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Cost Management: Accounting and Control
Don R. Hansen , and Maryanne M. Mowen Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
Accessories: ASIN: 0324233108 |
Book Description
COST MANAGEMENT emphasizes that changing conditions often require a change in systems. Emphasizing this point stresses the dynamic and exciting nature of the field. By taking a systems approach -- one that first covers functional-based cost and control and then activity-based cost systems -- students understand how to understand and manage any cost management system.Customer Reviews:
TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY; THAT'S A QUESTION!.......2007-03-16
Filled With Useless Information.......2006-09-01
FOR THE PRICE, THIS BOOK SHOULD BE BETTER.......2006-03-23
Want to Cheat Someone.......2005-09-30
Too much info........2005-01-04
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Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing: A Simpler and More Powerful Path to Higher Profits
Robert S. Kaplan , and Steven R. Anderson Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1422101711 |
Book Description
In the classroom, activity-based costing (ABC) looks like a great way to manage a company's limited resources. But executives who have tried to implement ABC in their organizations on any significant scale have often abandoned the attempt in the face of rising costs and employee irritation. Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing is the solution to the problems associated with large-scale ABC implementation. In this book, Kaplan and Anderson offer a revised model where managers can estimate the resource demands imposed by each transaction, product, or customer, rather than rely on time-consuming and costly employee surveys.In their new model, Kaplan and Anderson focus on the two parameters managers need to estimate: how much it costs per time unit to supply resources to the business activities (the total overhead expenditure of a department divided by the total number of minutes of employee time available) and how much time it takes to carry out one unit of each kind of activity (as estimated or observed by the manager). Rather than endlessly updating and maintaining ABC data, this book with allow managers to spend their time addressing the deficiencies the model reveals: inefficient processes, unprofitable products and customers, and excess capacity.
Kaplan and Anderson lead the discussion of Time-Driven ABC in the first seven chapters, followed by individual cases studies of actual implementations by Acorn consultants in diverse settings.
Customer Reviews:
Great Service.......2007-05-29
Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing.......2007-05-13
TDABC - a very interesting book.......2007-05-12
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The Complete Guide to Activity-Based Costing
Michael C. O'Guin Manufacturer: CCH, Inc. ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0138533180 |
Product Description
The most effective new cost management tool in years, activity-based costing enables you to eliminate hidden costs company wide and achieve remarkable new efficiency and profitability. This guide spells out how to use and profit from this powerful cost management techniques. Well-known ABC consultant Michael OGuin shows how to cut thousands of dollars in overhead and improve your product lines. Production processes. Pricing. Sourcing. Marketing. R&D. Capital Investment decisions. Dozens of case studies show these techniques in action. Youll find out how to set more profitable pricing policies that reflect all of your costs; the one factor that causes the majority of defect costs and how to eliminate it in your own operation; what discounts are really appropriate for large orders; six critical ways to slash the costs of serving your customers (and why most companies overlook them); the two hidden costs that managers in process manufacturing usually overlook; how to assign scrap costs down to products, parts, and vendors; five simple ways to measure customer satisfaction and pinpoint areas for improvement; and much more!Customer Reviews:
Excellent Cost Management Tool.......2006-10-03
Using ABC to think about your business.......2000-04-02
He does not totally ignore service businesses either. Very ably, he shows the theoretical underpinnings behind ABC, and points to many examples of "big league" companies, like GE and Hewlett-Packard that have used this method in order to understand the primary and secondary cost drivers.
The first third of the book mixes a history lesson on traditional accounting system with an introduction to ABC. The intro seems a little bit long, and I found myself wishing that he would get to the design and implementation of the system (which is the reason I was reading the book-part of a redesign consulting contract).
The author rarely speaks down to his audience. In fact, unlike many systems type books I have read in the last few years, O'Guin is able to continually build on what is presented previously in the book without endless looping. He assumes a level of intelligence and interest which you will find yourself thanking him for when you are trying to figure out how to allocate the cost of the bolt to the large customer shipping cost for the new product line 3rd shift, or some such permutation.
The second half of the book gets more into the nuts and bolts, so to speak, and describes how ABC might work in a typical firm. I imagine many of the readers will be of the small manufacturing bent, and this book really answers most of the questions you would have. The next step would probably be to talk to someone that has actually implemented the system.
