Cost Management for IT Activities: A Case Study in the IT Division of a French Bank Using Activity-Based Costing

The costs of information technology (IT) activities have been increasing rapidly these recent years, due to the technological sophistication and more market-oriented strategies that complexify the value chains of the firms. Many of these expenses do not relate to individual products but are associated to customers, market segments and distribution channels. In this context, the companies try to understand the cost of selling their products and services. This is the reason why customer-driven and market-oriented cost management approaches have gained in popularity.In this paper, we review in a first part the strategic cost management stream and the way we can give a customer orientation to c…

Le déploiement d'un pilotage stratégique des coûts dans les services informatiques de deux groupes internationaux : perspective instrumentale et analyse comparative

This article analyses the strategic cost management stream with an instrumental point of view and two case studies. We try to show in what extend the Activity-based Costing developments could be included in a strategic approach of the management accounting and to test if the ABC is a relevant tool to drive the strategy. The first part synthesizes the strategic cost management developments which try to improve the Activity-based Costing method. In the first part, we describe them using the Strategic Management Accounting stream, with a link with cost management and ABC. The second part exposes a taxonomy of the reasons why using the ABC method. In a third part, we confront our developments t…

Liens entre la participation budgétaire et la performance managériale : contingence et médiateurs

Cette recherche porte sur les managers qui participent au budget afin d’en évaluer la performance. Le premier objectif de cette recherche est d’étudier le lien entre la participation budgétaire et la performance managériale. Elle vise à apporter un éclaircissement sur ce lien tout en accordant une importance particulière à la dimension cognitive et agentielle. Le second objectif est de contribuer au management des entreprises hôtelières grâce aux suggestions issues des résultats de recherche. La théorie sociale cognitive et la théorie de l’agence font l’objet d’analyse dans le cadre de notre recherche. Elles sont capitales, car nous faisons le point sur plusieurs médiateurs et modérateurs.D…

A Typology of Cost Accounting Practices Based on Activity-Based Costing – A Strategic Cost Management Approach and a Case Study

This paper examines cost accounting methods containing one or more activity-based costing (now ABC) like dimensions. The research reviews these methods since the early stages of ABC. The objective is to analyze cost accounting proposals with, in part, a philosophy reminiscent ABC. For all the methods examined, ABC is a starting point at least one important component. The research purposes are to analyze the strategic dimension of the methods described and to build a typology useful for managers. Factors of usefulness are considered in the paper. The discussion leads to a four-dimensional typology based on three strategic objectives assigned to the cost accounting systems. The foundation of …

Représentation territorialisée de la performance. Les rapports de développement durable dans le secteur de la construction automobile et du transport aérien en Asie et en Europe

The territorial presentation of performance: the sustainability reports in automotive and aerial transport industries in Asia and EuropaThis research studies the sustainability reports of 18 automobile constructors and airlines companies for 2011. The study aims at identifying the objectives pursued by these firms and analyzing both similarities and differences. Introducing the concept of territory, we propose to consider sustainability reports as tools for a story-telling that would reconcile the social and the economic dimensions of the firms.

The Diffusion of the Activity-Based Costing Method: A Comparison between France and China

In France, like in the USA, the Activity-based Costing method (ABC) was considered as a remedy for the crisis of management accounting. Now, the level of diffusion in France is as important as in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Not surprisingly, the ABC method is more developed in western countries than in China. Chinese scholars began to do researches on ABC in the 1990s and at the beginnings of the 21st century, we can observe some ABC implementations in Chinese manufacturing enterprises and then in the service industries. But, we can also find a similarity between the Chinese and French situations. In France, we have observed some resistances to the Anglo-Saxon way of manage firms and at the …

Analyse historique du concept de performance en Chine. Un regard occidental

A historical analysis of the concept of Performance in China. A Western lectureWe base our work on an historical study of the concept of performance in China. We postulate from a literature review that organizations and their managers are strongly influenced by cultural and institutional determinants. As a result, we present these determinants that enable us to justify several hypotheses about Chinese managers’ behaviors. In this article, we show the disappearance of Confucian values behind a combination of pragmatism, interpersonal relations and influence networks.

Performance and decision-making process in China

A Comparison Between Japanese and French Cost Management – Contingency and Institutional Perspectives

From an historical perspective, management accounting is a very recent phenomenon (see Johnson & Kaplan, 1987) and is culturally grounded in a few old-industrialized countries, in Europe: Germany, United-Kingdom, France, but also in Japan and in the United-States. Notwithstanding the cultural dominance of English-speaking countries on management, non-English speaking countries keep strong institutional and cultural roots that still influence their ways of managing companies. This is the case when looking at management accounting and more especially at cost accounting and cost management practices (now cost accounting/management). This paper, based on contingency and institutional frameworks…

Developments Around the Activity-Based Costing Method: A State-of-the Art Literature Review

This paper analyzes the management accounting applications which try to improve the Activity-based Costing method. In the first part, we describe them using the Strategic Management Accounting stream. Then, we present the main features of these applications. In the second part, we examine in detail two of these features: The widening of the analysis perimeter and the relevant level of details to analyze the costs. Finally, we analyze several proposals: Customer-driven ABC, Inter-organizational Cost Management, Resource Consumption Accounting and Time-driven ABC.

