By understanding what causes these costs to increase or decrease, they can be traced
to individual products. This cause-and-effect relationship allows managers to improve
product costing accuracy, which can significantly improve decision making. Additionally,
this large pool of fixed overhead costs is no longer so mysterious. Knowing the
underlying behavior of many of these costs allows managers to exert more control over
the activities that cause the costs. It also allows managers to identify which of the activities
add value and which do not. Value analysis is the heart of activity-based management
and is the basis for continuous improvement. Activity-based management and
continuous improvement are explored in later chapters