Activity-Based Costing:
A Tool to Aid Decision Making
Activity–Based Costing (ABC)
ABC is designed to
provide managers with
cost information for
strategic and other
decisions that potentially
affect capacity and
therefore affect “fixed”
as well as variable costs.
ABC is a
good supplement
to our traditional
cost system
I agree!
Learning Objective 1
Understand activity-based
costing and how it differs
from a traditional costing
system.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
ABC differs from traditional cost accounting in three ways.
Manufacturing
costs
Nonmanufacturing
costs
Traditional
product costing
ABC
product costing
 ABC assigns both types of costs to products.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
ABC differs from traditional cost accounting in three ways.
Traditional
product costing
Nonmanufacturing
costs
Some
All
Manufacturing
costs
ABC
product costing
 ABC does not assign all manufacturing costs to products.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
Level of complexity
ABC differs from traditional cost accounting in three ways.
Activity–Based
Costing
Departmental
Overhead
Rates
Plantwide
Overhead
Rate
Number of cost pools
 ABC uses more cost pools.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
ABC differs from traditional cost accounting in three ways.
Each ABC cost pool has its
own unique measure of activity.
Traditional cost systems usually rely
on volume measures such as direct labor
hours and/or machine hours to allocate
all overhead costs to products.
 ABC uses more cost pools.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
Activity
An event that causes the
consumption of overhead
resources.
Activity
Cost Pool
A “cost bucket” in which
costs related to a single
activity measure are
accumulated.
$$
$
$ $
$
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
Activity
Measure
An allocation base
in an activity-based
costing system.
The term cost driver is
also used to refer to
an activity measure.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
Two common types of activity measures:
Transaction
driver
Duration
driver
Simple count
of the number of
times an activity
occurs.
A measure
of the amount
of time needed
for an activity.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
ABC defines
five levels of activity
that largely do not relate
to the volume of units
produced.
Traditional cost systems usually rely on volume
measures such as direct labor hours and/or machine
hours to allocate all overhead costs to products.
How Costs are Treated Under
Activity–Based Costing
Unit-Level
Activity
Batch-Level
Activity
Manufacturing
companies typically combine
their activities into five
classifications.
Product-Level
Activity
Organizationsustaining
Activity
Customer-Level
Activity
Characteristics of Successful ABC
Implementations
Strong top
management support
Link to evaluations
and rewards
Cross-functional
involvement
Baxter Battery – An ABC Example
Baxter Battery Company
Income Statement
Year Ended December 31, 2009
Sales
Cost of goods sold
Direct materials
Direct labor
Manufacturing overhead
Gross margin
Selling and administrative expenses
Shipping expenses
Marketing expenses
General administrative expenses
Net operating income
loss
$ 50,000,000
$ 15,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
6,000,000
41,000,000
9,000,000
11,000,000
$ (2,000,000)
Manufacturing overhead is allocated to products using
a single plantwide overhead rate based on machine hours.
 Define Activities, Activity Cost Pools,
and Activity Measures
At Baxter Battery, the ABC team, selected the following
activity cost pools and activity measures:
 Define Activities, Activity Cost Pools,
and Activity Measures





Customer Orders - assigned all costs of resources
that are consumed by taking and processing
customer orders.
Design Changes - assigned all costs of resources
consumed by customer requested design changes.
Order Size - assigned all costs of resources
consumed as a consequence of the number of units
produced.
Customer Relations – assigned all costs associated
with maintaining relations with customers.
Other – assigned all organization-sustaining costs
and unused capacity costs
Learning Objective 2
Assign costs to cost pools
using a first-stage allocation.
 Assign Overhead Costs to Activity Cost
Pools
 Assign Overhead Costs to Activity Cost
Pools
Direct materials, direct labor, and shipping are excluded
because Baxter Battery’s existing cost system can directly
trace these costs to products or customer orders.
 Assign Overhead Costs to Activity Cost
Pools
At Baxter Battery the following distribution of resource
consumption across activity cost pools is determined.
 Assign Overhead Costs to Activity Cost
Pools
Indirect factory wages
$6,000,000
Percent consumed by customer orders
30%
$1,800,000
 Assign Overhead Costs to Activity Cost
Pools
Factory equipment depreciation
$3,500,000
Percent consumed by customer orders
20%
$ 700,000
 Assign Overhead Costs to Activity Cost
Pools
Learning Objective 3
Compute activity
rates for cost pools.
