It is possible that an organization is better off having an approximately relevant ABC
system rather than a precisely useless one.2 One intriguing suggestion for obtaining an
approximately relevant ABC system is to do an analysis of the activity accounting system
and to use only the most expensive activities for ABC assignment.3 The costs of
all other activities can be added to the cost pools of the expensive activities. For example,
the costs of the less expensive activities could be allocated in proportion to the
costs in each of the expensive activities. In this way, most costs are assigned to the products
accurately. The costs of the most expensive activities are still assigned using appropriate
cause-and-effect drivers, while the added costs are assigned somewhat
arbitrarily. The advantages of this approach are that it is simple, easy to understand,
and easy to implement. It also often provides a good approximation of the ABC costs