...cz Abstract Paper analyses the specifics of the application of Activity-Based Costing method in hospital management. Primary objective of the paper is to outline the methodology of the ABC application in hospitals. First part of the paper analyzes the ways of ABC implementation in published foreign studies. Second part describes the individual steps in ABC application and discusses the differences in the application procedures between the manufacturing and hospital organization. Key words: Healthcare Management, Cost Management, Activity-based costing, Introduction In the last decade, many non-profit and hospital organizations started to face difficulties and challenges in balancing limited resources and costs to provide their demand for services. Due to the introduction of modern medical techniques and medicines and consequent increase of consumed costs, many hospitals are under pressure to adopt more advanced cost management techniques usually utilized only in profit organization sector. Hospital managers frequently seek the advanced techniques, for better understanding of relations between the cost and provided services. One of the key factors of effective company management is ability of accurate estimation of the cost of products. Product costing is an essential economic tool used to quantify the cost of individual interventions carried out. The need for an accurate method of costing in hospital organizations is frequently emphasized by many authors. Gujral et al...
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... | |Synopsis |The course introduces the vital role played by management accounting and the information provided by management accounting information | | |systems (MAIS) in a firm or an organisation. Management accounting is used for decision making, learning, planning and controlling | | |activities that are supporting operational and strategic needs. It also supports continuous learning and improvement activities and | | |serves as a linkage between strategy and execution of that strategy. | |Learning outcomes |At the end of this course, students are able to: | | |Compare and explain about costs and the best ways to make better decisions in the selection of products, price and investments. [C4] | | |Prepare and produce a budget, understand chain processes and apply the said techniques. [P4] | | |Utilise strategic costing, understand and implement ways to review inventory and quality, and...
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...Costing System Analysis It can be easily assumed that from the unique and costly nature of producing airplanes Boeing employs a job-costing system, however that is not the case. Long gone are the days when Boeing’s “primary business was producing military aircraft” (Bowlby 1994) as they now have transitioned to focusing on mass producing numerous parts and assemblies for aircrafts across the globe. In an article published on November 1, 1994 titled, “How Boeing tracks costs, A to Z.”, Robert J. Bowlby, the cost management manager at Boeing in Seattle at the time, explains how Boeing transitioned from a traditional job-costing system to a modified process costing system to accommodate this change in product focus. Bowlby explains the transition was catalyzed when two of Boeing’s departments, engineering and operations, informed the finance department that they weren’t getting the appropriate cost information to effectively manage the design and production of the airplanes. Boeing’s traditional job-costing model was ideal for external financial and tax reporting purposes at an airplane model level, but at an operating level, engineering and operations were basing their budgets on very few cost elements. This means that engineering and operations weren’t provided with adequate information to effectively manage costs related to their various processes and operations. The cost information given to individual managers did not coincide with their duties or the areas they were responsible...
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...1300 years ago, Egyptians during the king tut era had already started baking 40 different types of leaven bread. Nearby in Greece, they were contributing to this history of bread by the creation of the oven and the baking of 70 different types of flavored bread. Bread had such a positive impact, the Romans decided to bring the Greek bakers over to Rome and the ovens to Gaul. Therefore, bread became one of the primary foods of Western Europe in the middle ages. Several Ingredients such as, flax seeds, buckwheat, soy and mullet, are used to create Multi Grain bread. The flour is poured on a protective grill that prevents unwanted materials from falling into the recipe mix; the ingredients are then grounded into a mill in very large containers. The ingredients are mixed together and then are placed in kneading troughs where the fermentation of yeast begins. The fermented yeast makes the dough rise a lot. The dough is then placed in a huge mixer where it is kneaded for about 8 minutes. When the dough is thoroughly homogenous, it is emptied out onto a large tub. The dough is then loaded onto a slide at the bottom of the machine where it passes through a small hole. The small hole has mechanical arms that cut the dough into equal lengths as it tries to escape through the small hole. The dough then is dropped onto the conveyor and then it’s rolled into balls, which can be more easily worked with. Flour is sprinkled on the dough as it prevents the dough balls from sticking while...
