Activity-Based Cost Management

Back when Henry Ford was producing Model Ts in one black, all-purpose model, traditional cost allocation gave a fairly accurate picture of a company's expenses. But today, the very nature of doing business has radically changed. Overhead expenses are displacing direct costs. And the complexity of most organizations has increased dramatically. Companies produce more products in greater variation and diversity than ever before, and they service more, and different, types of customers. Add to that the sea change created as the Internet spawns more e-trading market exchanges with auctions and bidding, and it becomes apparent that we need a method that replaces the fuzzy answers of traditional methods with credible assumptions based on valid data. The answer is Activity-Based Cost Management, and this crystal-clear, persuasive, and authoritative book will help you understand and implement ABC/M quickly and easily. Managerial accounting is now transitioning into managerial economics, reveals author Gary Cokins, a worldwide expert on activity-based cost management. With the technology we have at our disposal, ABC/M will provide you not only with a more accurate picture of your company's costs but also with the critical information you need to make better decisions and perform better and more in alignment with your company's defined strategy. Cokins explains exactly why ABC/M is far superior than traditional costing for your needs in today's business environment, and how it will help you manage costs, increase profits, and make better decisions. You'll learn to use ABC/M to: * Map the preferences of your prospects and customers back to your organization's business processes and cost structure * Adopt an effective and more reliable method of estimating and budgeting for costs, price quotations, investment alternatives, and decisions * Construct a fair chargeback billing system that reflects the true consumption of costs by your end users and service recipients * Remove waste, redundancy, and unused capacity * Develop a lean accounting system to match your new lean operations practices * Finally measure the hidden costs of non-quality that is the focus of Six Sigma and other quality management philosophies Now you can stop allocating resources and begin tracing and assigning them based on the real, measurable cause-and-effect relationships within your organization. Written in language as entertaining as it is accessible, Activity-Based Cost Management: An Executive's Guide gives you the tools you need to construct an efficient ABC/M model and use it to ensure your company's success.