ABC (activity-based costing)
Activity standard cost accounting

Until at one of cost calculation methods, the product and service are offered to the customer, the method of doing overhead costs distribution in product service the resource which is required for that the activity which is done (activity) as a standard index, according to (time and labor etc.).

ABC "activity consumes the resource, method of thinking in the background, distributes 2 stages the product consuming activity". First the resource (prime cost) it allots to each activity, prime cost of classified by this activity (the cost pool) the cost accounting object it allots (the product and the like) according to activity contents. Standard of allotment from the resource to activity resource action cause, from activity is called activity action cause to the product, prime cost action cause (the cost driver) with is named generically collectively.

In the traditional cost accounting, production volume and degree of operation etc. overhead costs distribution is done in standard, but it was something which is connected to the appraisal where this cannot do accurate cost distribution always, often makes a mistake. Mass production age in prime cost, ratio of overhead costs was not small, as for calculation of overhead costs important, but when it is age of multi kind small-lot productions, the problematical point of traditional cost accounting became relief.

While such as that, to the eighties Robert of the Harvard business college (Robert S. Kaplan) with robin Kuu per (Robin Cooper) the enterprise which adopts new cost calculation technique is picked up in the case study, the technique which is systematized is ABC.

As for early ABC, it was located as computation expedient of the accurate manufacturing cost in producing, but various cost information which are made with the process which calculates ABC (also ABC information is called), in addition to cost finding to be thought that it is useful,it is developmental to ABM and ABB.

As for traditional cost accounting, it was difficult to fit at service industry, but ABC at service and from the fact that it can disassemble & can apply to activity, is adopted at the bank, the hospital and the self-governing community and the like which cost control are made unrelated until recently.