The final third of the book deals with the strategic outlook for American industry and how ABC can be used as a management tool to increase competitiveness. The author never gets too preachy and mixes a good deal of his opinions with common sense and practical examples. Finally, the Appendix consolidates much of what he has been saying into charts and summations. In addition, the book provides the sources much reference material - something for every taste.
ABC is a system that may seem like learning a foreign language to the initiate. O'Guin does an excellent job of providing the basics. He gets you up to speed quickly and leaves you with enough information to have a basic understanding of ABC and its implementation. Highly recommended.
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Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting
James A. Brimson , and John Antos Manufacturer: Wiley ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0471086312 |
Book Description
A practical guide to the ABCs of ABBThis unique resource takes an in-depth look at creating value through activity-based budgeting (ABB). As most organizations are dissatisfied with some aspects of their performance, ABB has become an increasingly popular process for which many companies are abandoning traditional methods that no longer meet their demands. Emphasizing the importance of budgeting by activities and features rather than by cost elements, Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting offers a complete overview of feature costing, a technique used in conjunction with ABB, as well as the underlying principles of ABB, including linking strategy to activities, forecasting revenue, capacity management, and gap analysis. With numerous examples and case studies, it shows how to use state-of-the-art tools for achieving strategic goals, such as customer survey, core competency analysis, benchmarking, house of activities, reverse engineering to cascade strategy so everyone can act to create value for the organization.
In today's highly pressurized business environment, creating value is the number one priority for organizations. The key to achieving this is having a budget and accounting system that supports long-term goals. More and more organizations are now turning to activity-based budgeting (ABB), an innovative approach that can help organizations become more competitive by linking the budgeting process to organization strategy. Explaining the importance of budgeting by activities rather than by cost elements, this groundbreaking resource—the first book of its kind—is a practical how-to that covers the essentials of Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting.
Beginning with an overview of the fundamentals behind driving value, James Brimson and John Antos examine what exactly value is, how it is created, and why traditional planning and budgeting often lead to the destruction of value. Following a clear outline of the problems posed by the traditional budgeting process, the authors go on to explain that many companies have contemplated abandoning it altogether. In doing so, however, they must set performance targets and identify actions to achieve the targets: "Once those actions are implemented, there is a need to monitor the execution. Therefore, to drive value creation, organizations are implementing activity-based budgeting (ABB)." This comprehensive guide offers in-depth coverage of ABB and feature costing, a technique used in conjunction with ABB. ABB creates value by translating the business strategy into the activities necessary to implement that strategy. Feature costing creates value by understanding sources of product and customer variation and relating this variation to expected workload. Along with the benefits of using ABB and feature costing, Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting addresses such essential topics as:
Filled with numerous examples and case studies, a complete glossary, and an appendix of target-setting techniques, this is must reading for everyone in your organization since all participants must continually ask themselves how they create value.
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Cost & Effect: Using Integrated Cost Systems to Drive Profitability and Performance
Robert S. Kaplan , and Robin Cooper Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0875847889 |
Book Description
Two of the most innovative thinkers in the field present a work that represents the single best resource for understanding and implementing activity-based cost management. Kaplan and Cooper reveal that most companies don't know how to measure accurately, influence, or understand the fundamental cost drivers in their businesses. They then provide a detailed and comprehensive blueprint that will enable managers to make better decisions and to promote organizational learning and improvement.Cost and Effect takes the management, finance, and accounting fields to an entirely new level, as the authors demonstrate how the principles of activity-based costing and other advanced cost management techniques, such as target and kaizen costing, can drive business performance. Using lively examples from a variety of leading companies worldwide--including Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, the Swedish wire manufacturer Kanthal, Kirin Beer, and Procter & Gamble--they show how to create integrated, knowledge-based systems that provide meaningful information on current and past performance.
The innovation systems described in
Cost and Effect will help you:
* Determine where improvements in quality, efficiency, and productivity will have the highest payoffs.
* Assist front-line employees in their learning and improvement activities.
* Make better product mix and capital investment decisions.
* Negotiate more effectively on price, product features, quality, delivery, and service to promote win-win relationships with your customers.
* Choose low-cost suppliers who are truly low cost, not just low price.
* Design products and services that meet customers' expectations-and that can be produced and delivered at a profit.
* Integrate your activity-based cost system into reporting and budgeting processes to reveal the sources of excess capacity.
