Investment-Based Cost Accounting as a Fundamental Basis of Decision-Oriented Management Accounting

Decision making concerns over cost allocations, especially common cost allocations, have a long history. They are well canvassed in Thomas (1969 ) and Wells (1978 ). This article revisits the cost allocation debate, albeit in a new setting, and rehearses arguments relevant to long- and short-term decision contexts. Here a means is proposed to address those problems, namely to adopt the investment-based approach to cost accounting. This approach draws on ideas of Hotelling (1925 ), Preinreich (1938 ) and Schneider (1961 ), and applies the notion of net present value in another setting, namely to cost accounting theory. Research has revealed no discussion of this in the Anglo-American literature. This article shows analytically that the investment-based approach offers a general basis for decision-oriented cost accounting, as it combines investment theory with cost accounting and thereby connects long-term with short-term decisions. While reviewing primarily European literature, it also examines several Anglo-American works. The analysis reveals how for three classical decision problems—production program planning, purchase order lot sizes, and break-even price limits—two different types of costs, namely depreciation and material costs, have to be based on cash flows and net present value. The proposed investment-based approach permits an examination of the extent to which cost accounting concepts and cost information are relevant to those decisions. This theoretical concept is used to derive pertinent cost dimensions and to solve traditional problems of cost allocation. A caution is that the investment approach is limited to decision facilitating cost accounting. Whether it may be possible to couple it with agency theory and its focus on decision influencing has not been explored and is an issue for further research.     

高校科研经费间接成本核算模型构建--基于政府会计制度背景

科研经费间接成本是对高校开展科研活动的成本补偿,随着《政府会计制度》的实施,高校在会计核算模式、财务报告编制方面都发生了重大的变化,新制度为高校成本核算提供了制度保障。本文阐述了科研经费间接成本的构成及研究现状,梳理了从资源归集、作业中心成本计算及科研项目成本分摊的整个核算流程。根据资源消耗的不同特点,运用作业成本法和权重比例法的理论和方法,科学地对科研经费间接成本进行分类和分摊,构建了比较完整地高校科研经费间接成本核算模型。同时提出了与模型运用相配套的建议:制定具体行业的间接成本核算规定,规范间接成本的核算;构建并完善高校成本管理系统并加强财务人员的培养;根据高校自身特点,制定科研经费间接成本核算体系。     

作业成本法的流程优化探析

本文意在说明作业成本法是成本计算与成本管理相结合的”全面管理系统”,它的最大贡献是强调成本动因以及由此引起的流程优化.而不仅仅是有效分配制造费用或间接费用的一种成本计算方法,并介绍了优化流程的一些基本方法.     

Activity-Based Costing and Central Overhead Cost Allocation in Universities: A Case Study

This article examines the development of ABC in university accounting and assesses the contribution it might make to solving the problems associated with central overhead cost allocation systems. A case study using an ABC methodology was developed and applied to library services at the University of Southampton. The results showed substantial differences in the allocation of the central overhead costs as between academic faculties using the model and the existing system. The authors argue that although the ABC approach may overcome some of the problems of overhead allocation and improve the economic efficiency of organizations, there are significant problems with its practical application.     

Accounting research and researchers of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century: an international survey of authors, ideas and publications

