Binding: Kindle Edition
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.1552
Format: Kindle Book
Label: Harvard Business School Press
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 266
Publication Date: 2007-04-04
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Studio: Harvard Business School Press

In the classroom, activity-based costing (ABC) looks like a great way to manage a company's limited resources. But executives who have tried to implement ABC in their organizations on any significant scale have often abandoned the attempt in the face of rising costs and employee irritation. "Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing" is the solution to the problems associated with large-scale ABC implementation. In this book, Kaplan and Anderson offer a revised model where managers can estimate the resource demands imposed by each transaction, product, or customer, rather than rely on time-consuming and costly employee surveys. In their new model, Kaplan and Anderson focus on the two parameters managers need to estimate: how much it costs per time unit to supply resources to the business activities (the total overhead expenditure of a department divided by the total number of minutes of employee time available) and how much time it takes to carry out one unit of each kind of activity (as estimated or observed by the manager). Rather than endlessly updating and maintaining ABC data, this book with allow managers to spend their time addressing the deficiencies the model reveals: inefficient processes, unprofitable products and customers, and excess capacity. Kaplan and Anderson lead the discussion of Time-Driven ABC in the first seven chapters, followed by individual cases studies of actual implementations by Acorn consultants in diverse settings.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive guide
Comment: Activity-based costing can provide important insights; however, it also can be complex and difficult to implement and sustain. Time-driven activity-based costing more straightforwardly uses time as the primary metric for assessing costs, since almost all costs have a time dimension. Robert S. Kaplan and Steven R. Anderson provide a thorough, if highly technical, introduction to time-driven activity-based costing. Chapter by chapter, they show readers how to estimate process times, calculate capacity cost ratios, and plan and implement a TDABC system. Their detailed case studies illustrate the benefits of this clear, sophisticated tactic for budgeting, cost management, process improvement, benchmarking and acquisition evaluations. getAbstract thinks their book will be important to any executive, manager or academician who must understand operational costs.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: New ABC Paradigm
Comment: This is the book that I have been waiting for a long time. It addresses the major issues about the calculation of the resource drivers. Because it is based on linear regression model, it has a more scientific base than the previous ABC method. It can also be easily integrated into dynamic Activity-Based Costing Simulation model.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Service
Comment: Product purchase acknowldgement was near immediate, billing timely, receipt of product within three days and the exact product ordered received. Excellent.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing
Comment: I finished reading this book by Bob Kaplan - TIME-DRIVEN ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING last week.

Its a great book for folks familiar with the basic concepts and applications of Activity-based Costing/ABC. In a way Kaplan makes an apology to readers of his earlier books and ardent fans of ABC, for making their lives difficult with the practical implementation approaches for ABC, and offers to make up for it by proposing a change to the new approach called Time-driven Activity-based Costing or TDABC. Personally I would have preferred the term "Capacity-driven Activity-based Costing".

Ofcourse one cannot help but be sympathetic to Bob Kaplan. Having interacted with him in the past, I had an opportunity to see at close range the genius of this man and the range of his knowledge. The book is certainly a big leap in our knowledge-base and tools for managing for managing companies better.

Kaplan aso originated another methodology "THE BALANCED SCORECARD" (BSC), several books on the subject, and co-founded another firm to offer servies around it. He is however, no longer associated with the firm in any management capacity, and the firm is financially troubled.

I recommend Kaplan's BSC books wholeheartedly, but if you are looking to implement at your organizations, I would recommend inviting select independent consultants who have more experienced at this, than the one's available at this firm.

Professionals with a serious interest in TDABC could also do well to reach out directly to Bob Kaplan and his new firm (The Acorn Group), and his former students for consulting advise.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: TDABC - a very interesting book
Comment: This book has given me a great insight in an easier way to allocate resources down to costumers and products using Time-driven cost driver rates.

However, I am a bit sceptical about the Capacity Cost rate, which seems to be the key element to this models success... especially the way the authors describes the way to calculate this rate.. But with some methodical procedure behing when implementing the model, it is possible to get good results.... that's my experience

All in all, it is a great book about the fundamentals when wanting to use TDABC in your business.

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