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Chapter 21 - ABC

Chapter 21 discusses cost allocation and performance measurement in business management, focusing on process costing systems and methods for allocating overhead costs. It compares traditional two-stage cost allocation with activity-based costing (ABC), highlighting ABC's advantages in accuracy and decision-making. The chapter also covers departmental accounting, emphasizing the importance of evaluating departmental performance through direct and indirect expense allocation.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
23 views55 pages

Chapter 21 - ABC

Chapter 21 discusses cost allocation and performance measurement in business management, focusing on process costing systems and methods for allocating overhead costs. It compares traditional two-stage cost allocation with activity-based costing (ABC), highlighting ABC's advantages in accuracy and decision-making. The chapter also covers departmental accounting, emphasizing the importance of evaluating departmental performance through direct and indirect expense allocation.

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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Chapter 21: Cost Allocation and


Performance Measurement
Msc. Phan Tran Duc Lien
International Business
Administration Department
Introduction

• Process costing system:


− Applicable for products produced in large volumes on a continuous basis
through similar processes.
− Examples: Chemicals, textiles.
• Details how costs are:
− Accumulated for each process.
− Assigned to units as they move through processes.
• Provides insights into cost estimation, process improvement, and cost
reduction strategies.
In this Chapter

CONCEPTUAL
C1 Distinguish between direct and indirect expenses and identify bases for allocating
indirect expenses to departments.
C2 Explain controllable costs and responsibility accounting.
C3 Appendix pricing and methods to set transfer 21A—Explain transfer prices.
C4 Appendix joint costs across products —Describe allocation of joint costs across
products
ANALYTICAL
A1 Analyze investment centers using return on assets, residual income, and balanced
scorecard.
A2 Analyze investment centers using profit margin and investment turnover.
PROCEDURAL
P1 Assign overhead costs using two- stage cost allocation.
P2 Assign overhead costs using activity- based costing.
P3 Prepare departmental income statements and contribution reports.
Introduction
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Traditional Two-Stage Cost Allocation Procedure
• Stage 1: Service to Operating Departments
− Overhead costs are allocated from service departments (e.g., janitorial, maintenance,
accounting) to operating departments (e.g., machining, assembly).
− Ex: Janitorial costs of $10,000 are allocated 60% to machining ($6,000) and 40% to assembly
($4,000).
− The total overhead for each operating department is the sum of directly incurred expenses
and allocated service department costs.
✓ Machining: $25,000; Assembly: $36,000.

• Stage 2: Allocation to Output


− Predetermined overhead rates are computed for each operating department:
✓ Machining: $2.50 per machine hour.
✓ Assembly: $1.80 per labor hour.
− These rates assign overhead to jobs based on their resource usage.
✓ Ex: Job 236, 237, 238, overhead is allocated based on machine hours and labor hours.
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Two-Stage Cost Allocation Procedure
• Illustration of Allocation:
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Two-Stage Cost Allocation Procedure
• Illustration of Allocation:
+ Job 236: 2,000 machine hours + 4,000 labor hours → Overhead: $12,200.
+ Job 237: 3,000 machine hours + 6,000 labor hours → Overhead: $18,300.
+ Job 238: 5,000 machine hours + 10,000 labor hours → Overhead: $30,500.
+ Total allocated overhead equals the starting overhead of $61,000.
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Activity-Based Cost Allocation
• Limitations of Volume-Based Allocation Systems:
− Single or multiple overhead rates based on volume may suffice for single-product or similar-
resource-consuming products.
− When products vary significantly in resource usage, volume-based systems distort costs:
✓ Low-volume, complex products are often undercosted.
✓ High-volume, simpler products are often overcosted.
− Misallocation lead to poor strategic decisions and profitability misjudgment.
• Activity-Based Costing (ABC):
− Focuses on activities as the basis for cost allocation.
− Traces costs to specific activities, then allocates to cost objects using cost drivers.
− Addresses the shortcomings of traditional methods by reflecting actual resource usage.
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Activity-Based Cost Allocation
• ABC Two-Stage Allocation Process:
+ Stage 1:
✓ Identifies activities and groups them into homogeneous cost pools based on shared
processes or cost drivers.
✓ Example: Activities like preparing, checking, and dispatching invoices can form an
"invoicing" cost pool.
✓ Cost pools include both variable costs (e.g., materials) and fixed costs (e.g., equipment).
+ Stage 2:
✓ Computes predetermined overhead rates for each cost pool.
✓ Allocates costs to jobs or cost objects using relevant activity cost drivers.

