Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing

In this summary you will learn

• Why time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) is an improvement over traditional activity-based costing
• How it works and why it is effective
• How to implement a TDABC program
• How other organizations are using TDABC

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Why you should read Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing

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.

About the Authors

Robert S. Kaplan, a co-creator of activity-based costing and of the “Balanced Scorecard,” is the Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School. Steven R. Anderson is the founder and chairman of Acorn Systems, a Texas software and consulting firm.