Application of Activity-Based Costing in agricultural enterprises.

Abstract

The subject of this paper is to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Activity-Based Costing (ABC) in relation to the classical cost accounting methods. Traditional cost accounting methods were created in a time when direct costs of labor and materials were the dominant factors of production and when changes in technology and consumer demand were not so rapid. Allocation of indirect costs, which could not be directly linked to specific products, was based on specific keys: produced volume of different products, direct material costs, direct labor costs and so on. The problem of the traditional cost accounting became evident when the indirect costs (such as maintenance, insurance, production preparation, etc.) reached significant amount or even exceed the direct costs. In terms of producing multiple products, traditional cost accounting methods may underestimate the small batches production cost per unit and overestimate the mass production cost per unit. In response to these concerns, during the 1980s in United States was created Activity-Based Costing. The conceptual frame of ABC is based on the activities of the company, which can be differentiated in various ways - the primary and secondary, activities that add value and those that do not add value. ABC is a costing methodology that identifies activities in an organization and assigns the cost of each activity with resources to all products and services according to the actual consumption by each. ABC is generally used as a tool for understanding product and customer cost and profitability based on the production or performing processes. As such, ABC has predominantly been used to support strategic decisions such as pricing, outsourcing, identification and measurement of process improvement initiatives. In evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of ABC, there will be used methodology methods such as: quantitative method of comparison, the method of key business processes observation in the enterprise, as well as the inductive method. The main objective of this paper is to define a model of activity-based costing in specific conditions of agricultural production and assess its practical significance for cost management process improvement. The results of this research will indicate that the application of ABC in agriculture enterprises can improve the accuracy of cost per unit calculation. However, it should be based on careful cost benefit analysis. Development of ABC could be expensive and implementation could be difficult.