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Concepts of activity based costing
Concepts of activity based costing
Concepts of activity based costing
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Recommended: Concepts of activity based costing
Introduction
In any business, costing is sacred; regardless of how big the business is. Nevertheless, every business is interested in in minimizing costs in order to maximize profits as one of the best sustainability strategies in the modern highly competitive world of business. However, a costing system is required for this purpose. A costing system can be defined as a system designed to be used by a company to monitor the costs it incurs, including a set of processes, controls, reports and forms used to create an aggregate of costs and revenues with the primary purpose of enhancing the profitability of the business. Essentially, systematic allocations of the costs in a business are organized in the form of costing systems (Epstein & Buhovac,
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Activity-based costing is important in establishing, analyzing, and keeping track of environmental, economic, and social costs. With activity based costing, organizations can incur more realistic production costs. ABC helps an organization control the cost by eliminating any activity that doesn’t contribute to the final value of the product or the entire process of production (Sharfman & Fernando, …show more content…
Unlike the aforementioned methods, full-cost accounting mainly involves the analysis of how a given product or activity may affect the organization’s relations with other entities, or even the environment (Paladino, 2011).
The main advantage of full cost accounting is founded on the fact that it establishes the full cost of production, and a clearer picture of a wholesome cost of production is determined. However, it doesn’t take into account the individual products or processes, just like activity based costing. As a result, the company may suffer losses from products and activities unknowingly. Operating under uncertainties is what most businesses wouldn’t like to be entangled in as emphasized by Paladino (2011).
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.
Based off of the data provided in the case study it would appear that under the traditional costing. Which are the cost that were incurred to produce OS-367. It appears that those cost were being allocated to GS-157 and HS-241. The cost per unit for OS-367 was $10 under the traditional costing system and the same has become $13.75 under the ABC system.
Roybal, H., Baxendale, S.J., and Gupta, M., (1999), “Using Activity-Based Costing and Theory of Constraints to Guide
Even though a myriad of tools and techniques learnt in the Strategic Cost Management and Strategic Business Analysis courses are not fully exploited in this essay, it is generally recognised that those techniques are useful for a corporate to formulate strategy, do strategic planning, control costing and quality, as well as eventually elevate its values, regardless the nature and size of organizations.
It was the year 1987 when the Gartner Group popularized the form of full cost accounting named Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)(author, Gartner Total Cost of Ownership). Originally TCO was mainly used in the IT business sector. This changed in the 1980’s when it became clear to many organizations that there is a distinct difference between purchase price and full costs of a products ownership. This brings us towards the main strength of conducting a TCO analysis, besides taking the purchase costs into account, which consist of the amount a money an organization pays for the required service, product or capital outlay. It also considers 1. Acquisition costs; these can consist of sourcing, administration, freight, and taxes. 2. Usage costs, which consists of the costs associated with converting the given product or service into a finished product. And finally 3. End of life cycle costs; the costs or profits incurred when disposing of a product. TCO can be seen as a form of full cost accounting; it systematically collects and presents all the data for each proposed alternative.
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.
In its current practice, the roles and functions of cost accounting includes additional functions. More specifically, it can be described as more than an inventory tracking system. This is because cost accounting entails defining the charges of activities and goods (Horngren & Srikant, 2000). Because of its many roles and functions, this accounting method has been of great help to growth and expansion of business planning and management. Again, the reports offer assistance in the planning and growth projections for different business functions and units within the organization. The information cost accountants offer different uses, some of which aid in the controllership function, as well as the industrial
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.
Others feel that ABC would be more widespread in industry if it were marketed better by the cost accounting profession itself [1]. As the dust has settled, ABC has turned out to be less a revolutionary technique than a useful refinement to proven systems. The costs of products and services must be accurate, or management can be misled. Decisions... ...
Cost accounting system has two types, job order costing, and process cost system. These two cost systems are very different, almost every company uses order costing or process costing. Starbucks, is a coffee shop where citizens congregate to drink there morning coffee, study, and or socialize. Starbucks is one of the oldest and largest privately held specialty coffee retailer in the United States. (Starbucks) Their passion is to discover the flavors you love and always bring it home, delivering the look, taste and aroma of the world’s best coffee and teas. Job order costing is a very easy way in order to help Starbucks managers to know how much profit their company (Starbucks) made.
Dell’Isola, Alphonse and Stephen Kirk. Life Cycle Costings for Design Professionals. New York, McGraw-Hill. 1981, Print.
(2015). 4 Activity Based Cost Systems for Management. [Online] Academia.edu. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/3882382/4_Activity_Based_Cost_Systems_for_Management [Accessed 23 Jan. 2015].
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.