Customer Reviews

Activity-Based Cost Management Making It Work: A Manager's Guide to Implementing and Sustaining an Effective ABC System

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cokins' book is certainly well written, interesting and updated, though nothing new is said there on the subject... it even falls short from its "making it work" promise (see Title), driving the reader thru lots of figures and nice diagrams (119 in total) but very little about "how-to-implement" an ABC/ABM system in your company. It may be useful to make a "sales" presentation for ABC/ABM systems (many of those diagrams will surely fit in), but its main practical value for everyday operations may be found in Chapter 2, where he insightfully describes some causes for ABC/ABM failure. So if you're looking for a "cookbook" (as I was), you'd better look somewhere else.

ABC is typically associated with manufacturing. My review is from the perspective of an IT consultant who employs ABC both as an internal tool for planning and managing consulting projects, and as a technique that I propose to clients.

This book is, in my opinion, one of the best I have read on the subject. It is not biased to any specific industry, and is not a gushing testimonial to ABC. In fact, the book starts with some pitfalls of ABC and how to avoid them, then goes into a frank discussion of why such systems fail. The book also contains a chapter on common misconceptions of ABC and succinctly dispells them. I appreciate not only the author's balanced approach, but the great advice he gives to make an ABC implementation successful.

If you are new to ABC the framework that is provided for mapping cost flows is going to be invaluable and key to understanding activity-based cost management. I especially liked the chapter on the unification of time, cost and quality - these are the real reasons for implementing ABC and the author does a great job of explaining the interrelationships.

The best part of this book is the chapters that address implementation. The approach taken by the author is straightforward, but admittedly not simple. The roadmap the author provides is an excellent starting point for an implementation plan, as is the advice on ongoing operations in an ABC management environment.

In my industry, IT consulting, this book provides an excellent approach to determining total cots of ownership (TCO) for systems and applications. This is not well understood by my colleagues or clients, and is further clouded by conflicting material from some industry analysts that will go unnamed. I believe that ABC is the only viable approach to getting this aspect of information technology under control. ABC is also an excellent tool for planning outsourcing engagements because you can see where the cost drivers are and systematically eliminate them. If you are doing this from the client side you will greatly reduce cost risk; if from the outsourcing provider side you will improve profitability. ABC is also useful to IT consultants and consulting companies to design services or to eliminate service offerings that are not profitable. Using techniques to examine contribution margin is the norm - using ABC is far more powerful.

Bottom line: this book clearly explains activity-based cost management, provides an unbiased discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of its use, and shows how to effectively implement it in an organization. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is exploring ABC or is involved in an ABC implementation.

This Book provides an excellent, in-depth overview of ABC/ABM issues; the charts are well thought-out and contain valuable information. This subject area has attracted too many authors, but I wish that I had read this one several years ago (I'm using it to brush up on the subject for an advanced Consulting interview). From my perspective, the book should have been about a 100 pages longer; as that would have provided the necessary space for Cokins to take ABM to its logical conclusion: building a full management reporting system, complete with process benchmarking, personnel and process evaluations mechanisms and to discuss the implications at the senior management and organizational structure levels. Although, this is too much to ask; as it would have rendered the scope of the book too broad for the typical reader.

While Gary has a firm grasp on the theoretical ABC/ABM discussions, his greatest contribution is to the mid-level manager who may be struggling in a difficult environment to implement an ABC system. I have found Gary's work indispensible not only in my system design, but in the education and training of peers and senior management. He understands that a simple, theoretical, 1-2-3 ABC model can be quickly derailed when confronted with the complexities of modern organizations. His explanation of the multiple dimensions to ABC design helped me overcome many of those obstacles. For anyone struggling to implement ABC in their organizations, I highly recommend Gary's books to help them through the thorniest of issues.

I've read several books about ABC/M, and I just can say that Gary Cokins is an excellent writter, Gary explains the concepts very clearly and then lays out a detailed and well thought out strategy for implementation. The graphics are excellent, When you already read this book, you can review it as a presentation just looking the figures and graphics inside.

Insightful, well researched, well written, up-to-date. Makes a particularly useful distinction between ABC system implementation efforts and ABC system installation efforts. Provides some "how to implement" direction, but not enough to qualify as an ABC implementation "cookbook."

Gary does an excellent job of presenting current ABCM theory and practice - that alone makes this book well worth reading. But Cokins isn't content with practicing ABCM as it is done currently. What distinguishes Cokins from the pack is that this book also pushes the "envelope" of current ABCM theory, taking it to the next level. If you are getting good information from your ABCM system, but aren't sure how to take it to the next level, you'll find the answers in this book. If you are just beginning your ABCM efforts, by all means, read this book now

Excellent book! Being a software engineer for a company which develops both hardware and software tools for tracking and managing labor resources, I am always looking for new ways to associate the true cost of labor to development and production activities. I have been interested in ABC/ABM for several years now, but Gary's book really brought it home for me.

This book is easy to read and understand. It flows well and has some great graphics and flow charts that help paint a very vivid picture of ABC processes.

It is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the concepts and challenges of designing and implementing an ABC System. I would highly recommend it.

Great job Gary!

I am very impressed by this book. It is clearly written, jargon is explained, and graphics are excellent. Exmples of excellent explanations include attribute mapping using quadrants, process mapping, cost drivers, and cost decomposition. This is a very large improvement on Gary's first book, and well-worth the price.

Gary has presented us with not just the mechanics of developing an ABC system, but the hows and whys of using the information provided by a good system as the basis for improved decision making and improved company performance. Thanks for the good work, Gary