Cost and Benefit

Author: Robert S. Kaplan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Cost & Effectiveness elevates the fields of management, finance, and accounting to an entirely new level. The author demonstrates how advanced accounting principles drive corporate performance, including activity-based costing and other cost management techniques such as target costing and Kaizen costing. Using examples from leading enterprises worldwide—including Siemens, HP, AT&T, Swedish manufacturer Kone, Kirin Brewery, and Procter & Gamble—the author illustrates how to create integrated, knowledge-based systems to provide meaningful insights into current and past performance. The innovative systems introduced in this book help readers:
Evaluate which quality improvements, efficiency gains, and productivity enhancements yield the highest returns.
Assist frontline employees in learning and improving business operations.
Develop better product portfolios and investment decisions.
Negotiate more effectively on pricing, product features, quality, delivery, and service to foster win-win relationships with customers.
Select truly low-cost suppliers, not just those with low prices.
Design products and services that meet customer needs while ensuring profitability in production and delivery.
Integrate activity-based costing systems into financial reporting and budgeting processes to identify sources of excess capacity.
Every individual involved in running a business—from CEOs and strategic planners to finance managers, IT specialists, and operations managers—must read this book to understand how innovative cost and performance measurement systems can enhance corporate profitability and performance. These two most innovative thinkers have delivered a work that helps readers better understand and implement activity-based costing management. Kaplan and Cooper reveal that most companies do not know how to accurately measure, influence, and understand the fundamental cost drivers in their business. Thus, the authors provide a detailed and comprehensive blueprint that enables managers to make better decisions and drive organizational learning and improvement.
Every individual involved in running a business—from CEOs and strategic planners to finance managers, IT specialists, and operations managers—must read this book to understand how innovative cost and performance measurement systems can enhance corporate profitability and performance.