BENEFITS OF ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

摘要

This article has reviewed the major differences between traditional cost systems and ABC systems and presented two cases of financial services organizations who have had successful ABC systems implemented within the past decade. Five key take-aways emerge from the ABC experiences of these two financial services organizations. First, ABC systems can have different uses for different organizations. For Truliant, the ABC system provides for more accurate cost distribution so that customer and branch profit/loss statements can be calculated. Further, the ABC system aids in making decisions about what types of companies to pursue as potential sponsoring companies for offering their credit union services. Finally, with the newest improvement in the ABC system at Truliant, the credit union will be able to tailor product offerings to various market segments based on the costs of different delivery channels, thereby providing more cost effective alternatives to customers. Whereas Truliant uses its ABC system to report on branch and customer profitability, GECCS uses its ABC system primarily to aid in determining bids for new pro ducts. The ABC system is used to calculate costs (and ultimately profits) associated with different factoring deals and is used by decision makers in the field as factoring deals are being considered.