 Calculate Activity Rates
The ABC team determines that Baxter Battery will have
these total activities for each activity cost pool . . .




10,000 customer orders,
4,000 design changes,
800,000 machine-hours,
2,000 customers served.
Now the team can compute the individual
activity rates by dividing the total cost for
each activity by the total activity levels.
 Calculate Activity Rates
Activity–Based Costing at Baxter Battery
Direct
Materials
Direct
Labor
Shipping
Costs
Traced
Traced
Traced
Overhead Costs
Cost Objects:
Products, Customer Orders, Customers
Activity–Based Costing at Baxter Battery
Direct
Materials
Direct
Labor
Shipping
Costs
Overhead Costs
First-Stage Allocation
Customer
Orders
Design
Changes
Order
Size
Customer
Relations
Cost Objects:
Products, Customer Orders, Customers
Other
Activity–Based Costing at Baxter Battery
Direct
Materials
Direct
Labor
Shipping
Costs
Overhead Costs
First-Stage Allocation
Customer
Orders
Design
Changes
Order
Size
Customer
Relations
Other
Second-Stage Allocations
$/Order
$/Change
$/MH
$/Customer
Cost Objects:
Products, Customer Orders, Customers
Unallocated
Learning Objective 4
Assign costs to a cost object
using a second-stage
allocation.
 Assigning Overhead to Products
Baxter Battery Information
SureStart
1. Requires no new design resources.
2. 800,000 batteries ordered with 4,000 separate orders.
3. Each SureStart requires 36 minutes of machine
time for a total of 480,000 machine-hours.
LongLife
1. Requires new design resources.
2. 400,000 batteries ordered with 6,000 separate orders.
3. 4,000 custom designs prepared.
4. Each LongLife requires 48 minutes of machine
time for a total of 320,000 machine-hours.
 Assigning Overhead to Products
Assigning Overhead to Customers
Let’s take a look at how Baxter Battery’s system works for just
one of the 2,000 customers – Acme Auto Parts who placed a
total of twelve orders. Note that the four orders for LongLifes
required a design change.
Orders
1. Eight orders for 60 SureStarts per order.
2. Four orders for 50 LongLifes per order.
Machine-hours
1. The 480 SureStarts required 288 machine-hours.
2. The 200 LongLifes required 160 machine hours.
Assigning Overhead to Customers
Learning Objective 5
Use activity-based costing to
compute product and
customer margins.
 Prepare Management Reports
Product Margin Calculations
The first step in computing product margins is to
gather each product’s sales and direct cost data.
Sales
Direct costs
Direct material
Direct labor
Shipping
SureStarts
$ 31,300,000
LongLifes
$ 18,700,000
Total
$ 50,000,000
9,000,000
7,000,000
2,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
1,000,000
15,000,000
12,000,000
3,000,000
 Prepare Management Reports
Product Margin Calculations
The second step in computing product margins is to
incorporate the previously computed activity-based
cost assignments pertaining to each product.
Sales
Direct costs
Direct material
Direct labor
Shipping
ABC cost assignments
Customer orders
Design changes
Order size
SureStarts
$ 31,300,000
LongLifes
$ 18,700,000
Total
$ 50,000,000
9,000,000
7,000,000
2,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
1,000,000
15,000,000
12,000,000
3,000,000
1,808,000
2,712,000
3,040,000
2,080,000
4,520,000
3,040,000
5,200,000
3,120,000
 Prepare Management Reports
Product Margin Calculations
The third step in computing product
margins is to deduct each product’s
direct and indirect costs from sales.
Sales
Costs
Direct material
Direct labor
Shipping
Customer orders
Design changes
Order size
Total cost
Product margin
SureStarts
$ 31,300,000
$ 9,000,000
7,000,000
2,000,000
1,808,000
LongLifes
$ 18,700,000
$ 6,000,000
5,000,000
1,000,000
2,712,000
3,040,000
2,080,000
3,120,000
22,928,000
$ 8,372,000
19,832,000
$ (1,132,000)
 Prepare Management Reports
Product Margin Calculations
The product margins can be reconciled with
the company’s net operating income as follows:
Sales
Total costs
Product margins
Less costs not assigned to products:
Customer relations
Other
Total
Nett operating income
loss
SureStarts
$ 31,300,000
22,928,000
$ 8,372,000
LongLifes
$ 18,700,000
19,832,000
$ (1,132,000)
Total
$ 50,000,000
42,760,000
$ 7,240,000
3,080,000
6,160,000
9,240,000
$ (2,000,000)
 Prepare Management Reports
Customer Margin Analysis
The first step in computing Acme Auto Parts’ customer
margin is to gather its sales and direct cost data.
