Learning Objectives
1. Define activity-based costing and activity-based management and distinguish them from traditional analysis of costs
2. Identify the circumstances in which activity-based costing gives more credible results than traditional product costing.
3. Identify the different levels of costs and drivers in activity-based costing and give examples of each.
4. Calculate product costs using activity-based costing and reconcile them with a traditional system’s
Product costs.
5. Identify the strategic importance of activity-based costing in pricing and product line decisions.
6. Identify ways in which activity-based management can achieve improvements in an organization.
7. State the like between activity accounting and total quality management.
Chapter 11 illustrated traditional accounting for indirect costs with emphasis on analysis and control of overhead. This chapter examines another way of using information about indirect costs, called activity accounting .In certain circumstances, activity accounting can provide important insights by generating product cost information that is different from and more credible than information provided by traditional accounting. This is the first phase of activity accounting, and it is called activity-based costing. In practically any circumstances, activity accounting can give insights into how to improve competitiveness by managing resources better This is the second phase of activity accounting, called activity-based management, and it is an important tool for achieving continuous improvement.