Utilisation des critères non financiers pour évaluer ou piloter la performance : analyse théorique

The determinants which explain the use of non-financial measures in order to evaluate or drive the performance belong to disciplinary (contractual) and knowledge-based approaches. The aim of this paper is to propose a theoretical analysis of these explanations. For the disciplinary view, we realize a typology of the existing literature. We show that others theories explain the choice of non-financial measures too. For the knowledge-based view, we propose a synthesis of the existing literature in which the link between non-financial and theoretical explanations exists. Finally, we explain why the Balanced Scorecard can be associated to the disciplinary view and the Intellectual Capital to th…

The Balanced Scorecard as a Knowledge Management Tool: A French Experience in a Semi-Public Insurance Company

International audience; In this paper we present the Balanced Scorecard, a Strategic Control tool, which is quite famous all around the world and in the European countries. Its principle objective is to articulate planning decisions with control ones thanks to non-financial indicators. The Strategic Control and the Agency Theories constitute the foundation of this tool. But in Northern Europe, some specific Balanced Scorecard have been designed in the framework of the Knowledge Management Theory. To work, the Balanced Scorecard needs a sophisticated information system support. Using two theoretical backgrounds, the Strategic Control approach and the Knowledge Management Theory, we analyse t…

The Development of the Activity-Based Costing Method: A Comparison between France and China

In France, like in the USA, ABC was considered as a remedy for the crisis of management accounting. Now, the level of diffusion in France is as important as in Anglo-Saxon countries. Not surprisingly, the ABC method is more developed in western countries than in China. Chinese scholars began to do researches on ABC in the 1990s and at the beginnings of the 21st century, we can observe some ABC implementations in Chinese manufacturing enterprises and then in the service industries. We can also find a similarity between the Chinese and French situations. In France, we have observed some resistances to the Anglo-Saxon way of manage firms and at the beginnings, a tool like ABC has been strongly…

Compared Activity-Based Costing Case Studies in the Information System Departments of two Groups in France:A Strategic Management Accounting Approach

International audience; This paper analyses the strategic management accounting concept with an instrumental point of view. We try to show in what extend the ABC developments could be included in a strategic approach of the management accounting and to test if the ABC is a relevant tool to drive the strategy. The first part synthesizes the strategic management accounting developments, which try to improve the Activity-Based Costing method. In the first part, we describe them using the Strategic Management Accounting stream, with a link with cost management and ABC. The second part exposes a taxonomy of the reasons why using the ABC method. In a third part, we confront our developments to th…

The Strategic Scorecards: An Instrumentation of the Strategic Management Accounting. Exploration of a Concept, Instrumentation and Results from a French Empirical Study

I describe in this study a generic model of strategic management accounting instrumentation: the strategic scorecards. In order to build this generic model, I review in the existing literature the concepts of Strategic Control and Strategic Management Accounting (SMA). I present the characteristics of these concepts and analyse the reasons why they emerged. I show how the strategic scorecards are an instrumentation of the SMA in studying the most widely known and esteemed scorecards: the Balanced Scorecards (Kaplan & Norton, 1996) and Skandia's Navigator (Edvinsson & Malone, 1997). I then clarify the outlines for a generic model of strategic scorecard and disclose an "a priori" typology of …

Les motivations des managers utilisant des critères non financiers : une analyse empirique

We test the motives expressed by the managers to use the non-financial indicators so that the performance of the fi rm would increase. Is that really the main reason explaining the choice of the non-financial indicators ? Our study is based on a theoretical research distinguishing the Knowledge-based perspective from the Contractual one. Is that distinction relevant ? Within this framework, is it possible to discriminate firms types according to their use of the nonfinancial indicators ?

A comparison between Japanese and French cost management-Contingency and institutional perspectives

National audience; From an historical perspective, management accounting is a very recent phenomenon (see Johnson & Kaplan, 1987) and is culturally grounded in a few old-industrialized countries, in Europe: Germany, United-Kingdom, France, but also in Japan and in the United-Stated. Notwithstanding the cultural dominance of English-speaking countries on management, non-English speaking countries keep strong institutional and cultural roots that still influence their ways of managing companies. This is the case when looking at management accounting and more especially at cost accounting and cost management practices (now cost accounting/management). This paper, based on contingency and insti…

The Determinants of Performance in China: A Study Focused on Cultural and Institutional Drivers in the Area of Shanghai

We base our work on an historical study and on interviews of Chinese managers living in the area of Shanghai. We use the institutional theoretical stream in combination with the impact of national culture, considering that organizations and managers are influenced by cultural and institutional determinants. In a first part, we describe the theoretical background to the research and our method. Then, in a second part, we present the significant cultural and institutional features of China that enable us to justify several hypotheses about our topic. In a third part, we analyze twelve in-depth interviews, trying to answer our research question. Our basic research question focuses on what “Per…