Necessity
The necessity of applying logistics activity-based costing is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1. Distribution of logistics costs based on causality provides more objective and true logistics cost information, and timely provides relevant information for decision-making.
2. Broaden the scope of logistics cost accounting. The logistics activity-based costing method incorporates operations, operations centers, customers, and markets into the scope of cost accounting, and forms a cost accounting object system centered on operations.
3. Through the analysis of cost drivers, it reveals the causes and consequences of the consumption of logistics resources and the occurrence of logistics costs. From the perspective of the former, the cost is caused by the operation, and the necessity of forming an operation must be traced to the initial link of the product or service. From the perspective of the consequences, the dynamic analysis of cost drivers can provide effective information and promote the improvement of the enterprise’s process and improvement. The efficiency and quality level of job completion reduce waste in all links and reduce resource consumption as much as possible.
4. Conducive to the establishment of a new logistics cost responsibility system. The logistics operation chain of an enterprise is also a responsibility chain. With the logistics cost library as the new logistics cost responsibility center, the rationality of the logistics costs in the library is analyzed and evaluated, and whether it can add value to the final product (customer or service contract) as a measure Reasonable standards, establish a responsibility system, and perform performance evaluation based on whether it can increase the value of the value chain, and give full play to the role of logistics resources in the value chain to promote the improvement of economic benefits.
5. Conducive to strengthening logistics cost control. The logistics operation costing method takes the cost of logistics operations as the object, focuses on the completion of each logistics operation and the resources it consumes, based on the cost driver, provides timely and effective information required for logistics cost control, and uses the operation center As a basis, a logistics cost control responsibility center is set up to directly link the rewards and punishments of operating employees with their operating responsibility cost control, so as to achieve the purpose of effective cost control.
6. The logistics activity-based costing method can effectively solve the problem of difficult product pricing for logistics enterprises. One of the biggest characteristics of activity-based costing is that the viewpoints of activity analysis can be applied to the pricing decisions of logistics service products. It not only penetrates the calculation of cost into the operation level, that is, confirms the value of each operation separately and calculates the cost of the overall logistics service, but also accurately calculates the service cost of each customer and the cost difference between customers. In this way, companies can obtain reliable product cost information. The price of the product is based on the cost of the product, so logistics companies can use the activity-based costing method to reasonably set the price of the product, effectively solving the problem of difficult product pricing. On the other hand, logistics enterprises are established on the basis of supply chain, service chain and other operation chains and value chains. In the operation chain of enterprises, not all operation chains can create value. Therefore, it is very necessary for logistics enterprises to use operation cost. The law carries out a thorough and fundamental transformation of the "work flow" of the enterprise. Therefore, logistics enterprises are one of the types of enterprises that most need to adopt activity-based costing.
Feasibility
1. The high proportion of indirect expenses of logistics enterprises in the total cost coincides with the applicable conditions of activity-based costing. As mentioned earlier, the operating overheads of logistics companies include a wide range of items, many types, and a large proportion of operating costs. For example, in the transportation process of a logistics company, if its transportation operations are based on customers or service contracts as the cost calculation object, the driver's salary, welfare and other expenses, as well as the fuel, tires, and lubricants consumed by the vehicle are all indirect operating expenses. . In the process of logistics companies providing logistics services, there are many expenses that cannot be classified as direct labor and direct materials, such as the operation and maintenance of transport vehicles, the depreciation of warehouses, the depreciation and maintenance of loading and unloading, handling, and lifting equipment, water, Development and maintenance of electricity, security, property management and information systems. This characteristic of logistics enterprise cost coincides with the applicable conditions of activity-based costing.
2. Logistics enterprises have distinct characteristics of small batches and personalized services. Logistics enterprises do not produce tangible products, but provide intangible logistics services. Logistics services can be regarded as products produced by logistics enterprises. Because logistics companies take logistics contracts or customers as their cost calculation objects, the production of logistics services consumes very little direct labor and direct materials, and its cost is almost entirely composed of indirect costs; the materialized performance of logistics service products is that of the enterprise and the customer Signed contracts, and almost no two identical contracts require the same service, that is to say, the production of logistics service products is highly personalized. Activity-based costing has its advantages especially when the product (service) variety structure is complex, the process is changeable, and the production operations are frequently adjusted.