Sales
Direct costs
Direct material
Direct labor
Shipping
Acme Auto
Parts
$ 29,200
7,500
6,700
1,700
 Prepare Management Reports
Customer Margin Analysis
The second step is to incorporate Acme Auto Parts’
previously computed activity-based cost assignments.
Sales
Direct costs
Direct material
Direct labor
Shipping
ABC cost assignments
Customer orders
Product design
Order size
Customer relations
Acme Auto
Parts
$ 29,200
7,500
6,700
1,700
5,424
3,040
2,912
1,540
 Prepare Management Reports
Customer Margin Analysis
The third step is to compute Acme Auto Parts’ customer margin of
$384 by deducting all its direct and indirect costs from its sales.
Sales
Direct costs
Direct material
Direct labor
Shipping
Customer orders
Product design
Order size
Customer relations
Customer margin
Acme Auto Parts
$ 29,200
$
7,500
6,700
1,700
5,424
3,040
2,912
1,540
28,816
$
384
Product Margins Computed Using the
Traditional Cost System
The first step in computing product margins is to
gather each product’s sales and direct cost data.
Sales
Direct costs
Direct material
Direct labor
SureStarts
$ 31,300,000
LongLifes
$ 18,700,000
Total
$ 50,000,000
9,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
15,000,000
12,000,000
Product Margins Computed Using the
Traditional Cost System
The second step in computing product margins
is to compute the plantwide overhead rate.
Manufacturing Overhead Costs at Baxter Battery
Production Department
Indirect factory wages
Factory equipment depreciation
Factory utilities
Factory building lease
Total manufacturing overhead
Plantwide manufacturing
overhead rate
=
$
6,000,000
3,500,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
$ 14,000,000
$14,000,000
800,000 MH
SureStarts (800,000 @ 0.60 hours)
LongLifes (400,000 @ 0.80 hours)
Total machine-hours
= $17.50 per machine-hour
Machine-hours
480,000
320,000
800,000
Product Margins Computed Using the
Traditional Cost System
The third step in computing product margins is
allocate manufacturing overhead to each product.
SureStarts
LongLifes
Total overhead allocated to products
Machine
Overhead
Overhead
Hours
Rate
Allocated
480,000 $
17.50 $ 8,400,000
320,000
17.50
5,600,000
$ 14,000,000
480,000 hours × $17.50 per hour = $8,400,000
Product Margins Computed Using the
Traditional Cost System
The fourth step is to actually
compute the product margins.
Sales
Cost of goods sold
Direct materials
Direct labor
Manufacturing overhead
Product margin
Selling and administrative
Nett operating
operating income
loss
SureStarts
$
31,300,000
$
9,000,000
7,000,000
8,400,000
LongLifes
$ 18,700,000
$
$
24,400,000
6,900,000
Shipping expenses
Marketing expenses
General administrative expenses
6,000,000
5,000,000
5,600,000
Total
$
$
16,600,000
2,100,000
15,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
$
$
3,000,000
2,000,000
6,000,000
$ 11,000,000
50,000,000
41,000,000
9,000,000
11,000,000
(2,000,000)
Differences Between ABC and Traditional
Product Costs
Product margins – traditional
Product margins – ABC
Change in reported margins
The traditional cost
system overcosts the
SureStarts and reports
a lower product
margin for this product.
SureStarts
$ 6,900,000
8,372,000
$ 1,472,000
LongLifes
$ 2,100,000
(1,132,000)
$ (3,232,000)
The traditional cost
system undercosts the
LongLifes and reports
a higher product
margin for this product.
Differences Between ABC and Traditional
Product Costs
There are three reasons why the
reported product margins for the two
costing systems differ from one another.