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the former glory of Italian accounting was overshadowed by its decline during the eighteenth century, and literature from France, England, Germany, America and other countries took centre-stage. 'Theories of accounts' (rather than 'accounting theories') dominated not merely the early but also the later part of this century when Italian accounting had regained a prominent position beside other countries. The relation of those theories to the 'charts of accounts'-which later became so prominent in Continental Europe is historically important. The controversies over personalistic versus materialistic accounts and that between entity versus proprietary theories, as well as the emergence of other theories are discussed with reference to individual authors. Diverse topics from railroad accounting and auditing to various aspects of cost accounting are investigated. Particularly important are the pioneering efforts of this period that anticipated further developments. These manifested themselves in the following ideas: entity theory, flow of funds statement, matrix accounting, different aspects of valuation, allocation and depreciation, price-level adjustments and indexation, current values, exit values, residual income valuation, managerial control, the emergence of competing accounting (and Bilanz) theories, the separation of fixed from variable costs, fixed and flexible budgeting, zero-based budgeting, PERT, transfer prices, break-even charts, variance analysis, job-order costing, labour and machine hour rates, standard costing, price determination, integrating financial and cost accounting, clean surplus theory, agricultural accounting, holding gains, and other topics. Appendix A offers an overview of Nineteenth century scholars concerned with accounting history (together with one representative work of each), and Appendix B lists the nationally (and often internationally) prominent names of accounting authors born in the nineteenth century but also or exclusively active during the twentieth century. The paper integrates approximately 400 publications of which less than half are of the English tongue.     

Managerial Accounting Early in the British Industrial Revolution: The Carron Company,a Case Study

Traditional accounting histories date the advent of sophisticated cost accounting to the mid-1880s. Research in recent years, however, has provided evidence of purposeful cost management during the British Industrial Revolution. Given the advances in capital accumulation techniques, market structure development, and technology, it might have been expected that British entrepreneurs would have appreciated the advantages that effective costing could provide. This article is a case study of the Carron Company, the huge Scottish ironworks, whose cost accounting methods were notably innovative during the period for which plentiful archival records exist: 1759–1786. Carron's utilisation and practice of cost management is examined in the areas of expenditure control; responsibility and departmental cost management; overhead allocation; cost comparisons and transfers; costs for decision-making; budgets, forecasts, and standards; and inventory control. The positive findings in all these activity areas contribute to the growing rehabilitation of British Industrial Revolution cost accounting as a precursor of ‘the costing renaissance’ a century later.     

Allocations and the Validity of the Incremental Principle

The proposition that common costs need to be allocated for the purpose of investment decision making is examined. Allocation is, in practice, frequently carried out in order to assist in long-run decision making. The theoretical arguments against allocation are, it is argued, invalid. Legitimacy of allocation does not imply, however, that incremental analysis needs to be abandoned or modified. The available evidence suggests that fully allocated cost is likely to be a good estimate of long-run incremental cost.     

Pricing and Indirect Cost Allocation — A Note

Companies that use cost-based pricing usually allocate indirect costs to their products. An inherent problem with this is that, while product prices are a function of the total cost, indirect cost allocation methods based on revenues depend on the product prices. This paper shows how to simultaneously determine unique product prices (with unequal markup rates) and cost allocations using the relative revenue method.     

Optimal Disbursement of a Sunk Resource and Decentralised Cost Allocation

We consider whether the allocation of the sunk cost of a central resource to operating divisions can be consistent with economically optimal resource consumption decisions. When it is recognised that the central resource is scarce, one may, in principle, defend the allocation of sunk cost, if it measures the opportunity cost of usage. However, typically it has been proposed that such allocations are, at best, a proxy for opportunity cost. Applying classical control theory techniques in a wide range of operating environments, we are able to identify cost allocations that exactly equal opportunity cost. Hence, for our model environment, we provide a rationale for sunk cost allocation in terms of guiding optimal decisions, in contrast to the traditional defence in terms of providing a proxy for opportunity cost. We demonstrate clearly how cost allocations are related to opportunity costs, and identify the circumstances under which the allocation of full costs or alternatively a fixed proportion (related to acquisition conditions) of costs, results in the implementation of economically optimal resource consumption decisions.     

Sticky cost behaviour: evidence from small and medium sized companies

This paper investigates whether cost stickiness occurs in small and medium sized companies using a sample of Italian nonlisted and listed firms during the period 1999–2008. Our findings show that cost stickiness emerges only for the total cost of labour and not for selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs, cost of goods sold and operating costs. Stickiness of operating costs is only detected in a sample of listed companies. We further contribute to the literature on sticky cost behaviour by discussing critical issues associated with the extant approach of empirical analysis and interpretation of sticky cost behaviour.     

