Research on workflow meta model supporting activity based costing

Activity based costing (ABC) is a method which can solve many limitations of the traditional cost systems in manufacturing management. In this paper, we investigate how to integrate ABC with workflow technology, and build a workflow meta model supporting ABC. Firstly, the concept and concept model of activity based costing (ABC) are introduced. Next, the meta model of P -PROCE (Process, Product, Resource, Organization, and Cost & Evaluation) is presented. Then the cost meta model is defined by adding ABC to P -PROCE model. Object constraint language (OCL) is used to express meta model and constraints. Finally, we show an enterprise modeling and simulation tool based on the workflow meta model. We can systematically construct an enterprise model and easily and efficiently conduct simulation. Moreover it enables us to analyze and evaluate business processes and its costs.

Activity Based Costing Adoption Among Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria

The study examines the extent of adoption of Activity Based Costing （ABC） among naanufacturing companies in Nigeria. The primary data were sourced through questionnaires administered to the Management Accountants of 40 selected manufacturing companies in South Western part of Nigeria. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the data. The study reveals that inability of the traditional cost systems to provide relevant cost was the most highly ranked reason in their decision to adopt ABC. Traditional methods of allocating overhead were therefore believed to be deficient in terms of improving global competitiveness. Also, 60% of the respondents have adopted ABC due to increased ranges of products, competition and increased overhead. Familiarity with and adoption of ABC was found to be across the manufacturing, more than half of the sample are familiar with it. The 40% of respondents who have not adopted ABC cited the cost and complexity involved with implementation as the main reason in non-adoption. However, cost of implementing ABC was enormous which hinder the small scale manufacturing from adopting it. This result may reflect the fact that larger firms are more likely to have the diverse mix of products or services that makes the use of ABC advantages. Consequently, the study recommends that the companies who have not adopted ABC because of its high cost of implementation should endeavor to consider its adoption because in the long run the benefits derive from it will outweigh its cost. It helps to identify inefficient products, departments and activities and helps to allocate more resources on profitable products. In conclusion, the senior management should also give their utmost support to the implementation and success of ABC.

Optimal pricing decision model based on activity-based costing

In order to find out the applicability of the optimal pricing decision model based on conventional cost behavior model after activity based costing has given strong shock to the conventional cost behavior model and its assumptions, detailed analyses have been made using the activity based cost behavior and cost volume profit analysis model, and it is concluded from these analyses that the theory behind the construction of optimal pricing decision model is still tenable under activity based costing, but the conventional optimal pricing decision model must be modified as appropriate to the activity based costing based cost behavior model and cost volume profit analysis model, and an optimal pricing decision model is really a product pricing decision model constructed by following the economic principle of maximizing profit.

Application of Activity Based Costing in Customer Evaluation and Management

As plant develops, many industries＇ automatic level is very high leading to the increasing of indirect cost. Traditional costing methods, which use single standard of distributing indirect cost, cannot calculate cus- tomer cost accurately and satisfy managers any more. This paper is aimed on solving the aforesaid problem. In this paper we propose the thought of evaluating customer cost by using activity based costing（ABC） and the tra- ditional model of customer lifetime value（CLV） to improve the CLV model, then analyze the difference of using both models through an empirical study. As a result, ABC can account customer cost more accurately so that the CLV can help managers evaluate customer more effectively.

A New Activity-Based Cost (ABC) Mathematical Model

Along with the product price competition growing intensely, it is apparently important for reasonably distributing and counting cost. But, in sharing indirect cost, traditional cost accounting unveils the limitations increasingly, especially in authenticity of cost information. And the accounting theory circles and industry circles begin seeking one kind of new accurate cost calculation method, and the activity based cost (ABC) method emerges as the times require. In this paper, we will build its mathematical model by the basic principle of ABC, and will improve its mathematical model further. We will establish its comparison mathematical model and make the ABC method go a step further to its practical application.

Heuristic algorithm for RCPSP with the objective of minimizing activities' cost

Resource-constrained project scheduling problem（RCPSP） is an important problem in research on project management. But there has been little attention paid to the objective of minimizing activities＇ cost with the resource constraints that is a critical sub-problem in partner selection of construction supply chain management because the capacities of the renewable resources supplied by the partners will effect on the project scheduling. Its mathematic model is presented firstly, and analysis on the characteristic of the problem shows that the objective function is non-regular and the problem is NP-complete following which the basic idea for solution is clarified. Based on a definition of preposing activity cost matrix, a heuristic algorithm is brought forward. Analyses on the complexity of the heuristics and the result of numerical studies show that the heuristic algorithm is feasible and relatively effective.