Everyone involved in running a business-from general managers and strategic planners to financial executives, IT professionals, and operations managers-must read this book to learn how innovative cost and performance measurement systems can enhance their organizational profitability and performance.
Customer Reviews:
What's good in it?.......2004-10-25
BEST ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY BASED COSTING AND HOW TO GUIDE.......2003-11-23
The book structured first with an analysis of the most often used systems of managerial cost accounting. It highlights the shortcomings of these, proceeding then to present certain productivity improvements that could contribute to performance. These are mostly related to the quality movements (TQM, 6 Sigma, etc), which are presented in a very understandable way. These are complements to the existing usual cost management systems. These improvements can be made even without implementing ABC systems.
Then the authors proceed to describe activity based costing and its benefits in terms of choosing customers, suppliers, and product breadth. They present many examples that would be very relevant to any practitioner, in industry or service. There is a specific section focusing on services, which makes the appropriate adaptations to the systems for the peculiarities of it.
Overall, an outstanding work, to help anyone involved in cost management, whether they are interested in activity based costing or more traditional standard costing methods.
The very best book on activity-based management........2002-10-25
Cooper and Kaplan: my heroes.......2001-12-27
Evolving Toward Better Financial Information and Actions!.......2001-10-05
If you are interested in learning more about Activity-Based Costing, this book is not the best choice for you. Professor Kaplan has co-authored books that explore this subject in much greater detail.
Most people set as their initial priority the need to have accurate financial reporting for the entire enterprise. Falling below that level of effectiveness is Stage I in the terms of this book. Once you have that financial reporting done accurately, you are at Stage II. But you know almost nothing about how to manage your costs better. In order to do that, you will need to establish ad hoc financial reporting processes designed to help your organization learn from its experience and identify opportunities for improvement, built around Activity-Based Costing (ABC). ABC is simply a way of more accurately applying overhead costs back to activities and then processes that permits accurately understanding more about which combinations of products and services and customers are profitable and which are not. Then, within each activity, you can also see the inefficiencies in what you are doing that present opportunities for improvement. The book also has a nice discussion of Kaizen costing that is widely used in Japanese companies looking for on-going cost improvements, based on Professor Cooper's research. There are a few case histories to illustrate the principles, but most will find these insufficient to guide them through the process. In other books, Professor Kaplan has pointed out that there is a lot of acquired art in the subject and you probably need help to get it right. I concur. Once you have ABC operating in stand-alone systems, you are at Stage III.
At this point, you will have a financial reporting system that is separate from the ABC system. How do you put them together? That the subject of chapter 14, which is the key value-added part of this book. You will see what the systems architecture and process flow needs to be in order to combine ABC with Enterprise-Wide Systems (EWS) of the sort that many large companies have invested in during recent years. Putting the two together will greatly improve planning, budgeting, design of new products and services, and operational improvements. Chapter 15 expands into the area of how to apply the combined system to budgeting and transfer pricing. Combing ABC and EWS puts you at Stage IV, a level rarely reached today.
The book's main message is that it's a mistake to try to go from Stage II directly to Stage IV. There's a lot of experimentation and mistakes that you can benefit from in an extended Stage III. I agree again, based on my experience with ABC.
The one caution you should have about ABC in this context is that if you are going to radically change your business model every 2-5 years as many companies are, Stage IV is probably unattainable and undesirable. You can't hold back business model innovation for better cost systems. The next business model innovation will probably give you better costs than tweaking the current business model with ABC will.
Seek out the fastest route to progress, and do more of it!
