The Complete Guide to Activity-Based Costing

Rating:
Summary: Using ABC to think about your business
Review: O'Guin takes a manufacturing perspective in his lucid explanation of activity based-costing, a management planning tool aimed at discovering what your true costs are by essentially assigning overhead costs to products and customers. The idea is that the more you know about your costs, the better able to compete. The book is ideal for consultants who need a quick read on the process, or managers thinking of implementing the system and require some overall familairity.

He does not totally ignore service businesses either. Very ably, he shows the theoretical underpinnings behind ABC, and points to many examples of "big league" companies, like GE and Hewlett-Packard that have used this method in order to understand the primary and secondary cost drivers.

The first third of the book mixes a history lesson on traditional accounting system with an introduction to ABC. The intro seems a little bit long, and I found myself wishing that he would get to the design and implementation of the system (which is the reason I was reading the book-part of a redesign consulting contract).

The author rarely speaks down to his audience. In fact, unlike many systems type books I have read in the last few years, O'Guin is able to continually build on what is presented previously in the book without endless looping. He assumes a level of intelligence and interest which you will find yourself thanking him for when you are trying to figure out how to allocate the cost of the bolt to the large customer shipping cost for the new product line 3rd shift, or some such permutation.

The second half of the book gets more into the nuts and bolts, so to speak, and describes how ABC might work in a typical firm. I imagine many of the readers will be of the small manufacturing bent, and this book really answers most of the questions you would have. The next step would probably be to talk to someone that has actually implemented the system.

The final third of the book deals with the strategic outlook for American industry and how ABC can be used as a management tool to increase competitiveness. The author never gets too preachy and mixes a good deal of his opinions with common sense and practical examples. Finally, the Appendix consolidates much of what he has been saying into charts and summations. In addition, the book provides the sources much reference material - something for every taste.

ABC is a system that may seem like learning a foreign language to the initiate. O'Guin does an excellent job of providing the basics. He gets you up to speed quickly and leaves you with enough information to have a basic understanding of ABC and its implementation. Highly recommended.