Traditional cost-accounting approaches have served manufacturers well over a long period, but due to the changing nature of the modern manufacturing environment shortcomings have resulted and are no longer regarded as suitable (Gagne & Discenza 1993: 68). Similarly, Monden and Lee (1993: 22) state that many practitioners and academicians have questioned the effectiveness of standard cost systems, which have been used as the primary cost control measure for the last several decades. Cooper and Slagmulder (1997: 2) point out that in contrast to the conventional cost management techniques, target costing adopts a feed-forward approach. The objective of target costing is to design costs out of products, and not to find ways of eliminating costs after the products enter production. Few firms can afford to ignore such a powerful mechanism to increase profits in today’s highly competitive environment.

Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accountancy, 2017 / The Water Trading Entity (WTE) under the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation in South Africa is mandated by the National Water Act to charge users for raw water supplied, and the tariffs it charges must enable it to fully recover its costs. The entity is concerned that it is not achieving full equity in relation to refining the recovery mechanism to obtain tariffs that represent usage of resources. This research study sought to investigate the possibility of implementing Activity Based Costing (ABC) in order to overcome the deficiencies of using the Traditional Costing system. ABC is a costing tool that measures the cost of activities to provide more accurate cost information for management. This research examines the practicalities of applying ABC in the water sector. WTE supplies raw water to the Water Boards who further supply to Municipalities, which in turn supply to the final consumers. It is possible that due to the limitations of the traditional costing there may be a price distortion throughout the water supply value chain, and if this is corrected consumers may pay a fair price for water. This research paper has revealed that indirect costs are quite significant within the WTE and proposes an ABC model that would be easy to implement to allocate costs more accurately leading to a full recovery of costs. Keywords: Activity Based Costing, Traditional Costing, Indirect Costs, Water Schemes / GR2018

M.Com. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Com. ( Business Management) / This study wants to express an opinion on the implementation of an activity-based costing system in a service company with specific reference to Telkom SA Ltd. (hereafter Telkom), which has implemented a costing system as a first step towards an activity-based costing system. This studyis seenas a follow-up study on the work doneby Van Dyk(1993), which was also seconded to the Cost Management team within the Financial Management section of Telkom. His research paper was entitled: "Activity-based costing as a managerial control measure in a service organisation". His work in chapter one on the historical overview of accounting, the evolution of cost management systems and the description of the cost accounting system of Telkom must be seen as stepping stones on which this study will build. In chapter two Van Dyk(1993) concentrated on the influence oft he five competitive forces in the formulation of a generic strategy and the role of the value chain concept in order to understand the behaviour of costs. All of this work must be seen as the foundation and complementary to this study.

Thesis (M. COM. (Accounting)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / Cost accounting has been seen as one of the most effective management tools in strengthening an organisation’s performance through effective decision making and systematic cost accounting formulation and implementation. Although cost accounting was more prevalent in the private sector and public sector, it is still insubstantial and unpopular in African traditional healing in the sense that there is limited literature or evidence that supports the use of cost accounting in African traditional healing. The main aim of this the study is to examine the need of cost accounting practices in African traditional healing and the reason for its partial application. In so doing, this requires examining the necessity of cost accounting practices’ adoption to improve product and service pricing in African traditional healing, examine the reasons for the partial application of cost accounting practices in African traditional healing and to suggest or recommend how the adoption of cost accounting practices can improve product and service pricing in African traditional healing. This research was undertaken with the traditional healers in the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality. Data were collected through the focus group interview which was conducted with African traditional healers. One focus group interview was conducted with seven African traditional healers consisting of six females and one male participant. The research findings revealed that there is a need to facilitate decisions in traditional healing through cost accounting principles regarding the appropriate costing of products and services of the traditional healers through the provision of accurate cost accounting information in traditional healing. However, there were also a number of factors that encouraged traditional healers to use cost accounting in the context of African Traditional Healing and have confidence in integrated cost accounting in traditional healing.

The democracy in South Africa brought about many changes and new challenges. One such challenge was to transform the Higher Education institutes in South Africa. The National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) resulted in the proposed National Plan for Higher Education in 2001. This referred to the restructuring of Higher Educational Institutes in South Africa. The National Plan for Higher Education listed priorities within section 6, which deals with the restructuring process. Some of these priorities referred to the reduction of duplications and overlaps in the programmes offered. Prior to 2005, Technikons offered the course National Diploma: Cost and Management Accounting over three years. Former Technikons developed their curricula for Cost and Management Accounting to utilise career orientated training in order to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills for careers in financial and cost and management accounting as was applied in commerce and industry. Before the transformation and restructuring of the South African higher education institutions, Technikons in South Africa was part of a National system where a National curriculum was developed and implemented by all Technikons in South Africa. Curriculum development took place on a national level. Therefore, the programmes offered at these former Technikons were similar. Some of the former Technikons still offer the National Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting but in a different format. Students registering for this programme, register for a National Higher Certificate (NHC) in Accountancy. The duration of this NHC is two years where after students can complete a third year to graduate with a National Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting. The NHC in Accountancy was also developed on a national level and the curricula are similar at the higher education institutions offering it in South Africa. Since the merger of higher education institutions in South Africa, the responsibility to develop new programmes shifted from a national level to an institutional level. The newly merged institutions carry the responsibility to develop new programmes which suites the specific institution and serves the need of the specific communities. The iv primary objective of this study is to analyse the Cost and Management Accounting curricula in South Africa with the intention to propose a new curriculum for this diploma. To suggest a proposed curriculum, the old curricula of the various South African institutions were considered using qualitative research methods. The four South African institutions and the two Australian institutions were analysed and a balanced curriculum proposed out of this information. The proposed curriculum for the diploma in accounting, combined subjects that have been offered previously and subjects that could further expand graduate employability. Five companies were selected to evaluate the proposed curriculum. After considering the views of all the interviewed employers, a final curriculum was suggested for the Diploma in Accounting. As a result of this study it was clear that in-service training should be added to the Diploma in Accounting. Eighty percent of the interviewed potential employers suggested that practical experience in third year studies would significantly enhance student employability. Cost and Management Accounting has long been used by accountants to help managers understand the different costs of running a business. It is important for managers to identify certain areas of the business process where costs can be cut and the profitability increased. From this study it is clear that the proposed curriculum is acceptable to employers as they found that students will benefit from it.