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The Price Waterhouse Guide to Activity-Based Costing for Financial Institutions
Julie Mabberley Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0786301430 |
Book Description
The Price Waterhouse Guide to Activity-Based Costing for Financial Institutions show how firms can use the breakthrough concept of activity-based costing (ABC) in the same way that other companies have--to increase profits by managing all activities from the top down, more efficiently. This book explains the methods and technologies of this profit-enhancing technique, with detailed guidelines that help firms plan for costs before they occur, rather than simply monitoring them. Readers will find: An explanation of why costs are incurred; Practical Steps for putting ABC to work in a financial instituion; Dozens of practical cases that illustrate the situations in which the concepts can be applied.Customer Reviews:
Its a great book to use it as reference.......1999-12-21
It's an excellent example of how can ABC/M be used also with services not just in manufacturing
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The 123s of ABC in SAP: Using SAP R/3 to Support Activity-Based Costing
Dawn J. Sedgley , and Christopher F. Jackiw Manufacturer: Wiley ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0471397008 |
Book Description
Incorporate the Benefits of Activity-Based Costing into the Efficiencies of Your SAP R/3 SystemGiven SAP's dominance in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, many companies and their managers encounter SAP AG applications in some form or another. Many of these organizations have recognized the value of utilizing Activity-Based Costing/Management concepts to perform more accurate cost assignments or drive performance initiatives. Managers are then faced with trying to determine how Activity-Based Costing can be incorporated into the SAP environment. The 123s of ABC in SAP is the first book of its kind designed to help business managers understand the capabilities of the SAP R/3 business application to support Activity-Based Costing, Management, and Budgeting.
Divided into three parts-the conceptual foundation, the capabilities of SAP ABC, and integration with other tools-the book provides readers with the following:
Customer Reviews:
An essential book for ABC and SAP practitioners.......2003-12-17
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Cash Flow and Security Analysis
Kenneth S. Hackel , and Joshua Livnat Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0786304073 |
Book Description
Revised and updated to reflect the latest thinking in the area of cash flow analysis, Cash Flow and Security Analysis, is written with the underlying assumption that cash flow analysis is the most important tool at the investor's disposal. You will discover why cash flow is quickly replacing earnings as the primary tool among securities analysts and how they can identify undervalued securities using cash flow analysis. This important reference shows you how to avoid common costly mistakes.Customer Reviews:
Best Investing Book I Have Ever Read.......2002-07-22
UP 45% LAST YEAR THANKS TO THIS BOOK!!.......2000-08-12
Not Helpful.......2000-02-07
I've made 33% a year by buying growth stocks!.......1999-08-03
I'VE AVERAGED 27% PER YEAR DUE TO THIS BOOK.......1999-07-24
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Dynamics of Profit-Focused Accounting: Attaining Sustained Value and Bottom-Line Improvement
C. Lynn Northrup Manufacturer: J. Ross Publishing ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1932159223 |
Book Description
This easy-to-understand reference helps you bridge the GAAP to Lean accounting. It articulates the best attributes of Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, balanced scorecard, activity-based management, and other world-class management philosophies in a single text. It provides simplified applications of the balanced scorecard and activity-based management as tools and enablers for use with throughput accounting and illustrates a new business, accounting, and reporting model that utilizes the components of throughput accounting for application with Six Sigma and lean manufacturing programs.Organizations using traditional accounting systems and concepts have difficulty coping with the speed and acceleration created by lean programs. The author's profit-focused accounting approach will enable organizations to accurately measure and report the results of Lean Six Sigma efforts on a monthly basis. Dynamics of Profit-Focused Accounting does not suggest throwing out existing accounting systems or generally accepted accounting principles, but rather shows you how to bridge the GAAP to a Lean accounting system. It also presents advanced concepts and methodologies that encompass corporate performance management and provides the tools and techniques to use these concepts to increase profit, create value, and build a solid foundation for the future. This book is a must-read for manufacturing managers, executives, financial managers, cost and management accountants, and controllers.
Customer Reviews:
For once a practical summary I can use!.......2005-01-05
Theories that work in the real world........2004-11-15
A Lean Manufacturing must read.......2004-11-06
A double fist pump.......2004-10-23
At Last, An Accounting System for Lean Manufacturers! .......2004-08-17
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Activity-Based Management: A Comprehensive Implementation Guide
Edward Forrest Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 007021588X |
Book Description
Easy Activity-Based Management Implementation. Everyone's touting activity-based management (ABM) as the best costing method for reengineering and TQM inititatives. But where do you begin? Edward Forrest's groundbreaking Activity-Based Management: A Comprehensive Implementation Guide. This exhaustive guide takes you step-by-step through each stage of planning, organizing, implementing, and managing your own ABM program to support continuous improvement, boost profits, and eliminate non-value added activities. You get expert guidance on everything from streamlining data collection and analysis to using the results to boost ROI. You even get all the ready-to-use forms, reports, and procedures you need to facilitate and measure your program's progress.Customer Reviews:
Excellent!.......2005-03-12
activity base management.......2000-02-25
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