Activity Based Costing is an improved costing methodology that emerged in the early to mid 1990s. Kaplan and Scott introduced this approach as they felt that the traditional costing approaches were no longer relevant in the knowledge economy.
The ABC method has some detractors - there are some that feel the cost and effort to derive ABC costs outweigh any benefits derived from the information. Over-complex ABC analysis is definitely not necessary. However, some ABC analysis is essential in any business environment that wishes to get a more accurate understading of its product and customer profitability.
Activity Based Costing Articles
Many large businesses have implemented price optimization software to determine their costs and optimum prices to charge customers. Small and mid-sized businesses can achieve the same benefits by using activity-based costing (or ABC)…
There is a mistaken assumption that activity-based costing is only beneficial to manufacturing businesses - service businesses can also achieve the same benefits by using it…
Activity-based costing (ABC) is a cost analysis and decision support tool that doesn’t require the use of expensive technology in order to benefit from it. This article recommends conducting a thorough manual ABC analysis before implementing any ABC software.