• Key: ABC enhances cost accuracy, supports better decision-making, and helps
organizations identify true profitability across products or services.
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Activity-Based Cost Allocation
• Illustration of ABC with AutoGrand’s Jobs (236, 237, 238):
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Activity-Based Cost Allocation
• Illustration of ABC with AutoGrand’s Jobs (236, 237, 238):
+ Cost Allocation Differences:
− Under traditional two-stage allocation: Job 236: $12,200; Job 238: $30,500.
− Under ABC: Job 236: $20,100; Job 238: $22,200.
+ ABC provides more accurate cost assignments by aligning allocation bases with actual cost
drivers.
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Comparison of Two-Stage and Activity-Based Cost Allocation
• Traditional Cost Systems:
− Capture overhead costs by department or function.
− Accumulate these costs into one or more overhead accounts.
− Assign costs using a single allocation base (e.g., direct labor) or multiple volume-based
allocation bases.
− Allocation bases often don’t accurately reflect how costs are incurred.
• Activity-Based Cost Systems (ABC):
− Capture costs by individual activities and group them into activity cost pools.
− Assign costs to cost objects (e.g., jobs or products) using a specific cost driver for each
activity pool.
− More accurately trace costs to individual jobs or products.
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Comparison of Two-Stage and Activity-Based Cost Allocation
• Key Advantages of ABC Over Traditional Cost Systems:
1. Multiple Allocation Bases:
+ ABC uses more cost drivers (e.g., a manufacturer might use 20+ activity cost drivers).
+ Ex: transactions processed, machine hours, or inspections performed.
2. Better Cost Allocation for Complex Products:
+ ABC is especially effective when departments produce many product types.
+ Complex products requiring more resources (e.g., engineering or materials handling)
are assigned a proportionately larger overhead cost.
+ Traditional systems often assign equal overhead to simple and complex products,
distorting costs and affecting decisions.
Section 1—Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Comparison of Two-Stage and Activity-Based Cost Allocation
• Key Advantages of ABC Over Traditional Cost Systems:
3. Focus on Activities and Cost Management:
+ Encourages managers to identify, reduce, and manage activity costs.
+ Ex: AutoGrand reduced transaction costs by improving Factory Accounting, lowering the
transaction rate from $4 to $3, saving costs across all jobs.
+ Traditional systems, with pooled overhead, make savings harder to identify.
4. Support for Activity-Based Management (ABM):
+ Encourages collaboration among managers by showing how their efforts are interrelated.
+ Promotes maximizing value from resources and improving efficiency.

• Impact on Managerial Decisions:


− Accurate cost allocation influences pricing, make-or-buy decisions, and resource
prioritization.
− Provides better insights into profitability and cost-saving opportunities.
Section 1: Allocating Costs for Product Costing
OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATION METHODS
Comparison of Two-Stage and Activity-Based Cost Allocation
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNTING
Purpose of Departmentalization
• Companies divide into departments to manage operations effectively as grow large
and complex.
• Goals of Departmental Accounting:
+ Provide information to evaluate profitability or cost-effectiveness of departmental activities.
+ Establish a responsibility accounting system to control costs and assess managerial
performance by assigning costs to managers responsible.

Motivation for Departmentalization:


• Departments enhance efficiency and effectiveness of operations.
• Departments allow:
+ Managers to focus on specialized areas.
+ Management to divide responsibilities to avoid overwhelming managers.
+ Effective utilization of individual managers’ skills.
• Departments are classified into:
+ Operating departments: Perform core functions (e.g., production, sales).
+ Service departments: Provide support functions (e.g., HR, accounting)
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNTING
Departmental Evaluation
• Managers need data on how departments perform:
+ Measure resources used and outputs achieved by each department.
+ Track revenues and expenses for each department.
• Departmental reports are internal to protect competitive advantage.
+ Used for operations control, performance appraisals, resource allocation, and strategic
planning.
• Customer-Focused Measures:
+ Companies increasingly emphasize customer satisfaction in evaluating departments.
+ Ex of metrics:
✓ Motorola: Defective parts per million and on-time delivery percentage.
✓ Internal customer satisfaction for departments serving internal stakeholders.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNTING
Departmental Evaluation
• Types of Departmental Responsibility Centers:
1. Profit Centers:
− Incurs costs and generates revenues (e.g., sales departments).
− Managers evaluated on their ability to generate profits (revenues - costs).
− Evaluation Metrics: Profit Center Managers judge on revenue generation relative to
costs.
2. Cost Centers:
− Incurs costs without directly generating revenue (e.g., manufacturing, service
departments).
− Managers evaluated on their ability to control costs.
− Evaluation Metrics: Cost Center Managers assess on ability to keep costs within
acceptable ranges.
3. Investment Centers:
− Incurs costs, generates revenue, and manages assets (e.g., a division).
− Managers evaluated on asset utilization and income generation.
− Evaluation Metrics: Investment Center Managers evaluate on how efficiently assets are
used to generate income.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Direct and Indirect Expenses
• Direct Expenses:
− Costs readily traced to a specific department.
− Incurred for a department's sole benefit without requiring allocation.
− Ex: Salary of an employee working in only one department.
• Indirect Expenses:
− Costs incurred for the joint benefit of multiple departments.
− Cannot be directly traced to one department.
− Ex: Rent, utilities (heat, light), janitorial services for a shared building.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Direct and Indirect Expenses
• Allocation of Indirect Expenses:
− Purpose: To determine departmental profits by distributing shared costs among
departments.
− Allocation Method:
✓ Preferably based on cause-effect relationships.
✓ If cause-effect is unclear, allocate based on relative benefits received by each
department.
− Challenges: Measuring benefits for each department can be difficult.
• Key Considerations:
− Allocations can influence managerial and employee behavior.
− Costs incurred by one department might be allocated to another if the latter caused the
cost.
− Allocated costs are deducted from departmental gross profit to calculate net income for
each department.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Direct and Indirect Expenses
• Illustration of Indirect Expense Allocation: A retail store allocates janitorial costs
($300) across three departments based on floor space occupied.
− Jewelry department occupies 60% of the floor space, so it is assigned 60% of the $300 cost
($180).
− The same process is applied to other departments.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Allocation of Indirect Expenses
• Overview:
− Allocation bases vary depending on departments, organizations, and the nature of
expenses.
− Effective allocation design is crucial to maintain employee morale and fairness.
− Parallels exist between activity-based costing (ABC) and departmental expense
allocation.
• Allocation Methods for Key Indirect Expenses:
1. Wages and Salaries:
+ Direct Expense: If the employee works exclusively for one department.
+ Indirect Expense: If the employee benefits multiple departments.
✓ Allocate based on time spent, number of employees managed, or department
sales.
✓ Ex: Supervisors' salaries can be allocated by employee count or sales if linked to
sales performance.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Allocation of Indirect Expenses
• Allocation Methods for Key Indirect Expenses:
2. Rent and Related Expenses:
+ Allocate rent based on floor space occupied.
+ Adjust for location value if some areas (e.g., ground floor) are more valuable.
+ When precise measures are unavailable, use data such as customer traffic or real
estate assessments.
3. Advertising Expenses:
+ Allocate based on proportional sales of each department.
+ Alternatively, allocate by analyzing the proportion of advertising space or time
devoted to a department's products.
+ Consider trade-offs between accuracy and the cost of detailed tracking.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Allocation of Indirect Expenses
• Allocation Methods for Key Indirect Expenses:
4. Equipment and Machinery Depreciation:
+ Direct Expense: If the equipment is used exclusively by one department.
+ Indirect Expense: Allocate based on hours of use or relevant measure.
5. Utilities Expenses:
+ Allocated based on floor space occupied.
+ For non-uniform usage (e.g., electricity for machinery), allocate based on equipment
horsepower or other precise measures.
6. Service Department Expenses:
+ Operating departments depend on support services (e.g., personnel, payroll,
purchasing).
+ Allocate service department costs to operating departments using traditional two-
stage cost allocation.
+ Service departments are evaluated as cost centers, unless a profit center system is
established with internal “charges.”
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Allocation of Indirect Expenses
• Key Considerations:
• Use cause-effect relationships for allocation whenever possible.
• Trade-offs exist between allocation precision and the effort required.
• Allocations influence managerial decision-making and employee perceptions of fairness.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
1. Accumulating Direct Expenses:
− Collect direct expenses (e.g., salaries, wages, supplies) for each department (both service
and operating).
− These expenses are specific to each department and are not shared.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
2. Allocating Indirect Expenses:
− Allocate indirect expenses (e.g., rent, utilities, advertising, insurance) across all
departments.
− Use appropriate allocation bases (e.g., square footage, sales) to distribute these costs.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
3. Allocating Service Department Expenses:
− Allocate service department costs (e.g., office, purchasing) to operating departments.
− Service department expenses are not shared with other service departments.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
Illustration of Steps 1, 2, and 3
Step 1
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
Illustration of Steps 1, 2, and 3
Step 2
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
Illustration of Steps 1, 2, and 3
Step 2
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
Illustration of Steps 1, 2, and 3
Step 2
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
Illustration of Steps 1, 2, and 3
Step 2
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
Illustration of Steps 1, 2, and 3
Step 3
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Income Statements:
4. Preparing Departmental Income Statements:
− After allocating all direct, indirect, and service department expenses, prepare income
statements for each operating department.
− The income statements reflect the operating departments' performance, considering their
allocated share of service department costs.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Contribution to Overhead:
• Definition: the amount of sales revenue minus direct expenses. It helps assess profit
center performance, when indirect expenses make up a significant portion of total
costs.
• Usefulness: better for evaluating performance when:
• Indirect expenses are high.
• Allocation assumptions for indirect expenses can distort net income.
• Focus on Direct Expenses: helps assess cost center performance by evaluating how
well direct expenses are controlled.
• Ex:
• The appliances department shows a $500 net loss on the income statement but has a
$9,500 positive contribution to overhead (19.9% of sales).
• This contribution cover indirect expenses, indicating the department is not a loss-maker
despite the net loss.
• Interpretation: A positive contribution to overhead, even if net income is negative,
signals that the department is helping to cover overall indirect expenses.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSE ALLOCATION
Departmental Contribution to Overhead:
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Departmental Contribution to Overhead:


