Cost Identification: Accounting versus Economic Perspectives

Abstract

‘Contemporary cost accounting and management control systems … are no longer providing accurate signals about the efficiency and profitability of internally managed transactions. Consequently, managers are not getting information to help them compare the desirability of internal versus external transaction. Without the receipt of appropriate cost and profitability information, the ability of the “visible hand” to effectively manage the myriad transactions that occur in a complex hierarchy has been severely compromised’ (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987, p. 205).