A TEMPLATE FOR IMPLEMENTING TARGET COSTING

摘要

Target costing has been used in Japan for almost thirty years as a strategic weapon in controlling costs while producing high quality products containing the features and functionality desired by customers. Most managers in the U.S., however, do not know enough about target costing to understand its importance and often underestimate the power of target costing as a serious competitive tool. When general managers read the word "costing," they naturally assume it is a topic for their finance or accounting staff. They misunderstand that target costing is really a systematic profit and cost management process. This article begins with a definition of target costing and an overview of the target costing process. It then describes the steps that are necessary to implement target costing.