• Investment Center Evaluation: Investment center managers are assessed using
performance measures combine income and assets.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Departmental Contribution to Overhead:


• Investment Center Return on Total Assets (ROI):
− A measure to evaluate division performance.
− Calculated as: ROI = Net Income / Total Assets.
− Ex:
+ LCD Division: ROI = $526,500 / $2,500,000 = 21%.
+ S-Phone Division: ROI = $417,600 / $1,850,000 = 23%.
− While the LCD division earned more income, the S-Phone division used its assets more
efficiently to generate income.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Departmental Contribution to Overhead:


• Investment Center Residual Income:
− Another performance measure, expressed in dollars.

− Ex: Assume target net income is 8% of divisional assets (the hurdle rate).
− Residual income evaluates divisions against a cost of financing and encourages
managers to accept investments that exceed the target net income.
− Result: The LCD division had higher residual income, but this is due to its larger
asset base.
− S-Phone division might reject an opportunity with a 15% ROI, but accepting it
could increase residual income and overall company value, despite reducing
ROI.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Departmental Contribution to Overhead:


• Investment Center Residual Income:
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Nonfinancial Performance Evaluation:


• Limitations of Solely Financial Measures:
− Financial Focus Issues: Encourages short-term thinking, neglecting long-term
goals.
− Return on Investment (ROI): Managers may avoid profitable investments to
preserve high ROI.
− Residual Income: Less effective when comparing investment centers of
different sizes.
• Adopting Nonfinancial Measures:
− Ex:
+ FedEx: Percentage of on-time deliveries.
+ Penn (manufacturing): Percentage of defective products.
+ Walmart: Customer feedback on cashier friendliness and store cleanliness.
• Nonfinancial measures help managers improve operations and allow
better performance evaluations.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Nonfinancial Performance Evaluation:


• Balanced Scorecard Framework:
− Integrates financial and nonfinancial measures across four key perspectives:
+ Customer: How do customers perceive us?
+ Internal Processes: Which operations are critical to meeting customer
needs?
+ Innovation and Learning: How can we improve and sustain growth?
+ Financial: What is our value to shareholders?
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Nonfinancial Performance Evaluation:


• Key Features of the Balanced Scorecard:
− Performance Indicators: Tailored to company goals, e.g., customer satisfaction rates or
order fulfillment times.
− Goal Tracking: Compares actual performance to targets for timely assessments.
− Visualization: Reports use graphs or tables updated frequently with:
+ Color-coded arrows for goal status:
✓ Green: Exceeding goals.
✓ Yellow: Barely meeting goals.
✓ Red: Falling short of goals.
+ Directional arrows for trends:
✓ Upward: Improvement.
✓ Downward: Decline.
✓ Sideways: No change.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Nonfinancial Performance Evaluation:


• Key Features of the Balanced Scorecard:
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Nonfinancial Performance Evaluation:


• Key Features of the Balanced Scorecard:
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
EVALUATING INVESTMENT CENTER PERFORMANCE

Nonfinancial Performance Evaluation:


• Example Application:
− Customer Perspective for an Internet Retailer:
− Success rates for customer checkouts: 62% (goal exceeded).
− Returns: 2.2% of orders (goal met, improving).
− Customer complaints: Higher than desired but declining.
• Benefits:
− Offers a holistic view of performance.
− Provides actionable insights for managers.
− Aligns decision-making with company goals across financial and nonfinancial dimensions.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING

Key Concepts
• Departmental Income Reports:
− Useful for evaluating department performance but less so for assessing manager
performance.
− Many costs in departmental reports are outside a manager's control.
• Responsibility Accounting Reports:
− Focus on controllable costs to evaluate a manager’s performance.
− Controllable Costs: Costs that a manager can influence or significantly affect.
− Uncontrollable Costs: Costs outside the manager’s control or influence.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING

Controllable vs. Direct Costs:


• Not Always Equivalent:
− Direct Costs: Easily traced to a department but not necessarily controlled by the
manager (e.g., depreciation or manager’s own salary).
− Managers control expenses (supplies) not fixed expenses (equipment depreciation).
• Managerial Evaluation:
− Use controllable costs and expenses in performance evaluations.
− Combine cost data with department outputs for a fair assessment.
• Context-Specific Controllability: Distinction between controllable and
uncontrollable costs varies by:
− Manager’s Level: Some costs controllable at higher levels of management (e.g., property
insurance costs).
− Time Period: Over a long enough period, most costs are controllable by some
management level (e.g., renegotiating insurance policies upon expiration).
• Judgment in Evaluation:
− Requires careful judgment to accurately distinguish between controllable and
uncontrollable costs.
− Aligns performance evaluation with responsibilities and influence of the manager.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING

Key Features
• Controllable Costs:
− Responsibility accounting assigns managers accountability for costs and expenses they
can control.
• Responsibility Accounting Budgets:
− Prepared before each reporting period to identify costs under each manager’s control.
− Managers are involved in preparing budgets to ensure cooperation and accuracy.
• Performance Reports:
− Reports compare budgeted and actual costs for controllable expenses.
− Used by upper management to evaluate the effectiveness of lower-level managers in
maintaining budget discipline.
− Differences (variances) are analyzed for corrective or strategic action.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING

Levels of Responsibility
• Control spans multiple
management levels, as
shown in organization
charts
− Lower-level managers:
Limited control;
performance reports
include fewer details.
− Higher-level managers:
Broader control; reports
summarize subordinate
costs but exclude
unnecessary details.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING

Summarization of Reports:
• Ex: Department managers report to VPs, who then report summarized totals to
EVPs.
− Helps maintain focus on broader, critical company issues at higher
management levels.
Advantages of a Responsibility Accounting System:
1. Relevance of Information: Ensures the right person receives relevant cost data for
planning and control.
2. Timeliness: Provides information early enough to act before costs spiral out of
control.
Impact of Technology:
• Technological advances enable extensive data generation.
• A good system filters relevant data to avoid overwhelming managers, enabling
efficient decision-making.
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING

Summarization of Reports:
Section 2: Allocating Costs for Performance Evaluation
RESPONSIBILITY ACCOUNTING

Summary of Cost Allocation


THANK YOU

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