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...Costing System 1. Costing System 1.1 Illustrate the costing system currently used by Devon Quality in Cost Centre 3 The costing system currently used by Devon Quality Dairy in the Cost Centre 3 is a traditional costing system this is because in this case study Devon Quality Dairy are allocating there expenses to products using volume based drivers. In this case study, the resources consumed by Devon’s Cost Centre 3 are depreciation, labour, utilities and other, which are all of the costs that have been incurred in production that cannot be traced directly to the products. The traditional costing system uses a single plantwide overhead rate based on output volume to allocate factory overhead costs to the products. The factory overhead rate is total factory overhead divided by the cost driver. In this case the cost driver is pounds of butterfat. The pounds of butterfat sold are chosen as the cost driver for Devon’s because the pounds of butterfat are attributed to Devon’s purchase costs, which were indicated in the information in the article. 1.2 Comment on the appropriateness of “pounds of butterfat” as an allocation base for the overhead costs in Cost Centre 3. Would you suggest a different allocation base? Pounds of Butterfat as an allocation base for the overhead costs in Cost Centre 3 aren’t very appropriate. This is because the costs in Cost Centre 3 don’t actually reflect the specific activities that are performed or costs in this cost centre. In Cost Centre...
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...Business and Management Vol. 6, No. 11; November 2011 Activity-Based Costing System in the Service Sector: A Strategic Approach for Enhancing Managerial Decision Making and Competitiveness Ashford C. Chea School of Business, Kentucky Wesleyan College 4721 Covert Avenue, Evansville, IN 47714, USA Tel: 1-812-471-9341 E-mail: achea@ix.netcom.com Received: June 21, 2011 doi:10.5539/ijbm.v6n11p3 Accepted: July 4, 2011 Published: November 1, 2011 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v6n11p3 Abstract The author begins the article by outlining a brief historical evolution of activity-based costing (ABC) in the USA preceded by an operating definition of terminologies. Next, he presents the literature review and the methodology employed during the study. He reviews the application of ABC in the service sector, followed by an analysis of the unique attribute of the service sector. Moreover, the researcher briefly profiles several service-oriented firms that have successfully adopted and implemented ABC, and presents his findings from the study. He then addresses the limitations of ABC in the service sectors and offers strategies for dealing with these drawbacks. Finally, the researcher outlines the managerial implications of implementing ABC in the service sector. Keywords: Activity-based costing, Service sector, Managerial decision making, Cost measurement 1. Introduction The concept of activity-based costing (ABC) was introduced in the US, initially in the manufacturing sector during...
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...Part B, Q1: The activity-based costing system (ABC) is based on activities consumption of resources and products consume activities, which is to show enterprise to provide a certain quantity of products or services that consume human, material, technology of such natural resources as activities (Langfield-Smith Kim 2009). This is the link resource costs to products. According to this, it can set up the cost pools, then as the quantity of activities to sum up the total cost of activities, calculate the product total and per-unit. In the activity-based costing, the short-term variable costs means that the original meaning of variable costs, these cost based on quantity, and the output of products are proportionately move; the long-term variable costs is based, with activity for movements of changes (Michael H& Khan M 2011). In this case, on the basis of four activities will be use the cost driver to performed the way calculate cost, which is for the number of prints sold and components used in the production for the activity. For the activity-based costing can help solve the problems and increase value to corporation through better controls and asset utilization, more easily carry financial leverage. In addition, ABC is most useful when this product make cost diver demands in resources depends on differences in batch size or complexity. In this case, it has large order, measure product and different kinds of prints. Furthermore, in the cost of these three activities, significant...