Joint Audits: Does the Allocation of Audit Work Affect Audit Quality and Audit Fees?

Audit quality and cost consequences of joint audits have been continually discussed, especially since the publication of the European Commission’s Green Paper in 2010. We provide new empirical evidence for the French audit market. We show that a more balanced audit work allocation between the engaged audit firms reduces the audit quality and enhances the audit fees as compared to an unbalanced work allocation. We measure the quality effects following the concept of abnormal accruals and the concept of cosmetic earnings management. As unbalanced joint audits have parallels to single audits, our results have interest to those debating the benefits and costs of joint audits as compared to single audits.     

The Evolution of Standard Costing in the U.K. and U.S.: From Decision Making to Control

Decision making and control are two fundamental components of industrial management that are aided by accounting information. This article traces the evolution of standard costing in the U.K. and U.S. and describes how it has served these two purposes over time. At the start of the industrial revolution, standard costing, in the form of past actual costs, aided managers in make-or-buy, pricing, outsourcing and other routine and special decisions. In the late nineteenth century, as the mass production of homogeneous products became more common, predetermined, norm-based standard costs were promoted as the means to control operations and reduce waste. The use of predetermined costs was recommended by both academic and professional branches well into the twentieth century. Since the mid-1980s, norm-based standards have come under fire for not providing appropriate strategic signals in an era of global competition, continuous improvement and perpetual cost reduction.
This article compares the nature of standard costing practices in the British Industrial Revolution with those that evolved in the U.S. under scientific management. The enquiry is not limited to double-entry systems and, like Miller and Napier (1993), the domain is broadened to include other forms of cost-keeping practices. We utilize primary and secondary sources to argue that the environment and rationales for standard costs have changed fundamentally over time. It is speculated that in the future standard costing will be used far less for individual accountability or operational control, but will return to its decision-making roots in the form of long-run cost targets that benchmark the success of continuous cost-reduction efforts.     

Allocations and Common Costs in Long-Run Investing and Pricing Decisions: An Historical Analysis

The extent to which allocated common costs should influence business decisions remains controversial in management accounting. In the finance and investment literature this issue is generally ignored or dismissed by appeals to the'incremental' principle. This article presents an historical analysis of allocations in long-run investing and pricing decisions. It is demonstrated that seminal figures in the development of both investment and price theory were conscious of the need for firms to cover common costs and generally favoured some form of allocation. The anti-allocationist position is shown to be of relatively recent origin and to have caused an inconsistency in the management accounting literature in the treatment of common costs. European costing theory is shown to have been consistently allocationist. Evidence of a return in the recent U.S. literature to the older Anglo-American, and continuing European, allocations tradition is presented.     

The effect of cognitive style and sponsorship bias on the treatment of opportunity costs in resource allocation decisions

The incorporation of opportunity cost is stressed in normative approaches to resource allocation decisions. Empirical evidence has revealed a variety of behaviours. A consequence of inappropriate treatment of opportunity costs is an incorrect assessment of the economic consequences of resource allocation decisions. Improved understanding of why some managers treat opportunity costs inappropriately permits identifying situations where the incorrect economic evaluations will lead to sub-optimal resource allocation and therefore provides a basis for remedial action. This study identifies two conditional factors which potentially influence the way managers respond to opportunity cost information.These factors are managers' cognitive style and whether or not managers sponsor a project (project sponsorship), and it is argued that they influence managers' decisions on opportunity costs in situations in which opportunity cost implications are implicit. In particular, the paper proposes, first, that in the absence of project sponsorship, managers with an “intuitive” style of “taking in data” will tend to incorporate opportunity costs in their economic decisions whereas those wiht a “sensation” style will not. Second, it is suggested that because sponsorship encourages managers to ignore negative economic signals (sponsorship bias) any effects of cognitive style will be moderated in conditions where sponsorship is evident.A laboratory experiment with managers as subjects was used to examine these propositions. The results indicated that intuitive managers tended to incorporate opportunity costs in their decisions whereas sensation individuals appeared to focus more on the directness of the relationship between expenditure and a project to determine the relevance of the cost. Opportunity cost implications tended not to be identified by the sensation group. Evidence was found that sponsorship moderated the influence of cognitive style on decisions to include opportunity costs.     

