Measuring the successful implementation of Activity Based Costing (ABC) in the South African post office

Abstract

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.