Abstract
Abstract Projects have direct and indirect costs; the direct ones are easily identified and quantified, the indirect ones are difficult to control, because they are generated in favor of more than one project, and even if they are not directly related to the activities, they influence their budget. This study aims to present indirect cost identification methods, analyze the estimation models adopted for its measurement, and also analyze ways of appropriating costs in several projects. The method adopted was the analysis of multiple cases in companies of the industrial, commercial and services sectors. It was verified that projects with greater detail of the scope show less difficulty in identifying indirect costs, directly influencing the method of estimation adopted. The estimate for indirect costs is specific to each company, and its complexity is defined by the volume of data available. The appropriation of indirect costs differs between cases, but has similar objectives in its incorporation in the direct hours of the projects. It is worth highlighting the importance of project planning in the identification of indirect costs, in the choice of measurement methods, and also in the forms of costing for the budget.
Highlights
The constant changes in the world economy, driven by technological advances and ongoing encouragement of research and development of new products and services, forces companies to adapt strategies to meet new market demands
The results showed that Company A starts the process of identifying indirect costs when the requirements of the project are defined by the client; Company B makes its cost evaluations at favorable moments for developing its projects; and Company C carries out analyses for elaborating commercial proposals, when demanded by its clients
Regarding the degree of difficulty in identifying indirect costs by the analyzed companies, by making a comparative analysis between the declared difficulty in identifying the project costs and the use the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) of the projects, this study showed that the companies that adopt the WBS have an easier time to determine the direct and indirect costs
Summary
The constant changes in the world economy, driven by technological advances and ongoing encouragement of research and development of new products and services, forces companies to adapt strategies to meet new market demands. The survival of companies in this competitive market depends on great agility and efficiency in the decisions of their managers (Carvalho & Rabechini, 2011) In this sense, Rodrigues et al (2006) emphasize project management as a critical factor to address these issues, since well-managed, projects can potentiate the successful generation of new products, services and processes. A search in the Web of Science database of Clarivate Analytics, using the expressions “cost management” and “project management” together, presents 95 papers, of which 33 were published between 2016 and 2018, which shows that there is still interest of the researchers in this subject If added to these expressions the word “indirect”, only two studies (published in 2017 and 2016) mention indirect costs, which seems to show room for more research on this specific issue of the management of indirect costs in projects
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