Level of detailed information existence
The level of detail of cost information refers to the extent to which information is
presented in various forms depending on the criterion of analysis selected such as the
customer level or the cost centre level. The higher the level of detail the greater the
extent to which the information necessary for making a specific decision is available.
This means that the availability of detailed information saves managers’ valuable time
that would otherwise be spent on formatting cost data each time they had to make a
decision. It is, thus, expected that the higher the level of detail the greater the extent to
which information is sufficient and has the appropriate level of analysis for decisionmaking
purposes. Moreover, it is expected that highly detailed information provides a
clearer and more realistic view of the costs associated with cost objects and contributes
to a better understanding of the way these cost objects affect performance. Also, it is
expected that the higher the level of detail the greater the degree to which costs are
analysed for different purposes and the more appropriate and useful the information
for decision making is.