...The implementation of Activity Based Costing (ABC) in Chinese refining manufacturers Table of contents 1. Introduction 2 1.1 Research background 2 1.2 domestic and foreign research status 4 1.2.1 Activity-based costing development process 4 1.2.2 Status quo of Activity-Based Costing Development and Application in China 6 1.3 research contents 8 2. Related theories 9 2.1concept of ABC 9 2.2 rationales 10 2.3 difference between ABC and traditional costing 12 2.3.1. Different calculating targets 12 2.3.2 Different calculation 12 2.3.3. Different Finished goods costs term 13 3. Research methodology 13 3.1 case study 13 3.2 The survey method 13 3.3 Literature 14 4. Research Results 14 4.1 problems of traditional costing method in oil refining enterprise 14 4.2suggestions for Chinese enterprises’ application ABC 15 Bibliography 15 1. Introduction 1.1 Research background With the rapid development of the national economy, enterprises’ competition is increasingly fierce; many companies are using advanced science and technology to achieve competitive advantage in the market. Market competition and technological progress are the two fundamental economic factors which generate activity-based costing. Since The beginning of 1980s of the 20th century, the activity based cost method is paid a wide range of attention; the developed countries gradually adopt it in a number of advanced enterprises...
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...(12F360) SCM Introduction Activity-based costing (ABC) is a costing methodology that identifies activities in an organization and assigns the cost of each activity with resources to all products and services according to the actual consumption by each. This model assigns more indirect costs (overhead) into direct costs compared to conventional costing. CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) defines ABC as an approach to the costing and monitoring of activities which involves tracing resource consumption and costing final outputs. Resources are assigned to activities, and activities to cost objects based on consumption estimates. The latter utilize cost drivers to attach activity costs to outputs. Aims of model With ABC, a company can soundly estimate the cost elements of entire products ACTIVITIES and services. That may help inform a company's decision to either: * Identify and eliminate those products and services that are unprofitable and lower the prices of those that are overpriced (product and service portfolio aim) * Or identify and eliminate production or service processes that are ineffective and allocate processing concepts that lead to the very same product at a better yield (process re-engineering aim). In a business organization, the ABC methodology assigns an organization's resource costs through activities to the products and services provided to its customers. ABC is generally used as a tool for understanding product and...
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...Isa becoming more and more popular [3-7] ABC aims to provide accurate costing information to managers to allocate activity costs to products and services by applying cost drivers [8]. Academics who advocate ABC, such as, Cooper and Kaplan [9], and Swenson [10] argue that it provides more accurate cost data needed to make appropriate strategic decisions about product mix, sourcing, pricing, process improvement, and evaluation of business process performance. These claims have led many firms to adopt ABC systems [8]. The benefits of ABC and its positive impact on firm’s performance motivated a numerous studies which examined various aspects of ABC. Among such studies are McGowan [11] who assessed the integrity of ABC success, Innes and Mitchell [4, 12] and Yanren [13] who conducted research on factors affecting ABC adoption, and Shield [3], Shields and McEwen [14], Gosselin [15] and Baired et al.[16, 17]who concentrated on factors influencing ABC success especially at the implementation stage. However, there is mounting evidence that suggests most of firms are experiencing problems in implementing ABC and, in some extreme cases, ABC implementation is not successful [3], which later resulted in abandoning the ABC systems altogether [15]. Questions arise as to why ABC implementation is successful in certain companies and fails in others. Based on the contingency theory, researchers have argued that the reasons for different degrees of ABC success could be due to the different contextual...
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...as a method of accounting that used various techniques to assign costs to particular cost objectives, e.g. the cost to perform an activity, produce a product or render a service. W.B. Lawrence stressed the importance of accountants becoming familiar with cost accounting in his 1930 text because even then, “the modern factory occupies more space and employs many more workers than did the factory of a generation ago”. In 1940, John Blocker recommended in his text additional uses for cost accounting in other industries, such as construction, mining, utilities and nonprofit organizations. He believed that all of these businesses needed to consider that the costing in different departments within a company could be controlled through cost accounting. Even in the 1960’s accountants and system designers developed cost accounting to do more than measure performance. Cost accounting was an integral part of planning and control in businesses. After that, the concept of activity-based costing (ABC) was introduced in the US, initially in the manufacturing sector during 1970s and 1980s. Robert Cooper and Robert Kaplan brought the ABC concept to light and published the body of knowledge in the Harvard Business Review in 1988. Cooper and Kaplan defined ABC method as an approach to solve the problems of traditional cost management systems; that is, the conventional cost accounting systems are often unable to identify correctly the true costs of processes. Consequently, management and...
