Common Cents: The ABC Performance Breakthrough [Paperback]

Peter B. B. Turney (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0962957607 | ISBN-13: 978-0962957604 | Publication Date: June 1991 | Edition: Reprint

Description: THE WORLD'S BEST-SELLING BOOK ON ABC AND ABM! If you care about performance and profits, you'll care about Activity-Based Costing (ABC). Whatever business you're in--service, retail, manufacturing, or government--ABC can help you achieve world-class status. From engineering to marketing, from line supervisor to executive, you can make a difference today! It just takes a few ABC concepts to get started. In Common Cents, Peter B.B. Turney shows you how with common sense methods and numerous real-life examples. You'll find out what's wrong with today's conventional cost systems. You'll see how they can mislead you, and you'll learn the key danger signals of a broken cost system. But more importantly, you'll learn how to do it right--from cost reduction to making strategic decisions about product mix and marketing. Common Cents leads you step-by-step to the ABC performance breakthrough.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an excellent book for the ABC beginners and experts alike...could be the most insightful book on cost management since Relevance Lost." -- Chris Pieper, CEO, ABC Technologies, Inc.

"...equally suitable for corporate executives and accountants--provides a comprehensive yet readable explanation of ABC, which is no small feat...well worth the read." -- Barry J. Brinker, Executive Editor, Journal of Cost Management

"An absolute must read by all levels of management focused on improving business performance on a rapid continuous basis." -- Dave Sugishita, VP Finance, National Semiconductor Corp.

"For the busy financial manager...a fast reading, easy-to-understand guide to ABC...allows you to implement its practical concepts on the job." -- Patrick L. Romano, Director of Research, Institute of Management Accountants

"Marvellous! It's honestly a 'page turner.' I read Common Cents on a recent cross-country flight and it kept me from fully preparing for an upcoming seminar--but I was mesmerized. Bravo!" -- Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence and Thriving on Chaos

"The time is right for this book--the 80's was the time of world-class manufacturing (JIT,TQM etc)..Now we have a tool that allows us to measure and improve true business performance." -- Gene Hendrickson, General Manager, Tektronix

"What happened to our profits? Common Cents provides the answers...a must for the cost-conscious manager." -- William C. Byham, Author of Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment

From the Back Cover

The book that revolutionized ABC/ABM, updated with new systems. Strategies, and an expanded focus on service and government organizations

Praise for Common Cents:

"Common Cents is a great resource for all high level managers to reflect upon as they try to focus on results and customer satisfaction."

--Keith Barnes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Electroglas, Inc.

"Peter Turney uses his plain-talking style to illustrate why time-tested principles remain at the cutting edge of management initiatives worldwide. Any organization hoping to streamline business processes, cut costs, or improve profits can benefit from a little more Common Cents."

--Chris Pieper, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, FormRouter, Inc.

"A remarkable book by a remarkable author.  Common Cents puts activity based costing in terms anyone can apply to their situation. Had government started operating this way with Peter Turney's first book 15 years ago, it is certain taxes would be lower today!"

--Roxanne Rice, Director of Fiscal and Public Assistance, South Dakota Department of Transportation

"Peter Turney is one of those rare authors who make complex subjects simple and easy to understand. Common Cents is a must read for successful executives."

--Roger Nagel

Wagner Professor at Lehigh University and Emeritus Director of the Iacocca Institute, Author, Agile Competitors and Virtual Competition

"Businesses that apply Peter Turney's principles will discover new opportunities for driving growth. They will become adept at maneuvering their strategic levers to maximize profitability of products, services and customers, thereby building significant shareholder value."

--Laura Black, Managing Director, Needham & Company

When designed and executed correctly, cost information programs alert decision makers about problems to overcome and opportunities to take advantage of. The difficulty is, conventional sources of financial information often do just the opposite--they hide or misrepresent problems, fail to identify opportunities, and lead to solutions that are ineffective and potentially perilous.

Common Cents, Second Edition, reveals how Activity-Based Costing (ABC) and Activity-Based Management (ABM) can help you make the right decisions about customer and product mix, marketing channels, and performance improvement. Originally written and now revised and updated by ABC/ABM pioneer Dr. Peter B.B. Turney, this book walks you through each step of the process, giving you the tools to more accurately identify, assign actual costs to, and report on the elements of each customer, product, or service, increasing your organization's process efficiency and profitability.

Common Cents encompasses manufacturing, service, and government organizations. It describes how Deluxe, the U.S. Army, Tektronix, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, the South Dakota Department of Transportation, and literally hundreds of other organizations achieved the "ABC performance breakthrough." Using real-life examples in sectors from financial to telecom, software to healthcare, and transportation to the military, this results-driven book explores:

• What ABC is, and why it has proven to be so effective at accurately revealing problems and opportunities
• How ABC and ABM have improved bottomline performance in manufacturing, service, and government organizations
• How ABC and ABM create value in procurement, supply chain, customer support, call centers, operations, shared services, and other areas
• Latest developments in ABC, including resource planning, capacity management, activity-based budgeting, performance budgeting, decision simulation, and time-based ABC
• Proven tools of ABM, including customer profitability analysis, strategic analysis, value analysis, cost analysis, storyboarding, life-cycle costing, and target costing
• An eight step plan for successfully implementing ABC/ABM as a proof of concept or enterprise-wide solution

Whatever business you're in, ABC and ABM can help transform your organization from average to world-class. Common Cents reveals the hidden opportunities to improve profitability or reduce cost, and shows you how to position your resources and direct initiatives to achieve maximum results.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 322 pages
• Publisher: Cost Technology; Reprint edition (June 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962957607
• ISBN-13: 978-0962957604
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,024,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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