Traditional costing allocates all manufacturing
overhead to products. ABC costing only assigns
manufacturing overhead costs consumed by
products to those products.
Differences Between ABC and Traditional
Product Costs
There are three reasons why the
reported product margins for the two
costing systems differ from one another.
 Traditional costing allocates all manufacturing
overhead costs using a volume-related allocation
base. ABC costing also uses non-volume related
allocation bases.
Differences Between ABC and Traditional
Product Costs
There are three reasons why the
reported product margins for the two
costing systems differ from one another.
 Traditional costing disregards selling and
administrative expenses because they are
assumed to be period expenses. ABC costing
directly traces shipping costs to products and
includes nonmanufacturing overhead costs caused
by products in the activity cost pools that are
assigned to products.
Targeting Process Improvement
Activity-based management is
used in conjunction with ABC to
identify areas that would benefit
from process improvements.
While the theory of constraints
approach discussed in Chapter 1
is a powerful tool for targeting
improvement efforts, activity rates
can also provide valuable clues on
where to focus improvement efforts.
Benchmarking can be used to compare activity cost
information with world-class standards of performance
achieved by other organizations.
Activity-Based Costing and External Reporting
Most companies do not use ABC
for external reporting because . . .
1. External reports are less detailed than internal
reports.
2. It may be difficult to make changes to the company’s
accounting system.
3. ABC does not conform to GAAP.
4. Auditors may be suspect of the subjective allocation
process based on interviews with employees.
ABC Limitations
Substantial resources
required to implement
and maintain.
Resistance to
unfamiliar numbers
and reports.
Desire to fully
allocate all costs
to products.
Potential
misinterpretation of
unfamiliar numbers.
Does not conform to
GAAP. Two costing
systems may be needed.
ABC Action Analysis
Appendix 8A
Learning Objective 6
(Appendix 8A)
Prepare an action analysis
report using activity-based
costing data and interpret
the report.
Appendix 8A: ABC Action Analysis
Conventional ABC analysis does not
identify potentially relevant costs. An
action analysis report helps because it:
• Shows what costs have been
assigned to a cost object.
• Indicates how difficult it would be to
adjust those costs in response to
changes in the level of activity.
Appendix 8A: ABC Action Analysis
Constructing an action analysis report
begins with the first-stage allocation process.
In addition to computing an overall activity
rate for each activity cost pool, an activity
rate is computed for each type of overhead
cost that is consumed supporting a given
activity.
Let’s revisit the stage-one allocations
from the Baxter Battery Company example
that we discussed earlier.
Appendix 8A: ABC Action Analysis
$1,800,000 ÷ 10,000 orders = $180 per order
Other entries in the table are computed similarly.
$180 per order × 4,000 orders = $720,000
Other entries in the table are computed similarly.
$180 per order × 6,000 orders = $1,080,000
Other entries in the table are computed similarly.
Appendix 8A: ABC Action Analysis
Next, label each cost using an ease of adjustment
code:
• Green costs adjust more or less automatically to
changes in activity level without any action by
managers.
• Yellow costs can be adjusted to changes in activity
level, but it would require management action to
realize the change in cost.
• Red costs can be adjusted to changes in activity
level only with a great deal of difficulty and with
management intervention.
Appendix 8A: ABC Action Analysis
Action Analysis of LongLife Batteries
Sales
Green costs
Direct materials
Shipping costs
Green margin
$
$
18,700,000
$
7,000,000
11,700,000
$
11,222,000
478,000
$
1,610,000
(1,132,000)
6,000,000
1,000,000
Yellow costs
Direct labor
Indirect factory wages
Factory utilities
Administrative wages and salaries
Office equipment depreciation
Marketing wages and salaries
Selling expenses
Yellow margin
5,000,000
3,360,000
850,000
1,280,000
252,000
420,000
60,000
Red costs
Factory equipment depreciation
Factory building lease
Administrative building lease
Red margin
1,610,000
-
Using a Modified Form of Activity-Based
Costing to Determine Product Costs for
External Reports
Appendix 8B
Learning Objective 7
(Appendix 8B)
Use activity-based costing
techniques to compute unit
product costs for external
reports.
Appendix 8B
A modified form of activity-based
costing can be used to develop product
costs for external financial reports.
ABC product costs:
• Include organization-sustaining costs
and unused capacity costs.
