in deciding whether to implement an activity-based cost management system, a manager must assess the tread-off between the cost of management and the cost of errors. Measurement costs at=re the costs associated with the measurements required by the cost management system. Error costs are the costs associated with making poor decisions based on bad cost information. Optimally, a cost management system would minimize the sum of measurement and error costs. Note, however, that the two costs conflict, More complex cost management systems produce lower error costs but have higher measurement costs. (Consider, for example, the number of activities that must be identified and analyzed, along with number of drivers that must be used to assign coststo products.) The trade-off between error and measurement costs is illustrated in Exhibit 2-9. The message is clear.