Factors influencing the success of activity-based costing in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropole manufacturing industry

Abstract

Past research on activity-based costing (ABC) success factors has predominantly focused on establishing relationships between known success factors and ABC implementation success. According to the researcher, there is a lack of exploratory studies to establish ABC implementation factors especially in a South African context. This study has explored these factors from literature and attempted to identify any other factors of importance with the use of semistructured interviews. A total number of 13 interviews were conducted with participants from manufacturing organisations in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole using some form of ABC. The findings suggested that ABC may be more beneficial at larger, more diverse organisations but that smaller organisations may also benefit from ABC if product costing accuracy could be significantly improved with ABC and if no major pressure on company resources is incurred. In addition it seems that ABC should be utilised to the fullest extent that is practical for the manufacturing organisation and that the use of supplementary cost-saving mechanisms with ABC may be beneficial. Finally it is recommended that users be fully trained at ABC and that careful consideration of an appropriate ABC software package may increase the likelihood of ABC implementation success.