• Exclude nonmanufacturing costs even
if they are caused by the products.
Appendix 8B
Simmons’ Industries provides the following information
for the company as a whole and for its only two
products—deluxe and standard hedge trimmers.
Total estimated manufacturing overhead
Total estimated direct labor hours
Direct materials cost per unit
Direct labor cost per unit
Direct labor hours per unit
Units produced
$ 1,800,000
400,000
Deluxe
Standard
$
38.00 $
28.00
$
24.00 $
12.00
2.0
1.0
100,000
200,000
Appendix 8B
Assuming that Simmons’ traditional cost system relies
on one predetermined plantwide overhead rate with
direct labor-hours (DLHs) as the allocation base, then
its plantwide overhead rate is computed as follows:
Predetermined
$1,800,000
=
overhead rate
400,000 DLHs
= $4.50 per DLH
Appendix 8B
Simmons’ traditional cost system would
report unit product costs as follows:
Direct materials cost per unit
Direct labor cost per unit
Manufacturing overhead per unit
Unit product cost
Deluxe
Standard
$
38.00 $
28.00
24.00
12.00
9.00
4.50
$
71.00 $
44.50
2.0 DLH × $4.50 per DLH
1.0 DLH × $4.50 per DLH
Appendix 8B
The ABC project team at Simmons has
developed the following basic information.
Activity and Activity Measures
Estimated
Overhead
Cost
Direct labor support (DLHs)
$ 900,000
Machine setups (setups)
600,000
Parts administration (part types)
300,000
Total manufacturing overhead
$ 1,800,000
Expected Activity
Deluxe
Standard
200,000
200,000
400
100
200
100
Total
400,000
500
300
Appendix 8B
We can calculate the following activity rates:
Activity and Activity Measures
Direct labor support (DLHs)
Machine setups (setups)
Parts administration (part types)
Total manufacturing overhead
Estimated
Total
Overhead
Expected
Cost
Activity
Activity Rate
$
900,000 ÷ 400,000 = $ 2.25 per DLH
600,000 ÷
500 = $ 1,200 per setup
300,000 ÷
300 = $ 1,000 per part type
$ 1,800,000
Using the new activity rates, let’s assign overhead
to the two products based upon expected activity.
Appendix 8B
Deluxe Product
Expected
Activity
Activity and Activity Measures
Activity
Rate
Amount
Direct labor support (DLHs)
200,000 × $ 2.25 = $ 450,000
Machine setups (setups)
400 × $ 1,200 =
480,000
Parts administration (part types)
200 × $ 1,000 =
200,000
Total overhead cost assigned
$ 1,130,000
Standard Product
Expected
Activity
Activity and Activity Measures
Activity
Rate
Direct labor support (DLHs)
200,000 × $ 2.25 = $
Machine setups (setups)
100 × $ 1,200 =
Parts administration (part types)
100 × $ 1,000 =
Total overhead cost assigned
$
Amount
450,000
120,000
100,000
670,000
Appendix 8B
Activity-based unit product costs for both product lines
Direct materials cost per unit
Direct labor cost per unit
Manufacturing overhead per unit
Unit product cost
Premium
Standard
$
38.00 $
28.00
24.00
12.00
11.30
3.35
$
73.30 $
43.35
Appendix 8B
Activity-based unit product costs for both product lines
Direct materials cost per unit
Direct labor cost per unit
Manufacturing overhead per unit
Unit product cost
Premium
Standard
$
38.00 $
28.00
24.00
12.00
11.30
3.35
$
73.30 $
43.35
$1,130,000 ÷ 100,000 units
$670,000 ÷ 200,000 units
Appendix 8B
Comparing the two approaches
Activity-Based Costing
Deluxe
Standard
Direct material
$ 38.00
$ 28.00
Direct labor
24.00
12.00
Manufacturing overhead
11.30
3.35
Unit product cost
$ 73.30
$ 43.35
Traditional Costing
Deluxe
Standard
$ 38.00 $ 28.00
24.00
12.00
9.00
4.50
$ 71.00 $ 44.50
Note that the unit product cost of a Standard unit
decreased from $44.50 to $43.35 . . . . .
. . . . . while the unit cost of a Deluxe unit increased from
$71.00 to $73.30.
End of Chapter 8