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...of the machine is not being recognized when the same broad 'on-cost' percentage is added to all products. Consequently, when multiple products share common costs, there is a danger of one product subsidizing another. ABC is based on George Staubus' Activity Costing and Input-Output Accounting.[4] The concepts of ABC were developed in the manufacturing sector of the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, the Consortium for Advanced Management-International, now known simply as CAM-I, provided a formative role for studying and formalizing the principles that have become more formally known as Activity-Based Costing.[5] Robin Cooper and Robert S. Kaplan, proponents of the Balanced Scorecard, brought notice to these concepts in a number of articles published in Harvard Business Review beginning in 1988. Cooper and Kaplan described ABC as an approach to solve the problems of traditional cost management systems. These traditional costing systems are often unable to determine accurately the actual costs of production and of the costs of related services. Consequently managers were making decisions based on inaccurate data especially where there are multiple products. Instead of using broad arbitrary percentages to allocate costs, ABC seeks to identify cause and effect relationships to...
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...Isa becoming more and more popular [3-7] ABC aims to provide accurate costing information to managers to allocate activity costs to products and services by applying cost drivers [8]. Academics who advocate ABC, such as, Cooper and Kaplan [9], and Swenson [10] argue that it provides more accurate cost data needed to make appropriate strategic decisions about product mix, sourcing, pricing, process improvement, and evaluation of business process performance. These claims have led many firms to adopt ABC systems [8]. The benefits of ABC and its positive impact on firm’s performance motivated a numerous studies which examined various aspects of ABC. Among such studies are McGowan [11] who assessed the integrity of ABC success, Innes and Mitchell [4, 12] and Yanren [13] who conducted research on factors affecting ABC adoption, and Shield [3], Shields and McEwen [14], Gosselin [15] and Baired et al.[16, 17]who concentrated on factors influencing ABC success especially at the implementation stage. However, there is mounting evidence that suggests most of firms are experiencing problems in implementing ABC and, in some extreme cases, ABC implementation is not successful [3], which later resulted in abandoning the ABC systems altogether [15]. Questions arise as to why ABC implementation is successful in certain companies and fails in others. Based on the contingency theory, researchers have argued that the reasons for different degrees of ABC success could be due to the different contextual...
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...The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1176-6093.htm Research in management accounting innovations An overview of its recent development Nur Haiza Muhammad Zawawi Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia and School of Accounting, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, and Management accounting innovations 505 Zahirul Hoque School of Accounting, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Abstract Purpose – The purpose of paper is to present a review of the literature on management accounting innovations (MAIs). Specifically, it explores recent developments in research on MAIs and offers suggestions for future research. The review differs from existing reviews by its specific focus on MAIs and the recent time period covered. In this paper, MAIs refer to the adoption of “newer” or modern forms of management accounting systems such as activity-based costing (ABC), activity-based management, time-driven ABC, target costing, and balanced scorecards. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a review of findings from journal articles published in 22 notable accounting journals. Findings – The review finds that research on MAIs has intensified during the period 2000-2008, with the main focus on exploring the extent to which a host of organizational and environmental factors influence the implementation and use of MAIs in organizations. In addition, research...
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...Robert S. Kaplan and Robin Cooper was designed the activity based costing (ABC) method in 1988. It was felt that there was a need for more accurate and up-to-date information and a more proactive approach to planning and managing the costs. ABC is a process to identify the costs of all activities and allocating, applying, assigning or tracing costs to products. Activity based costing is a costing technique, tool, system, mechanism or approach. It may be used in addition to the current traditional system or used in place of it. This will enable the new system to be applied consistently so that the opportunity to revert to old ways is limited. Activity based costing is aims to cost the products independent of output volume and to apply overheads on the basis of causes and effect. Besides that, it is also aim to trace all the costs to products. The underlying assumption of ABC is that a product causes activities, activities cause costs and therefore activity is related to product costs. In other words, since activities consume assigned resources and products consume activities, the costs of products are the cost of resources. Its main focus is on the relationship between activity, cost driver, cost, cost pool and cost object. Traditional cost accounting is inadequate so that become activity based costing more relevant. Activity based costing gained support because of the limitations of traditional cost accounting. It is focuses on departments, cost centres or divisions and not an activity...