Online algorithms for scheduling with machine activation cost on two uniform machines

In this paper we investigate a variant of the scheduling problem on two uniform machines with speeds 1 and s. For this problem, we are given two potential uniform machines to process a sequence of independent jobs. Machines need to be activated before starting to process, and each machine activated incurs a fixed machine activation cost. No machines are initially activated, and when a job is revealed, the algorithm has the option to activate new machines. The objective is to minimize the sum of the makespan and the machine activation cost. We design optimal online algorithms with competitive ratio of (2s+1)/(s+1) for every s≥1.

Mathematical methods for main tenance and operation cost prediction based on transfer learning in State Grid

The electric power enterprise is an important basic energy industry for national development,and it is also the first basic industry of the national economy.With the continuous expansion of State Grid,the progressively complex operating conditions,and the increasing scope and frequency of data collection,how to make reasonable use of electrical big data,improve utilization,and provide a theoretical basis for the reliability of State Grid operation,has become a new research hot spot.Since electrical data has the characteristics of large volume,multiple types,low-value density,and fast processing speed,it is a challenge to mine and analyze it deeply,extract valuable information efficiently,and serve for the actual problem.According to the features of these data,this paper uses artificial intelligence methods such as time series and support vector regression to establish a data mining network model for standard cost prediction through transfer learning.The experimental results show that the model in this paper obtains better prediction results on a small sample data set,which verifies the feasibility of the deep transfer model.Compared with activity-based costing and the traditional prediction method,the average absolute error of the proposed method is reduced by 10%,which is effective and superior.

The Role of Management Accounting in Adding Value to Organisations

The rapid development of digital world has provided modern organisations with challenges and opportunities at the same time.Especially,the use of advanced technology such as internet well improves transparency of many organisations.However,this also brings volatility and uncertainty to an organisation’s business environment,thereby leading to a more complex and time-consuming decision-making process.To solve this problem,two management accounting techniques,ABC System and BSC,have accordingly been adopted by many managers.In this article,the purpose is to briefly discuss some of the challenges faced by organisations;and then,the two initiative management methods are well explained individually with reference to appropriate examples.

A Maintainability Prediction Method Considering Environmental Impacts and Cost

Maintainability prediction is one kind of primary maintainability action. Design deficiency would be found through predicting maintainability parameters under certain conditions. Now a maintainability prediction method that mainly considers maintenance time or maintenance man hour is a kind of prediction method with a single index. With increasing product complexity and people's environmental consciousness, more attention is paid to environment impacts and maintenance cost or resource consumption in the maintenance process. It is necessary for a maintainability prediction method that can predict maintenance cost and maintenance environmental impacts. A new maintainability prediction method is presented in this paper based on analyzing existing maintainability prediction methods. The method is MABTCE(maintenance activity based timing/costing/environment impact assessment) and can predict maintenance time, maintenance costing and maintenance environmental impacts and then improve maintainability design with prediction results.

Expression and Antigen Activity Determination of Human Thyroid Peroxidase in Silkworm and Yeast

In this study,we report the expression of human thyroid peroxidase（TPO） in silkworm larvae and Pichia pastoris GS115. Recombinant TPO is sequentially purified from the hemolymph of infected silkworm larvae and yeast using a Ni-NTA resin kit. The concentration of yield of recombinant TPO is 4.87 mg per thousand larvae and 40.83 mg per liter yeast culture. However,the recombinant TPO produced in silkworm show similar binding ability with the specific anti-TPO serum to standard human TPO purified from insect cells. The lower antigen activity indicates the TPO expressed in yeast is not suitable to be used as the coating antigen in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）. The cost of TPO expressed in B. mori is about 1/4 that of in insect cells,and the cost of TPO purified from silkworm for ELISA is only 1/8 that of TPO produced from Sf9 cells. It indicates the Bm NPV-silkworm expression system is a cost-effectiv e platform for producing TPO with high antigen activity.