Costing Methods Financial Essay

Costing Methods

Costing Methods in Financial Management – The globalization resulted in excessive heights of competition which compelled businesses to the concepts of products and prices. The differentiation strategy works well when the companies charge the lowest prices possible for their products. Business organizations can practice the differentiation in their products by working the quality of their products and implementing some of the marketing approaches like after sale services. With that in mind, the business must conduct market research to ascertain the specific market cost of the products and services then they aligned their products upon the established prices.

Therefore, the standard costing methods remain outdated at this point, and business firms installed more strategic costing procedures. Some of these strategic costs applied by contemporary businesses consist of target costing, life cycle costing, and the Kaizen costing. This report seeks to describe and discuss target costing, life cycle costing, and kaizen costing with their examples and make conclusion and recommendations about the application of three costing methods.

Introduction to Costing Methods

The contemporary customer is a vocal consumer who has the market knowledge thereby posing a stiff competition in the market. The increased competition compels companies to embrace marketing strategies which may make them meet the level of competition trend. As a result, to remain relevant companies must redesign their processes to maximize product quality at reduced costs. Company businesses must work with price reduction as a way to remaining gain the market share in a competitive environment. Therefore, for the realization of the above strategies a company cost detection mark it as the better option.

Therefore, cost methods used by the firm act as significant strategic tools for opportunities identifications that guarantee cost reduction and product quality improvements.  The report describes and discusses target costing, life cycle costing, and kaizen costing as the modern cost management techniques which the company can use to sustain a competitive market environment.

Target Costing

The target costing is a modern cost management technique that has ide coverage usage by most managers. According to Cooper, target costing relates to Functional Cost Analysis as well as Value engineering to align the products and services to match the market dynamics (Cooper 2017). The onset of cost management according to this cost method is at the development stage where the product attributes that match the next generation get incorporated with the intention of generating the required return on investment.

The whole process entails market segmentation to identify the most reliable segment to target and customize the products and services to meet the prevailing conditions. Also, the company must study the convenience of the rival firms in the same segment to deliver the same quality at a cheaper cost. The company proceeds to the next by filtering its activity which is relevant for the delivery of the already established product attributes.

With that in mind, the identified relevant activities are subject to costing to gauge their total costs against the anticipated returns. In the event of any variation, functional costing and value engineering get into play for cost reduction strategies to get employed without compromising the required product quality. The latter process gets continued in line with the market pricing spirit until the best cost is established then the company proceeds to invest in the production of the product required (Talebnia et al. 2017).

Furthermore, functional Cost Analysis together with the Value Engineering techniques help the inter-processes teams to creatively identify the best ways to install the alternative cost reduction product designs without charging the recommendable market features of the product (Talebnia et al. 2017). This is important when analyzing costing methods in the management of finace.

Also, for the company to achieve the maximum value engineering techniques, the company must go through two significant steps by performing some of the radical design changes at the development stage so long as the product is capable of delivering the required service. Second, the use of different design teams may get considered for cost reduction purposes (Talebnia et al. 2017).

According to hart, target costing offers the following advantages to any committed firm (Cooper 2017). First, helps the management with the required knowledge to the development of products and services that are market-oriented through the firm’s strategic objectives, they develop products are following the tastes and preferences of the customer regarding functionality and the delivery method.

Second, it forms an essential element of product development teams, while giving products that are flexible to dynamic costs and life cycle changes and services that are relevant in their application context.

Third, the target costing supports activity-based costing through well-presented costing data during the specific developmental stages. Finally, target costing provides market-driven product features by ascertaining the use of simple, relevant, and user-friendly products. The development teams use simple language to prevent time wastage during costs evaluation (Cooper 2017). 

Life Cycle Costing

The method of life cycle costing considers not only the initial cost of a company asset but also the costs involved over the useful life cycle of the same assets for a rational investment decision (Moreau & Weidema 2015). The life cycle technique confirms the significance of valuing the asset by considering the total ownership costs to provide a viable management decision making. The information about the whole life cycle of an asset can offer some insights such as; future required resources, investment evaluation, and supplier appraisal, resources accountability, improved system design, and asset economic life assessment.

The complexity of the asset in the question determines the kind of life costing approach to get applied, and the annual costing can ask directly approach as opposed to complex computerized processes of future costing. The life cycle costing involved the analysis of the entire asset life span cycle by considering the initial acquisition costs, operating costs, loss of failures, repair cost, preventive costs, and maintenance costs. Other expenses include interest rates, depreciation, present value, and discount rates.

According to Nasik, the life cycle analysis is possible in a spreadsheet with the fair, necessary cost values because it only entails adding up of the respective costs and other rates like discount and interest (Daylan & Ciliz 2016). The costs involved by finding the summation of all the expenses are deterministic, on the other hand, some values are probabilistic like costs concerning the asset reliability and maintainability (Daylan & Ciliz 2016).

The project manager has the responsibility of assessing the present asset condition, the budgeted value for the purchase of the asset, historical background to define the best alternative asset the company may consider worth the investment with the assurance of service delivery beyond the expected levels (Moreau & Weidema 2015).

Therefore, the making it possible for a rational decision concerning capital and expenditures, prioritize every company projects regarding total costs of ownership, and build management confidence when doing their report to major company stakeholders. Life cycle cost analysis also boosts management morale since the analysis assists in project validation calculation, risk reduction strategies, and consistent ways of project evaluation.

