What is a good response to? Activity-based costing (ABC) has transformed how organizations measure and manage costs by breaking overhead costs into cost pools based on activity (Kenton, 2024). ABC allocates overhead costs based on a particular activity instead of spreading it out evenly. This gives management clear information to determine which activities benefit the company and which may need to be altered or discontinued. An example of a company using ABC could be electrical costs. If the electrical costs fluctuate based on labor hours, management could use the labor hours as a cost driver. They could determine the cost driver rate by dividing the electric costs for the year by the annual labor hours. Once they determine the cost rate, they can multiply that by the electrical hours used for an activity to calculate the cost. In the example given, it would be pretty easy to implement; however, there are several overhead costs to calculate, which would require a lot of record-keeping, which could be costly. ABC may not be the best choice for companies that have low overhead costs or where overhead is volume-related.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
10th Edition
ISBN:9781259964947
Author:Libby
Publisher:Libby
Chapter1: Financial Statements And Business Decisions
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What is a good response to?

Activity-based costing (ABC) has transformed how organizations measure and manage costs by breaking overhead costs into cost pools based on activity (Kenton, 2024). ABC allocates overhead costs based on a particular activity instead of spreading it out evenly. This gives management clear information to determine which activities benefit the company and which may need to be altered or discontinued. An example of a company using ABC could be electrical costs. If the electrical costs fluctuate based on labor hours, management could use the labor hours as a cost driver. They could determine the cost driver rate by dividing the electric costs for the year by the annual labor hours. Once they determine the cost rate, they can multiply that by the electrical hours used for an activity to calculate the cost. In the example given, it would be pretty easy to implement; however, there are several overhead costs to calculate, which would require a lot of record-keeping, which could be costly. ABC may not be the best choice for companies that have low overhead costs or where overhead is volume-related.

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