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...chapters respectively. Directors of Jessop ltd wants to know how a management accountant can contribute on Jessop’s continuous growth. I find on my study strategic management is very likely forward looking not like traditional cost accounting. Strategic management accounting is considering external factors like competitors and management accounting contributes not only strategy developing also critically evaluates the current strategy of any organisation. In addition, management accountant can assist to control costs by implementing activity based costing methods, offer competitive pricing, budgeting process etc. Also, by applying benchmarking process, management accountant can discover strengths and weakness of Jessop ltd and way to overcome these weaknesses and keep their steady growth by exploiting all strengths. In the second chapter of this study has described various types of relevant and irrelevant cost as well as tells which costs should management of Jessop be included on total cost calculation and why should not consider. Overall impacts of relevant and irrelevant costs (revenue) on decision making has depicted on that chapter in brief form. Focal point of final chapter is on how Jessop will be beneficiary by successful implementation of activity based costing (ABC) and various problems of execution of ABC which may offset all those benefits. Concluded in concise small or medium sized organisation should use ABC or not. Chapter one 1.0 Introduction Jessop...
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...The Emergence of Activity Based Costing The Traditional cost accounting methods were designed around 1870-1920 and in those days industry was labour intensive and there were no machinery. The product variety was small and the overhead costs in companies were generally low compared to today. During the 1980s, it became clear the conventional techniques for recovering overheads were increasingly providing the management with cost information that was inaccurate and misleading. As a result new techniques for overhead recovery were needed. In order to produce a more accurate costing system, cooper and Kaplan in 1987 developed a more refined approach for assigning overhead to products and computing product costs and called this approach Activity Based Costing (ABC). It was first clearly defined as a chapter in their book Accounting and Management: A field study perspective. (Kaplan, Roberts 1987). While mainly used for private businesses, ABC has recently been used in public forums, such as those that measure government efficiency Features of the ABC and Traditional costing system Activity Based Costing can be defined as an accounting methodology that assigns costs to activities based on their use of resources, rather than products or services. This enables resources and other associated costs to be more accurately attributed to the products and the services which they use. It doesn’t change or eliminate any costs; it provides detailed information about how costs are consumed...
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...Medicine & Public Health Specifics of the Activity-Based Applications in Hospital Management Boris Popesko * Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic * Corresponding Author; Email: popesko@fame.utb.cz Abstract Paper analyses the specifics of the application of Activity-Based Costing method in hospital management. Primary objective of the paper is to outline the methodology of the ABC application in hospitals. First part of the paper analyzes the ways of ABC implementation in published foreign studies. Second part describes the individual steps in ABC application and discusses the differences in the application procedures between the manufacturing and hospital organization. Key words: Healthcare Management, Cost Management, Activity-based costing, Introduction In the last decade, many non-profit and hospital organizations started to face difficulties and challenges in balancing limited resources and costs to provide their demand for services. Due to the introduction of modern medical techniques and medicines and consequent increase of consumed costs, many hospitals are under pressure to adopt more advanced cost management techniques usually utilized only in profit organization sector. Hospital managers frequently seek the advanced techniques, for better understanding of relations between the cost and provided services. One of the key factors of effective company management is ability of accurate estimation of the cost of products. Product costing is an essential...
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...THE APPLICATION OF INNOVATIVE MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES FOR ENHANCING PROFITABILITY AND COMPETITIVENESS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF JAMAICAN MANUFACTURERS Phillip C. James University of Technology, Jamaica College of Business and Management School of Business Administration ABSTRACT This study represents the first in management accounting research in Jamaica which seeks to determine the extent to which innovative management accounting principles (IMAPs) are applied in the manufacturing sector. The aim is to determine if manufacturers in Jamaica are using IMAPs to improve export competitiveness and enhance profitability .The study also seek to determine the factors that prevent manufacturers from adopting these management accounting principles. Five manufacturing organizations were examined using an exploratory case study approach. Results indicate that companies adopting IMAPs have more reliable information for decision making, higher levels of profitability and competitiveness when compared with non- adopting companies. Key Words: Innovative Management Accounting Principles, Profitability, Competitiveness 1. INTRODUCTION The manufacturing environment of the twenty-first century has changed considerably when compared with what existed decades ago. Arising from this development and with the increase in global competition, the need for accurate cost information has become an imperative. Manufacturers worldwide have suddenly realized that the continued...
