefore, cost-benefit analysis may not be a reliable method to make decisions regarding these things.
Project managers must take cost estimates seriously if they want to complete software projects within budget constraints. After developing a good resource requirements list, project managers and their software development teams must develop several estimates of the costs for these resources. There are several different tools and techniques available for accomplishing good cost estimation.
The overall purpose of cost accounting is to advise top administration and the management team on the most suitable and cost effective methods and actions to employ based on cost, capability and efficiencies of a given product or service. It can be defined as the method where all the expenditures used during execution of business activities are gathered, categorized, examined and noted down (Horngren & Srikant, 2000). Once these numbers are gathered and recorded the information is used to determine a selling price and/or to identify possible investment opportunities. Although the principal aim or function of cost accounting is to help the business administration with their decision making and business planning process, the cost accounting data
To test the financial feasibility and plan acceptability, there must be information on the magnitude, and share of estimated project cost that are reimbursable. This information can be derived from cost allocation. Also where cost sharing is required in the multipurpose planning process cost allocation can be applied. Cost allocation also provides information necessary for allocating the real expenditures ensuring that the cost account are maintained in line with plan formulation and allocation principles during the subsequent c...
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.
(Target costing is “a structured approach for determining the cost at which a proposed product with specified functionality and quality must be produced to generate a desired level of profitability at its anticipated selling price.”) In order to properly achieve target costing a company must complete the following steps; determine a market price point for the proposed product, calculate the target cost by subtracting the desired profit from the target price, reiterate the product design to achieve target cost, and finally revise the market price following the redesigned product and current market conditions. This mistake in the implementation of target costing led to missed opportunities to reduce costs through the redesign of product components and tooling. The missed cost reduction opportunities resulted from the hasty decision making in the design phase, Billings accepted early component designs without additional cost reducing
Brooke (1997), explains Estimation as the technical procedure of anticipating the value of the project. Building construction estimation is the process of acquiring the construction value for the whole project before the project starts. Thus, construction attaining process depends hugely on financial management to sustain workability and smooth operations. The delay in construction is a global issue which is due to improper preparation of estimates and lack of drawings (Ajanlekoko, 1987). In accordance to Gkritza (2008), the source of delay in a project are identified to be in the initial stages, like bad quantification, errors in design and ground conditions. Thus, the purpose of a proper estimate is to foretell the cost needed to finish the
Cost is known as monetary value that will contribute to the benefit or obtaining any other resources. In other words, cost is a resource that we sacrifice in order to capture profit in the business companies. As an example, we sacrifice electricity, material, labour and value of machine’s life which known as depreciation during the production of a car. Therefore, these sacrifices are known as cost. There are many different views or thoughts from different individual. From a buyer’s perspective, cost of an item or product is known as prices which are charged by the sellers that may include additional charges such as mark-up cost and production cost which make the products more expensive than the original prices
The business always develops due to investments and the correct most accurate analysis is an integral part of any initiative. Any initiative should be studied by financial analysts, correctly predicted in terms of financial investments and beneficiaries, tracked at various times, studied , changed on time, if necessary. Success of investments depends From financial analysis, it helps to protect the business from financial losses and predict cash flow and return of investment.
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.
In management accounting, cost management has a crucial role and finds its foundations in understanding “cost behaviour”. “Cost behaviour analysis” can be defined as “the study of how cost changes when there is a change in an organisation’s level of activity”. (Definition https://www.accountingcoach.com/blog/what-is-cost-behavior).