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...The Impact of Healthcare reforms on Hospital Costing Systems The costing systems implemented in hospitals has been the same for a while now. It’s worked and has been easily allocated based off of averages from previous years. Now as times change so will the costing systems for hospitals in order to get the most beneficial cost-reductions to them as well as improve on efficiency. This article looks into how accountants for hospitals can redesign, reposition, and re-implement costing ideas to allocate on a per-unit of care basis (Selivanoff, 2011). We’ll take a look at two ways for accountants to prepare for these reforms and five steps to adjusting the costing systems in place. In the hospital costing system accountants want to measure costs during a patients stay to determine how much resources are being used. The one way accounting departments are improving efficiency is deter away from the average costs for their resources. Rather than allocating a hundred dollars for this test and a hundred dollars for this procedure they want to implement an “on-the-fly” care plan. Which measures truly how much a patient is costing them to get the optimized cost-reduced methods. It allows them to take a deeper look into inventory and assign costs to each resource so that patients really pay for what they used and hospitals have a clear costing method that’s equal for every person. This method is effective but is highly stressful for the accounting department to record at first...
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...the email of Paul Bennett: The Bennett system has a higher cost of paperwork because we are using the Job Order Costing and the Conley System uses process costing. Conley Corporation uses Process costing in accumulating cost of production. We are costing products based on per job order bases. Conley is costing their production on a per department basis because it has standard model design. Our products are based on costumer's specification, and therefore each product is unique. Process costing can not be used under our present set-up. Possible reasons for cost differences between actual and standard costs under Conley's system: a. Materials Price and Usage Differences b. Labor Rate Differences c. Labor Efficiency Difference d. Production Volume Difference Standard costs are usually developed from previous year's experiences and some adjustments from each department's managers. If our product's sales volume is seasonal in nature, it would be better to have our overhead allocation rate change to monthly from annually. If not, we could stick to annual overhead rate for simplicity of computation. Under our present production, it is preferable to stick with Job Order costing, unless we change our products to a more standard design (no customer specifications), and Process costing will not work under our system. 2. Since Bennett main operation concentrates on manufacturing customized trucks, they could still maintain using its job costing. This is because each model that they...
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...Ashley American InterContinental University Unit 3 Discussion Board Managerial Accounting ACCT310-1205B-06 January 27, 2013 Job order costing is used in situations where there are different products that are being produced each period. According to accounting for to management (2000), the costs are traced to the jobs and then the cost of the jobs that are divided by the number of the units in the job that are arrive at the cost per unit (para. 1). The type of industry that uses this type of system are places like the Hospitals, laws firms, movie studios, advertising and accounting firms. All of these industries deal with procedure and providing a type of service. The companies have to focus on more than one good and it can become a complex job when it comes to job order costing system. But it is also a way to the business organized and knows what area is helping them out in the long run. Manufacturing costs can be in three broad categories which are direct materials, direct labor and manufacturing overhead. Process costing methods are used for mass productions. It is a way to analyze the net cost of a manufacturing. Figuring out how much it would cost to fill the goods and how material is needed to keep them stocked. Soda, cereal, toilet paper, gasoline are some items where the process costing system occur. This system is mainly where homogenous items are being manufactured. According to Vitez (2003), It saves time and management money. But its how management accountants...
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...Bakery, Inc. This paper will layout the strategies that the management of Super Baker, Inc. used, as well as discuss why management thought it was a good idea to an activity-based costing system into their business. The comparison of a job order cost system and a process order system will be analyzed to decide which would be the best fit for Super Bakery, Inc. Super Bakery, Inc. was founded by ex-National Football League Pittsburgh Steeler play Franco Harris his vision was to provide vitamin, mineral, and protein enriched doughnuts to schools and other institutions. Super Bakery is a virtual corporation, in which only the core, strategic functions of the business are performed inside the company (Darling, October 1996).The main thought about running a company this way was to pull other organizations with expertise in these areas together to reduce the amount of liabilities for facilities, labor, and working capital. The company can claim that this system of outsourcing is working because sales have grown at an average annual rate of approximately 20%. Even though Super Bakery was experiencing some success with the outsourcing at the same time it was proving to be a challenge to the organization in terms related to controlling the costs. The organization started off with a more traditional costing method that simply spread the costs of the operation to every customer. This caused every customer orders to appear to cost the same amount to complete but this was not the case...
