Action analysis report:
A report showing what costs have been assigned to a cost object, such as a product or customer, and how difficult it would be to adjust the cost if there is a change in activity.
Activity:
An event that causes the consumption of overhead resources in an organization.
Activity cost pool:
A "bucket" in which costs are accumulated that relate to a single activity in the activity-based costing system.
Activity measure:
An allocation base in an activity-based costing system; ideally, a measure of the amount of activity that drives the costs in an activity cost pool.
Activity-based costing (ABC):
A costing method based on activities that is designed to provide managers with cost information for strategic and other decisions that potentially affect capacity and therefore fixed costs.
Activity-based management (ABM):
A management approach that focuses on managing activities as a way of eliminating waste and reducing delays and defects.
Batch-level activities:
Activities that are performed each time a batch of goods is handled or processed, regardless of how many units are in a batch. The amount of resource consumed depends on the number of batches run rather than on the number of units in the batch.
Customer-level activities:
Activities that are carried out to support customers but that are not related to any specific product.
Ease of adjustment codes:
Costs are coded as Green, Yellow, or Red - depending on how easily the cost could be adjusted to changes in activity. "Green" costs adjust automatically to changes in activity without any action by managers. "Yellow" costs could be adjusted in response to changes in activity, but such adjustments require management action; the adjustment is not automatic. "Red" costs could be adjusted to changes in activity only with a great deal of difficulty and the adjustment would require management action.
First-stage allocation:
The process by which overhead costs are assigned to activity cost pools in an activity-based costing system.
Organization-sustaining activities:
Activities that are carried out regardless of which customers are served, which products are produced, how many batches are run, or how many units are made.
Product-level activities:
Activities that relate to specific products that must be carried out regardless of how many units are produced and sold or batches run.
Second-stage allocation:
The process by which activity rates are used to apply costs to products and customers in activity-based costing.
Unit-level activities:
Activities that arise as a result of the total volume of goods and services that are produced, and that are performed each time a unit is produced.