基于多属性分析的高校科研经费全成本核算研究

为提高高校科研项目全成本核算过程中间接成本核算的科学性,合理性和实用性,提出基于多属性分析的高校科研经费全成本计算模型。该模型首先对科研项目及间接成本对象进行多属性分析,然后依据现实情况和历史数据等因素,采用定性定量相结合的方法,构建科研项目的间接成本分摊模型,通过多属性与权值的协调控制,真实准确地进行间接成本的分摊处理。理论分析和实验数据表明,与传统的科研项目经费比例分摊方法相比,该模型统筹兼顾科研项目及间接成本的复杂因素,提高了间接成本核算的科学性和合理性。同时,该模型支持灵活的参数调整和属性扩充,可以方便地与各高校不同的评价指标和计算方法相适应。     

The End of Cost Allocations as We Know Them

Cost allocation issues have befuddled management around the world for over a century. And, because of "informational asymmetries" and agency conflicts between operating management and headquarters, there is no clear theoretical solution to the problem. Nevertheless, there are good reasons for allocating costs. If properly structured, transfer-pricing schemes can serve the same purpose as a market price. By communicating useful information about the relative scarcity of resources within an organization, they can serve to balance supply and demand for the product or service being priced.
Unfortunately, most transfer-pricing approaches, like Activity Based Costing, attempt to solve the problem by refining standard cost measures. In contrast to ABC, this article begins by recognizing that efforts to develop more precise cost allocations are bound to be frustrated by the information and incentive problems noted above. And in place of more precisely formulated measures of cost, the author proposes a process of negotiation between two parties to an exchange—a process that is reinforced by a performance measurement system that gives both parties incentives to reveal their "reservation" prices for the good or service in question. For transfers involving multiple users of a given service or products, the author recommends a transfer auction process that is also designed to make would-be users reveal their assessments of value.     

高校图书馆信息素质教育功能的途径

信息素质是21世纪每个公民所必备的素质,不断进行信息素质的教育、培养和提高会终身受益。本文从信息素质的概念、重要性出发,分析了强化高校图书馆信息素质教育功能的途径。     

The Cost of Bond Covenant Restrictions on the Disposition of Assets

The cost of bond covenants restricting the dispositions of assets are examined in this study. Using an option pricing framework, it is shown that the cost of compliance could be high if restrictions are placed on the sale of common stock holdings. Similar results can be obtained by using a simple cash flow approach when calculating the effect on restrictions on the sale of depreciable assets. These costs somewhat offset the tax advantages of debt.     

Effect of internal cost management,information systems integration,and absorptive capacity on inter-organizational cost management in supply chains

Inter-organizational cost management is a strategic cost management approach to managing costs that span organizational boundaries in supply chains. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we develop a model to predict which inter-related resources might enable companies to manage inter-organizational costs. We test this model using a survey of managerial accountants whose organizations are part of a supply chain. Using structural equation modeling, we conclude that the resources of internal electronic integration, external electronic integration, internal cost management, and absorptive capacity play significant direct and indirect roles in the development of an inter-organizational cost management (IOCM) resource. We find that these resources are inter-related and together are useful in enabling companies to ultimately benefit from managing inter-organizational costs. We find in particular the importance of relational resources associated with absorptive capacity in the development of an IOCM resource. Our research contributes to theory and practice by explaining how specific resources can be combined in allowing companies to better manage inter-organizational costs.