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...When are companies likely to use a job costing system or process costing system? Describe the specific characteristics of each system and provide several examples (i.e. at least two) from companies in your community for each system (i.e. at least four companies should be described). Companies use both job costing system and process costing systems. It is important to understand the differences in the two systems. According to Blocher (2013), a job costing system is a product costing system in which it collects and assigns certain costs to a specific job. A process costing system differs in that it collects product or service costs by process or department and then assigns them to a large number of similar or nearly identical products. According to Goss (2003), the easiest way for costing is to average all the indirect costs and allocate them. This would be an example of a process costing system. Some local companies are Dixie Brick and Coca-Cola. Dixie Brick is a company that develops brick blocks for local construction companies. Since the company produces a mass amount of bricks it is best to use the process costing system. It would not be beneficial to assign a different price to differing bricks. Coca-Cola is also a company that produces nearly similar products and sells the products for the same price. Different ingredients are used in the different flavors of products. The products are still similar enough that it would not make sense to assign different prices for...
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...Activity- Based Costing & Process Costing Job Order Costing: 1. Many different jobs are worked on during each period, with each job having different production requirements. 2. Costs are accumulated by individual job. 3. Job cost sheet is the key document controlling the accumulation of costs by a job. 4. Unit costs are computed by job on the job cost sheet (Similarities between Job Order and Process Costing System, nd). Process Costing: 1. A single product is produced either on continuous basis or for long periods. All units of product are identical. 2. Costs are accumulated by departments. 3. The department production report is the key document showing the accumulation and disposition of costs. 4. Unit costs are computed by department on the department production report (Similarities between Job Order and Process Costing System, nd). The job order cost system is most suitable when the products differ in types of material and work performed. Thus, each product is made according to the customer's specifications and the price quoted is closely tied to estimated cost. Examples of types of companies which might use job order costing are printing companies and shipbuilding firms (Fletcher, nd). The process cost system is commonly used where products are manufactured under mass production methods or by continuous processing. Industries using process costs are paper, steel, chemicals, and textiles. Assembly-type processes such as washing machines and electrical appliances...
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...Costing Methods Paper Erica Rice ACC/561 18 February 2013 Edward Hastings Costing Methods Paper What strategies did the management of Super Bakery, Inc. use? Super Bakery’s challenges are to control cost by reducing the overhead for serving their customers in different parts of the country, and by doing this they can use the ABC method; Activity-Based Costing System to enhance control over overhead costs and under ABC, the company can trace many overhead costs directly to activities by allowing some indirect costs to be identified as direct costs like the customer’s order cost for every individual customer that seems to be the same amount. The managers can become more aware of their responsibility to control the activities that generate those costs. The second reason that Super Bakery’s went with ABC was because of trying to control cost in the business part of the company like, manufacturing, sales, warehousing, and shipping. By taking control of the product cost this should contribute to settling selling prices that can help them achieve desired product success. With a more precise cost data the managers could decide on whether to buy or make a product part or piece, and whether to remove a product. ABC helps the managers to minimize the amount of overhead that is payable to their product. If the overhead is payable based upon the amount of direct labor used, then the managers can minimize the amount of overhead payable to their product by minimizing the amount of...
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...that I chose in my business choice are: 1. An order for a custom dining room table 2. An order from a distributor for 20 modular living room sets,(couch, loveseat, chair) 3. An order for a modular wrap around couch and custom coffee table. Job 1 the custom dining room table will need to have the cost figured using the Job Costing System. I will use the 7 steps in order to determine the cost allocations for the job. I will then complete a Job Cost Sheet. I will breakdown the materials needed, the price for the salary of the designer, the labor and the overhead. After that I can then determine how much the job will cost and in turn the amount to charge the customer in order to make a profit. Job 2 is purely s manufacturing job. I will use the process costing system. The 7 step from the order to identifying costs, selecting an allocation base, establishing indirect costs, computing the rate based on prior jobs completed, computing the indirect costs and then computing the total costs so that I can determine the cost to the customer. Job 3 is a combination job which I will use both the Job Costing System and the Process Costing System because part of the job is manufacturing like items and part of the job is designing a custom coffee table then manufacturing multiple units of that table. Again I will use the seven step process in order to determine the cost per unit and what to charge the customer in order to make a...
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