The asset life span starts immediately during creation planning to the time of disposal (Daylan & Ciliz 2016). For example, the asset passes through some stages such the concept definition, development of the design features, features specifications and documentation, manufacturing, the awarded warranty duration, and utilization stages. The other steps during the operation include maintenance and finally disposal.

Most importantly, is the strategic and periodic asset life span cycle which always commenced at the strategic planning, the asset formulation, operations level, asset in house maintenance, possible rehabilitation, and finally disposal. The life cycle of the asset is subject to necessary maintainability, technological developments, and the dynamic nature of the operational requirements are the few factors that may influence the life span of an asset (Moreau & Weidema 2015).

Costing Methods Financial Management
Costing Methods Financial Management

Kaizen Costing

The kaizen has its roots from the Japan where the knowledge of continuous improvement originated. According to Hert, the target costing planning process is compatible with the kaizen process in the production stage while firms which concentrate more on the shorter life cycle products usually use the target charging planning instead of combining the two charging methods (Kaplan & Atkinson 2015).

On the other hand, most of the companies with a complex life cycle practice kaizen during their operations at different stages of target costing to get products which are relevant to all generations. Kaizen holds every business organization player to get responsible and embrace never ending the quest for quality improvement through constant job processes evaluation.

All that this method need is just embracing the organization culture whereby all company processes get interconnected in a way that promotes learning from each other on the cost reduction strategies and quality improvement. As a result, kaizen is more aligned with knowledge sharing among the team members with the sole objective of enhancements. The kaizen costing holds the mighty aim of showing the management direction on how to apply the kaizen costing to ascertain a culture of continuous improvement across the organization (Mena et al. 2018). 

In the field of management accounting, kaizen assists firms to gain a competitive edge as it helps the management to do an appraisal to its strategic plans, activities, and long-term operations goals (Mena et al. 2018). With that in mind, the activities such as increasing company improvements, the permanent cost reduction along the production line, and ever diligent in the product design and development stages help the active management to reduce wastes and costs during production. Therefore, the output from the company processes meets the required quality to guarantee customer satisfaction at affordable prices in the market to make the company competitive.

Kaizen differs with the target costing in that the target costing involves product development stages while kaizen comes in during the manufacturing stage to eliminate wastes and reduce costs along the manufacturing lines. Furthermore, the kaizen uses the value analysis method in the form of value engineering to ascertain cost reduction at each process level. Notably, kaizen stresses the improvement in quality and cost delivery through the controlling the product market cost, timely delivery, and distribution.

According to Mark adults, the kaizen profits by getting the difference between corporate management projected profits and lower control expected profits (Kaplan & Atkinson 2015). For a company to achieve the benefits through kaizen costing it must install kaizen costing teams in every department to assist in planning, monitoring, and an evaluation of the processes.

Second, the target charging team must work hand in hand with the kaizen team for compatibility of refined product attributes with the set manufacturing kaizen standards and any variations in kaizen costing must get reported in time to the relevant authority for expert action. Third, the culture of continuous improvement gets supported by active channels of communication across the entire company.

The kaizen principles must get formal communications for kaizen costing information dissemination. Finally, the management ought to establish an evaluation method to gauge the kaizen success on a yearly basis and make the necessary adjustments (Mena et al. 2018).   

Costing Methods Conclusion

The three costing methods are very vital for any business organization to remain competitive in the contemporary market. They help in aligning the products and services offered with the requirement of the dynamic and volatile competitive current markets consisting of a knowledgeable consumer. The knowledge of target costing assist the design and development teams to come up with designs that are generational oriented after thorough market analysis.

The market segmentation helps the team to understand profoundly different needs of a different category of consumers. Also, life cycle costing is an important in management accounting because the methods help the organization concerned with asset acquisition the required knowledge for charging the asset ownership costs, supplier evaluation, and the general company projects evaluation skills.

Moreover, the life cycle helps the procurement and costs expert to acquire the relevant production machines at fair prices. Finally, kaizen costing is an equally more important approach that ascertains reduction of wastes and unnecessary cost along the production lines and, therefore, verifies quality products at affordable market prices. The combined knowledge of the three methods of costing makes a company to gain a competitive advantage in the global markets and assure sustainability.

For the organizations to apply the three costing methods successfully, they need to integrate the accounting knowledge with the strategic management approach thinking for effective internal control systems. Also, the company must work on its both inbound and outbound logistics, production policies and procedures, distribution channels, and marketing strategies like after sales services to offer it a better market advantage over rival firms. Therefore, the successful application of cost management strategies needs an effective and efficient supply chain management.

References

Cooper, R. (2017). Target costing methods and value engineering. Routledge.

Daylan, B., & Ciliz, N. (2016). Life cycle assessment and environmental life cycle costing analysis of lignocellulosic bioethanol as an alternative transportation fuel. Renewable Energy89, 578-587.

Kaplan, R. S., & Atkinson, A. A. (2015). Advanced management accounting and Costing Methods. PHI Learning.

Mena, C., Van Hoek, R., & Christopher, M. (2018). Leading procurement strategy: driving value through the supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers.

Moreau, V., & Weidema, B. P. (2015). The computational structure of environmental life cycle costing. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment20(10), 1359-1363.

Talebnia, G., Baghiyan, F., Baghiyan, Z., & Abadi, F. M. N. (2017). Target Costing, the Linkages Between Target Costing and Value Engineering and Expected Profit and Kaizen. International Journal of Engineering1(1), 11-15.

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