Cost & Effect

by Kaplan, Robert S.

• ISBN13: 9780875847887
• ISBN10: 0875847889
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-10-01
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Pr

Summary

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 Effecttakes 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 inCost and Effectwill 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.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
1 Introduction: Cost and Performance Management Systems	1	(10)
2 Four-Stage Model for Designing Cost and Performance Measurement Systems	11	(17)
3 Stage II: Standard Cost and Flexible Budgeting Systems	28	(19)
Appendix: GPK Cost System	42	(5)
4 Stage III Systems for Learning and Improvement: Upgrading and Supplementing Standard Cost Systems	47	(10)
5 Stage III Systems for Learning and Improvement: Kaizen Costing and Pseudo-Profit Centers	57	(22)
6 Activity-Based Costing: Introduction	79	(32)
Appendix: ABC Activity and Process Dictionary	108	(3)
7 Measuring the Cost of Resource Capacity	111	(26)
8 Activity-Based Management: Operational Applications	137	(23)
Appendix: Value- and Non-Value-Added Activities	157	(3)
9 Strategic Activity-Based Management: Product Mix and Pricing	160	(21)
10 Strategic Activity-Based Management: Customers	181	(21)
11 Strategic Activity-Based Management: Supplier Relationships and Product Development	202	(26)
Appendix: Target Costing	224	(4)
12 ABC in Service Industries	228	(24)
13 Extending Activity-Based Cost Systems	252	(23)
14 Stage IV: Integrating ABC with Enterprise-Wide Systems	275	(26)
15 Stage IV: Using ABC for Budgeting and Transfer Pricing	301	(22)
Notes	323	(23)
Index	346	(12)
About the Authors	358