Studies show that activity based costing (ABC) is not widespread in practice even though it has been present in the academic world since the 80's. This thesis examines the reasons for the discrepancy between theory and practice through a case study of a Swedish manufacturing company. The intension is to answer the question of what contributes to the choice of precision in product costing.We found arguments for increasing precision in product costing but not to the extent of a full-scale ABC implementation. The company's estimation of the value of increased precision. In the study three company unique factors were isolated that affected the company's estimation of value; drifting purpose of product costing, historical use of product costing and knowledge about product costing..

Syftet med vår studie är att finna faktorer till spridningen av kalkylmodellerna Activity-based costing (ABC), Target costing (TC) och Kaizen costing (KC). Detta gör vi genom att använda oss av kvalitativ ansats och genomföra intervjuer vid sex tillverkande företag. Vi kan se influenser av spridningen av modellerna ABC, TC och KC i studiens företag. Det har visat sig att företagen tillämpar ?traditionell? produktkalkylering med inspiration av ABC-modellen.

Syftet med vår studie är att finna faktorer till spridningen av kalkylmodellerna Activity-based costing (ABC), Target costing (TC) och Kaizen costing (KC). Detta gör vi genom att använda oss av kvalitativ ansats och genomföra intervjuer vid sex tillverkande företag. Vi kan se influenser av spridningen av modellerna ABC, TC och KC i studiens företag. Det har visat sig att företagen tillämpar ?traditionell? produktkalkylering med inspiration av ABC-modellen.

The purpose of this essay is to apply Activity Based Costing on a Service and Support function in order to identify and allocate costs for providing support for IT deliverables..

The aim of this thesis is to examine the customer profitability in a wholesale company. A case study of Eugen Wiberger AB has been conducted. Firstly the authors have examined the current perception of the company regarding their customer profitability and the results of their calculation of the customer profitability. Secondly an Activity-Based Costing analysis has been performed and has been compared to the perception in the case company. The conclusions are that the smaller customers are the least profitable, and in some cases unprofitable, whereas the larger customers are profitable.

Distrilux International AB, a company within the Electrolux-group, works among other things with storing of products from other companies in the Electrolux-group. This rapport contains a cost analysis of the two Distrilux warehouses in Motala and Mariestad. The company offers five services in these warehouses, in-loading of products from a local factory and from external factories, storing, out-loading of products to Sweden (domestic) and for export. Since there has been some hesitation of the accuracy of the price-model of today, a master's thesis has been advertised. The purpose of the thesis has been to investigate the agreement of the price-model of today and the apportionment of the costing in warehouses.The main problem is to determine which activities is to be considered important in the price-model.

Background: In the eighties the debate concerning the declining relevance of the traditional calculation started. The reason was that the method of calculating not had been changed despite that the costs and manufacturing had changed in many companies. This led to the development of activity-based costing. Management by means of activity information is called activity-based management, but there is no general accepted definition of what the term com- prises. Neither are there any studies which describe within which areas activity information is used as a base for decisions.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and propose improvements to the cost accounting system in use at an airline operating on the Swedish market. The choice of study object is based on the airline?s desire to have its cost accounting system evaluated. During the analysis we have identified a number of points where the current cost accounting system does not correspond to its intended purpose. These points include significant groups of costs not being considered in the current system, potential over capacity is not visible and logic connections between distribution keys and the use of resources are sometimes lacking.

This thesis is based on an assignment from a unit within an international group manufacturing industrial products. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze and suggest ways to improve the cost accounting system in use at the unit. The main source of empirical data has been interviews with employees. The theoretical framework is based on a comparison between traditional/standard costing and activity-based costing (ABC). The cost accounting system in use is described in detail and classified as a traditional/standard cost accounting system.

This paper investigates the internal product costing system in one of the Swedish banks with the purpose to evaluate the quality of its product costs and possible implications on decision making. The study shows that the current system distorts product costs by, among other things, using relative allocation of costs and time and by allocating all costs to individual units of products. We therefore propose an alternative product costing system, which mainly draws on ABC theory but is also adapted to the specific needs of service companies and of the Bank. This proposal is intended as a solution in this particular case and not to be generalized in other contexts. We hope however to add to the understanding of why more complex costing systems, such as the ones based on ABC theory are, according to previous studies, not widely used in practice.

Abstract Title: The Future of ABC at Sandvik Tooling ? Incorporating ABC with information systems in order to drive business development from a cost point of view. Authors: Jenny Andersson and Camilla Salomonsson. Supervisor: Charlotta Johnsson ? Department of Automatic Control, Lund University.

Bakgrund: I slutet av 1980-talet slog de aktivitetsbaserade tankegångarna igenom, i form av ABC-kalkylering. Dock visade sig metoden vara komplex att använda i praktiken och därför introducerades tankegångar kring att istället använda den aktivitetsbaserade informationen i styrningssyften, ABM. Trots detta är det ABC som har fått störst genomslag i svensk tillverkningsindustri.Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om svenska företag använder sig av ABM och i så fall hur de använder ABM. Dessutom är syftet att studera hur sambandet mellan ABM och ABC ser ut för att utröna om det föreligger något beroende dem emellan.Metod: Denna uppsats har genomförts med en kombinerad forskningsdesign. Det har utförts både en enkätundersökning och en fallstudie, därmed har såväl kvantitativ som kvalitativ metod använts.Slutsatser: Resultatet av föreliggande studie visar på att företag i svensk tillverkningsindustri inte känner till begreppet ABM men trots det används den aktivitetsbaserade informationen i styrningssyften.

This thesis investigates management accounting systems in a Swedish health care environment. Through a qualitative case study of an activity-based cost accounting system that was introduced in 1994 at S:t Görans Sjukhus, a large Stockholm hospital, the following questions are addressed: What benefits can an activity-based cost accounting system offer the Swedish health care providers? What are the potential problems impeding the implementation of such a system? Main findings: an activity-based cost accounting system can improve the understanding of where costs are generated in the production processes. Comparisons between alternative production processes are improved, and the data may serve as a basis for internal pricing measures. Concerning the second question, difficulty in reconciliating the principles of economic control with the culture present in a hospital is identified as the main obstacle to a new management accounting system..

This report presents an investigation and a new design of Habo Ullspinneris old industrial premises. It is based on the owners visions and wishes, two questionnaires and also considering of the historical value.Habo Ullspinneri was founded in 1882 by Frans August Johansson and was moved to the location it has today, near Hökån in Habo, three years later. The electricity that the machines in the industry needed was extracted from the small river that is placed under the building. In 1960 there was a fire and the result became the end of the industrial activity that had taken place in the building.There is no steady activity in the building at the moment. It is nowadays temporarily used as an agriculture museum and as a store room.

Abstract Title: Total Cost of Ownership ? Revealing the true cost of owning and operating equipment. Authors: Anna Bladh Anna Ström Tutors: Michaela Boye, Parts and Service, PTD, Alfa Laval Göran Berg, Parts and Service, PTD, Alfa LavalCharlotta Johnsson, Department of Automatic Control, LTH, Lund UniversityBertil I. Nilsson, Department of Industrial Management and Logistics, LTH, Lund UniversityCarl-Henric Nilsson, Department of Business Administration, Lund University Core issue: ?Which costs should be included in a general Total Cost of Ownership model regarding centrifuges, and what input variables are needed in order to calculate those costs in a user-friendly way and with a maintained level of accuracy?? Purpose: The theoretical purpose of the thesis is to identify the cost items that have the greatest impact on a TCO calculation for a centrifuge.