Abstract

DA COSTA MARQUES, Maria da Conceição. Contributions of the ABC Model in Decision-Making: the Case of Universities. Cuad. Contab. [online]. 2012, vol.13, n.33, pp.527-543. ISSN 0123-1472.

Along with the rapid advancements in technology, growing competitiveness and liberalisation of recent decades, there has been a change in production and management in organisations (Johnson & Kaplan, 1987). Such changes question the usefulness and validity of the information supplied by traditional cost accounting systems (Ahmed & Scapens, 2003) and have led to the emergence of new approaches. This paper makes use of the ABC (Activity Based Costing) system, and shows the validity of its contribution to competitiveness in organisations in general, and in universities in particular. The ABC is based on the guiding principles for accounting activities and aims to gather essential information for management decision-making. The objective is to become more competitive in action, in providing service, educational and research services, with particular regard to the changes and challenges characteristic of the modern world.

Keywords : Management Control; ABC System; activity; resources; Activity-based costing; social responsability of bussines; financial accounting; cost analysis.

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