Vad kostar det?
Fallstudie av en banks kostnadsallokeringssystem
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. This will be done by presenting the Bank?s perceived problems of implementing our proposed system. The main problems identified are that the cost is considered to be higher than the achieved benefits and that the system will be met with resistance, as the current system is a result of common effort and has thus a strong level of commitment throughout the organization.