Application Of Appropriate Cost Performance

Assuming that the company’s goal is to maximize profits, the current cost system is not an appropriate tool for strategic planning. The ambiguity of the overhead costs per product makes it difficult to accurately analyze the cause and effect relationships of changes and/or improvements to specific product line.

Managerial accounting is essential for decision making. Making the best choice depends on the manager's goals, the anticipated results from each alternative, and the information available when the decision is made (Schneider, 2012). The different techniques associated with managerial accounting are very helpful in the decisions that need to be made. In order to truly understand decision making with managerial accounting one must first discern exactly what managerial accounting means and some of the techniques associated with it. The definition of managerial accounting will be discussed along with the techniques of cost management techniques, budgeting, and quality control.

An organization costing system is a system that helps the management with the strategy planning while the system plays an important role in providing accurate cost information about the products and customers (Curtin, 2006). UPS utilizes the Activity-Based Costing (ABC) system. ABC assumes that activities cause costs and that cost objects create the demand for activities (Marx,

Bhimani, A., Horngren, C., Datar, S., Rajan, M. et al. (2012) Management and Cost Accounting. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Prentice Hall, p.369 - 378.

Blocher et al (2013), says that the ABC system is relatively new to cost accounting; however, some industries within the government and non-profit agencies use the system for improving cost determination. Additionally, the ABC system is utilized to maximum profitability, while ensuring adequate resources is available to meet demand (Kirche et al, 2005). However, in order for firms to adopt a costing system, managers must understand how beneficial the system can effectively improve the firm’s profits. An ABC system identifies gaps in the old-style accounting systems and recognize the relationship between products and customer. Furthermore, the system identifies high impact areas for process improvements (Kirche et al, 2005). At the same time, based on traditional reasoning, changes in production technology, competition and other related factors underlie giving up on costing (Rof, 2012). In order to develop a costing system tailored for a specific firm, managers and management accountants, must be aware of the relationship between the firm’s resources, activities, and products or services (Blocher et al, 2013).

INTRODUCTION Businesses – from manufacturing, merchandising and service industries alike – take careful consideration in the analysis of their costing systems in order to be able to set up competitive prices in the market. Misallocation of costs may lead to incorrect price estimates, continuous production of unprofitable products, and ineffective processing schedules. In this case study, we will discuss the costing methods which Zauner Ornaments have used or is currently using and, in conclusion, be able to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of each costing method. CASE CONTEXT The case seeks to assist Zauner’s comptroller, Yu Chia-yi, in determining the best costing method for their overhead costs. In addition we also aim to

Various terms are used to describe costs. Having an understanding of these terms will provide a better insight to managers and companies on making budget decisions, efficiently. Not only the ones described above should be considered, but also all types of costs related to the decision in effect. Efficient managers will considered all aspects related to the analyses in question.

Nowadays, we know that activity based costing system assigns overhead costs to products or services products that using a two-stage process, which focuses on activities. ABC is a relatively new and very important topic in managerial accounting. ABC allows us to find a way that we could determine the profitability of every product, profitability of every customer we serve, and the profitability of our process. Contents in brief, first that comparing potential advantages of ABC versus traditional costing methods. The

A company's budget serves as a guideline in planning and committing costs in order to meet tactical and strategic goals. Tactical goals such as providing budgetary costs for daily operations, and strategic objectives that include R&D, production, marketing, and distribution are all part of the budgeting process. Serving as a guideline rather than being set in stone, the budget is a snapshot of manager's "best thinking at the time it is prepared." (Marshall, 2003, p.496) The budget is a method in which to reign-in discretionary spending, and will likely show variances between what costs have been anticipated and what costs are actually incurred.

As a supervisor in the U.S. Navy, I have always taken the initiative to evaluate workplace processes and procedures that can be improved for optimal effectiveness and efficiency in accomplishing organizational objectives. For example, as the work center supervisor in a military hospital pharmacy, I recognized pharmacy workload data used to capture medical expense & performance reporting was absent or incorrectly counted. I implemented quality management procedures to identify deficient system codes which were corrected. This action increased the capture of pharmacy workload data by 269%, enabling expense reporting and product cost management to be properly reported for Military Health System decision-making and performance

From the aspect of cost center[1], tracking information of cost expenses would facilitate management to figure out the productivity by an unbiased measurement. In operations, company units such as the human resources department or marketing department, except sales department, are not engaging in market share or generating revenues. In contrast, these departments contribute their capabilities for internal supports and help sales department turn profits to the company. Those efforts are a part of product costs and also are a norm for performance evaluation.

The keen competition requires companies to consider the cost variable. But traditional budgeting method separates the cost into variable and fixed, put the emphasis on the variable cost and consider the fixed cost implacable.

The focus of this study was to examine activity based costing from the perspective of competitive advantage. ABC can support the strategic management process and provide significant benefit to organizations. This examination utilized the contingency theory as a theoretical basis for the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted. The data gathering instrument employed for this study is a structured questionnaire. Data are analyzed through SPSS version 16. Reliability analysis using Cronbach’s alpha value was applied on data collected. Factor analysis was employed using principal component method followed by Varimax with Kaiser Normalization, to find the factors or dimensions that explain variances by the data set. The factor analysis is based on four dimensions, namely, overall performance, strategic cost allocation method, increased efficiency and increased effectiveness having the factor loadings of over ±0.3. The regression results are positive and significant at the 5% level. Findings reveal that there is no statistically significant difference in cost reduction attained by ABC over Traditional costing, though ABC tended to have higher effect.

The Following involves the analysis of the costing techniques followed by the company along with its Budgeting system. It also involves the Investment appraisal analysis for the given data.

By linking cost management efforts to budgeting, companies improve the quality of information available for managers to use in developing their budgets. Accurate cost information is fundamental to budgeting. Companies that use accurate cost management techniques and provide budget developers with ready access to cost information improve both the accuracy and the speed of their budget process.