The purpose of this single case study was to investigate the variables that determine the perceived success of the costing management of Mandela Bay Development Agency Projects (MBDA). Eleven propositions namely Strategic Planning, Stakeholders, Procurement Processes, Contracts, Design Management, Implementation Management, Internal Regulatory Structures, Outside Advice, Human Behaviour, Risk Management and Governance Structure, were identified that could influence costing management of MBDA projects. By using qualitative research methods, the MBDA was compared with three other agencies with similar mandates, by means of four semi-structured interviews, in order to identify similarities and differences between the organisations in terms of costing management. The results of nine in-depth interviews with MBDA project role players, with open ended questions about the participants’ views on the factors that influence costing management, were used to discover themes that were overlooked in the proposed model of perceived success of costing management of MBDA projects. Most of the propositions as per the proposed model for the perceived success of costing management of MBDA projects were confirmed to have a positive relationship to the costing management of MBDA projects. The model was revised after the results were presented to include two ante-ceding variables that were overlooked in the literature review, but emerged from the data namely Funding Model and Compliance to Legislation. The identification of the additional variables namely Team Dynamics (replacing Human Behaviour) and Planning Model are important aspects to be considered in relation to the costing management of MBDA projects. With the focus on good governance and the MBDA’s good record of clean and unqualified audits, it is to be noted that the performance of government projects is usually measured against progress and expenditure and not necessarily against the value for money and the quality of the completed project.

This research is based on the problem of allocating indirect overheads to construction projects in order to establish the performance of each project. Traditional costing (TC) systems and Activity-Based Costing (ABC) systems are both used for the allocation of overheads. Both primary and secondary data were used in this research. Primary data was collected by means of two questionnaires, one addressed to construction companies and the other to consultants. The sample of respondents was obtained from the register of contractors and construction industry companies. The researcher sent the links to the Lime survey by email to all respondents. The purpose of the literature review was to identify gaps and justify the need for this research. It considered existing findings by previous researchers. Primary data was therefore required to find answers specific to the problem of overheads allocation in the construction industry. According to the respondents, the use of TC systems produces distorted project cost results while ABC produces more accurate results when used in the construction industry. However, contractors had not adopted the ABC system but used TC systems despite their producing distorted project costs. It is recommended that both TC and ABC systems be used in the construction industry since they complement each other. Contractors may have to adopt the ABC system to enhance their decision-making while continuing to use the TC systems for external reporting. / Management Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

This research is based on the problem of allocating indirect overheads to construction projects in order to establish the performance of each project. Traditional costing (TC) systems and Activity-Based Costing (ABC) systems are both used for the allocation of overheads. Both primary and secondary data were used in this research. Primary data was collected by means of two questionnaires, one addressed to construction companies and the other to consultants. The sample of respondents was obtained from the register of contractors and construction industry companies. The researcher sent the links to the Lime survey by email to all respondents. The purpose of the literature review was to identify gaps and justify the need for this research. It considered existing findings by previous researchers. Primary data was therefore required to find answers specific to the problem of overheads allocation in the construction industry. According to the respondents, the use of TC systems produces distorted project cost results while ABC produces more accurate results when used in the construction industry. However, contractors had not adopted the ABC system but used TC systems despite their producing distorted project costs. It is recommended that both TC and ABC systems be used in the construction industry since they complement each other. Contractors may have to adopt the ABC system to enhance their decision-making while continuing to use the TC systems for external reporting. / Management Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

Measuring the success of Activity Based Costing (ABC) is part of a more general challenge of measuring the success of any major change in managerial methods. The past thirteen years have seen accelerated rates of change in the South African Post Office (SAPO). However little is known about `'Measuring the successful implementation of ABC in (SAPO)''. The objectives of this study is to research the perceptions of staff regarding the successful implementation of ABC, the benefits of ABC implementation and the conditions that affect the potential benefits from the successful implementation of ABC. This will allow organisations and provide them with relevant information that will enable them to make better decisions with regard to measuring the successful implementation of ABC. To achieve these objectives a questionnaire was prepared and handed out to the finance staff of the SAPO. They were asked to respond to the questionnaire on their experience and their perceptions on the implementation of ABC. 121 questionnaire were returned generating a 38% response rate. The findings in this study highlighted that top management fails in giving active support to the implementation of ABC and the technical factors were perceived as standing in the way of the successful implementation of ABC. These were training, the high cost of implementing ABC, the lack of software packages, the lack of data requirements and co-operation between departments. From the finding the recommendation was made were general strategies were suggested for the SAPO for measuring the successful implementation of ABC. / Business Management / M.Tech. (Business Administration)