Strategic Cost Management and the Value Chain

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.

The account issue addressed in this case study was whether to continue with the existing costing method for each product line or implement a activity-based costing method. The ABC method allows for an organization to allocate direct and indirect costs to products and obtain an accurate level of costs and profit for each unit produced, thus allowing the company to improve their overall operational effectiveness. ABC does differ from the existing costing method described in the case as the old method does not account for volume related overhead costs which must be allocated to the specific ODD and TGC products.

Under an ABC system, the allocation of costs to products is achieved through at least four analytical steps. Firstly, costs are grouped into activity levels. Secondly, cost drivers are

Activity-based costing (ABC) methodology is an instrument designed to provide accountants and managers with valuable costing information that will allow them to make sound strategic decisions. It is used as a secondary methodology rather than a replacement for the company’s primarily costing system. The ABC methodology identifies activities in an organization and for each activity it assigns a cost. The cost reflects the actual resource consumption by each activity that has been identified.

Activity based costing (ABC) is a cost management technique and more precisely it is a method that measures the cost and performance of process related activities and cost objects. It assigns costs to cost objects such as products or customers, based on their use of activities. Thus recognizing relationship between cost drivers and activities.(Lewis, 1995).

Effective value chain as a competitive advantage can contribute significantly to the prosperity of a firm in the competitive arena, but it can cause dire situations if not operated properly (Guy, 2011). However, there are conflicts among companies as to how stakeholders think they gain competitive advantage. Porter (1996) suggests: A company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve. It must deliver greater value to customers or create comparable value at lower cost or do both.

Activity-based costing is more accurate because it takes important factors into account before assigning a cost to a product. It's also more thorough and considers nonmanufacturing expenses as well, such as administrative and managerial costs. The ABC method is accurate, however it’s expensive to

Almost every single company that is in business faces a serious problem called cost allocation. Every company no matter what they sell or what service they provide faces the problem of allocating costs to defined cost objects. The cost allocation process is a very hard process for most. Cost allocation is a very complex and difficult procedure that requires the application of appropriate accounting procedures. These accounting methods sometimes will not provide objective and fair cost allocation because they have irrational bases that are not always reliable or appropriate. This is why accounting theory and practice steadily try to advance upon methods that are already in place and help develop new ones that could provide objective and fair cost allocation (Perčević & Dražić, 2008).

ABC is a method utilized by organizations to establish costs for each product or service that the business provides. The ABC method utilizes cost drivers to determine indirect cost, as well as direct costs and volumes to ascertain costs that pertain to the product or service that the business delivers (Nowicki,

3. Under the new activity-based costing (ABC) system, compute the indirect cost allocation rates for each of the three activities:

For any company to be successful in such environment, it must have a good costing system. The attainment of this objective demands careful selection of a costing system that suites the production process of the company. Vickery (1971) has this in mind when he said that costing system is essentially analytical in nature, and it is therefore impossible to derive a system which suites all business. Hence, the costing system adopted by a manufacturing company must be designed to suite its production process.

In college, Erik learned about an alternative costing approach called activitybased costing (ABC). However, the examples he remembered involved manufacturing firms. He wondered whether East Penn could develop an ABC system, with

Significant resources were needed to implement a complex system like ABC and it is also strategic in nature (Arnaboldi & Lapsley, 2005).

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

During the 1980s the limitations of traditional product costing systems began to be widely publicised. These systems were designed decades ago when most companies manufactured a narrow range of products, and direct labour and materials were the dominant factory costs. Overhead costs were relatively small, and the distortions arising from inappropriate overhead allocations were not significant. Information processing costs were high, and it was therefore difficult to justify more sophisticated overhead allocation methods.