Customer Reviews

Activity-based Cost Management: An Executive's Guide

5 star:		(11)
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This book is an excellent resource for learning and understanding ABC accounting. Unlike many web articles and white papers, Gary's book is a practical not academic approach from someone who has been there, done that, and has the t-shirt. It's filled with lots of explanatory diagrams which help to visualize the concepts presented and are useful when presenting on a high-level to executives under time constraints for reading. Chapter 1 clearly presents ABC basic concepts while Chapter 2 is a direct follow-on expanding the depth and breath of those basic concepts. Chapter 3 addresses the question that all senior management wants to know: Are all your trading partners worth it to you? Subsequent chapters focus on typical ABC modeling applications most relevant to organizations. Chapter 6 gives a very good cross-comparison of project/work order costing vs. ABC that is very helpful to project-centric organizations in understanding how ABC differentiates itself. Chapter 7 succinctly places ABC software in the reengineering software spectrum without getting lost in a technological morass. Chapter 9 addresses rapid prototyping for getting initial results from the methodology that can be tweaked iteratively to grow a more sophisticated ABC model. In conclusion, I highly recommend this book and look forward to Gary's "ABC Management - Making it Work" which is next on my ABC must-read list.

Gary has consistently led the pack by not only illustrating the realities and benefits of ABC, but by explaining how to apply and develop it within new and emerging integrated management environments. This book addresses issues such as Strategic Cost Management, TOC and Capacity management to show how these multiple and complimentary methodologies can be harmonized. Another winner !

Rod MacPherson
President,
StratiSys Consulting Inc.

This is an excellent, informative, easy-to-read reference book. I refer to it as a reference book as opposed to an end-to-end text book because you don't have to start at the beginning and read the chapters sequentially in order to understand what you are reading. In today's business world of capitalilzing on your supply chain by measuring internal processes as well as customer/vendor performances, executives need a tool such as this book to use as a quick "help desk" to learn how to measure complete processes to see how profitably resources are being deployed. Having a tool that explains how to figure out which of your customers, vendors, and internal processes are profitable to your business is invaluable.

Gary does a wonderful job in explaining not only what is ABC/M but also why it is needed is today's competitive environment. I enjoyed the discussions on defining and measuring capacity as well as the cost of quality. If you're looking for a book that describes ABC/M and it's uses, this is it!

As a matter of fact, I have only read the three first chapters of the book, because my objective was to have an overview of the subject. In this sense, I would for sure give 5 stars to the book, and recommend it for every manager that should have not only and overview of ABC/M, but also would be looking for valuable insights regarding the implementation of ABC/M initiatives.

Not only does this book provide managers with a wealth of essential information but more importantly, Gary Cokins challenges managers to think differently. He provides a framework for managers to make better decisions based on data and sound assumptions. The volume of information on the variety of aspects of ABC/M presented in a clear, easy-to-understand manner, makes this book a great investment for any manager.

So you think you're ready for a successful ABC implementation. Think again. Mr. Cokins succinctly covers the relevant issues for any executive determined to move their organization forward onto a practical measurement and costing basis.

A good read...and practical too!

It's been six years since Cokins last book on Activity-Based Cost Management (ABC/M) and times have changed.

In his latest effort, this internationally recognized expert, explains how ABC/M can be used to map your customers' and prospects' preferences back to your organizations business processes, develop a lean accounting system and remove waste and redundancy. With the system's output, the author says, managers will make balanced scorecard performance measurements, project and quality decisions.

Cokin avoids technical jargon when he explains the theory and its formulas. Although the system is complex, Cokin remains down-to-earth and pointed in his analysis.

The author did a good job of coming up with a user friendly book on Activity-Based Costing (ABC). ABC is critical in alerting managers of the major and subsidiary drivers of costs. Many companies, large and small, have benefited from employing ABC techniques.

The author methodically and succinctly discusses and explains activity based-costing, a management planning tool aimed at discovering what your true costs are by essentially assigning overhead costs to products and customers. The idea is that the more you know about your costs, the better able to compete.

The author rarely speaks down to his audience. In fact, Gary Cokins is able to continually build on what is presented previously in the book without endless looping. This makes the book readable by both the expert and novice in accounting. The novice will benefit from the detailed introduction into the concept of ABC. The author then methodically explains how costs can be allocated to products and services.

This is a recommended book that helps the reader to learn and comprehend the important technique of ABC that should enable companies to eliminate hidden costs and be more efficient and competitive.

it is an amazing book on the subject. it provides valuable practical insights to issues faced by any practitioner of ABC/M.
Anyone who is closely related or has been involved with the implementation of ABC or wants a good understanding of ABC should definitely read this book.