3. Decomposability of the logistics process. Although the logistics process is complicated, it can be decomposed into separate activities (operations). For example, the warehouse can be decomposed into loading and unloading, handling, acceptance, processing, replenishment, etc. This makes it possible for logistics companies to implement operation management.
Application
The theoretical basis of activity-based costing is: products consume operations, operations consume resources and cause costs. When activity-based costing is applied to logistics business, it breaks through the final logistics business boundary and deepens cost accounting to the level of logistics operations; collects logistics operations as a unit, and allocates the cost of the "logistics operation cost pool" according to the logistics operation motivation Go to various logistics services. Applying the activity-based costing method to calculate and manage enterprise logistics costs can be divided into the following steps:
1. Define logistics operations. The determination of the value chain helps to identify the effectiveness of activities, eliminate useless activities and reduce invalid activities; on the basis of identifying the value chain, determine the operation chain, and finally determine the activities (operations) that make up the operation chain. Operation is the core element of the activity-based costing method, which is often scattered in the organizational structure of the enterprise, and varies with the size, technology, and organizational form of the enterprise. According to the various functions in the operation of the logistics system, operations are divided into large categories such as transportation, loading and unloading, packaging, warehousing, scheduling, and information processing. Various operations can also be subdivided. For example, warehousing operations can be refined into order acceptance, purchase and unloading, shipment, purchase inspection, purchase storage, packaging and labeling, shipment loading and other detailed operations, and transportation operations can be refined into cargo delivery Detailed operations such as returning to the customer's place, returning the empty packing box, unloading the goods at the customer's place, and transferring.
2. Confirm the resources involved in the enterprise's logistics system. Logistics resources are the source of logistics costs. The resources consumed by activities include labor, facilities and equipment, energy, etc., specifically including fixed asset costs (such as vehicles, warehouses, etc.), direct labor, direct materials, and transportation and production maintenance costs (such as business personnel) The cost of wages), indirect costs (such as the salary of management personnel, the cost of low-value consumable materials, vehicle and transportation insurance, etc.), costs outside the transportation process (such as advertising costs), and so on. The definition of resources is carried out on the basis of the definition of operations. Each operation must involve related resources, and resources not related to the operation should be excluded from the accounting.
3. Confirm resource drivers, allocate resources to logistics operations, and calculate operating costs. A certain amount of resources is consumed to complete an operation. The relationship between resource consumption and the operation is called resource motivation. Resource motivation is the basis for allocating the resources consumed by the operation. Each resource allocated to the operation becomes a part of the cost center of the operation. Item cost element. For example, the resource motivation for allocating road maintenance fees and fuel consumption resources to each operation can be cargo weight and mileage.
4. Confirm the operation motivation, allocate the logistics operation cost to the logistics service, and calculate the logistics cost of the service or contract. The activity driver reflects the logical relationship between the cost object and the activity consumption. For example, the cost driver of the shipping operation can be the number of boxes, and the incoming inspection operation can be the number of goods, the goodwill of the supplier, and so on.
Pay attention to the problem
When applying the logistics operation costing method, we should pay attention to the following two problems:
1. Advanced computer management should be implemented. Since the logistics activities of logistics enterprises need to form a complete logistics chain process, the links generally include transportation, warehousing, loading and unloading, packaging, distribution, circulation processing, and logistics information services. And each link involves a number of different operating procedures and a large amount of operating information data. These complex information data must be processed and analyzed, which cannot be completed by manual processing alone, and the implementation cost of operating cost calculation is very high. , So it must be done with the help of a computer. Realizing the use and gradual popularization of computers in logistics enterprises is conducive to the use of activity-based costing for cost control and management.
2. Train and allocate high-quality management talents. From the perspective of the feasibility of activity-based costing, in order to control the cost of enterprises using activity-based costing, high-quality personnel are needed to cooperate. At present, the amount of funds and the quality of personnel in my country's logistics enterprises need to be improved. Only by training the personnel of logistics enterprises and improving the overall quality of logistics management personnel can the ABC be successfully applied in logistics enterprises.