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...Cost Accounting David Norris Western Governors University Accounting doesn’t have the best reputation but for as long as there has been money, there has been a need for accounting. Long gone are the days of the smoke filled room piled floor to ceiling with the leger books of the entrepreneur. Using state of the art technology and creative techniques, today’s accounting is a vital component of the corporate world helping to build financial foundations that encourage long term growth and profitability. Cost accounting is the managerial financial budgeting tool of the accounting domain that deals specifically with cost and production. Cost accounting assists companies to understand the cost of product versus service and this helps to prepare bids and proposals and assembles information for planning and control which are needed to evaluate performance. Any business can use cost accounting but it is most effective with corporations that manufacture mass produced products and have a large employee base. Cost accounting is also becoming a valuable asset within the medical industry. In the ultra-competitive market of health care, hospitals are using price strategies, one of the new methods used in accounting, to entice customers and keep patients happy. Cost accounting techniques have developed as quickly as industry has in the 21st century. Basic accounting has become antiquated as new, creative approaches to financial stability emerge. Methods such...
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...ACCT102 MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING Heineken & SATA CommHealth 18 November, 2013 AY 2013/2014 Term 01 Prepared for: Dr. Jennifer Koh Prepared by: G8, Group 5 Julius Denarro Roberts Zheng Ming Junious Lim Yi Jun Lim Chee Yang Mohammad Hazwan Bin Mohammad Hanafiah Neo Wei Ler Tristan ! ! ACCT102 Management Accounting G8, Group 5 Executive Summary Introduction of Beer Business Costing Technique Chosen PROCESS COSTING 1 2 2 2 Assumptions Processes of Manufacturing Beer DEPARTMENT ONE: STAGE 1 - MIXING DEPARTMENT ONE: STAGE 2 - BREWING DEPARTMENT TWO: PACKAGING 3 4 4 4 5 Process Costing DETERMINING FIGURES CALCULATING COST PER EU 6 7 8 Cost Reconciliation Recommendations CAPPING & LABELLING BOTTLES & UTILITIES TRANSPORTATION 9 10 10 11 11 Introduction of Outpatient Business Costing Technique Chosen ACTIVITY BASED COSTING (ABC) JUSTIFICATION 12 12 12 12 Assumptions List of Activities and Cost Drivers Traditional Costing COMPARE AND CONTRAST WITH ABC UNDER ABC METHOD UNDER TRADITIONAL COSTING METHOD 13 13 14 14 16 16 Recommendations Conclusion Learning Points Reflections Bibliography Appendix 1 (Heineken) Appendix 2 (SATA CommHealth) 18 20 21 23 24 25 27 ACCT102 Management Accounting ! G8, Group 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ! Our project aims to apply costs concepts in the beer manufacturing and hospital service industry. The companies we will be using for our case studies will be Heineken and SATA...
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...Importance of Cost Accounting? ACC310: Cost Accounting I (BBJ1220A) Instructor: Ashley Harper Melissa Little June 18, 2012 This paper seeks to explain the practices and principles of cost accounting and their overall effectiveness in assisting a company in minimizing costs where possible and optimizing the return on the costs that are necessary. Every year, no matter the overall state of the economy, businesses both old and new experience huge successes and huge failures. Every business has the potential and the intention to capitalize on profits and to become perpetually successful. What is the difference between the businesses that are able to do this and those that fail? What do successful businesses do to capitalize on and expand their profits? Many things contribute to successful business enterprises, but the bedrock principle of every successful business venture is honest accounting practices. Accounting is the information system which assesses an organization’s undertakings, computes the figures into reports, and imparts the outcome to an influencer. Accounting is a general, all-encompassing term that can mean many things to many people, so there are a few sub-categories that have been created to delineate specific areas or specialties within the accounting world itself. These are the areas of management accounting and cost accounting. Management accounting refers to the practice of gathering and analyzing accounting information in order...
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