作业成本法成本动因选择：应用于中国石油公司[文献翻译].doc

原文：The Choice of Cost Drivers in Activity-Based Costing: Application at a Chinese Oil Well Cementing CompanyIn recent years, activity-based costing (ABC) has become a popular cost and operations management technique to improve the accuracy of product or service costs for firms to stay competitive. Two authors went to Xian area to collect a sample data on fuel overhead cost, number of wells, well-depth, distance, weight, and ton-kilometers at a Chinese oil well cementing company. We also verified the data accuracy with the company controller. This study investigates how to choose the appropriate cost driver of fuel overhead costs when adopting ABC . Using the linear regression analysis and the maximum r-square improvement (MAXR) model selection method, the empirical results show that among the five possible cost drivers of the number of wells, the distance from the office to the field, the weight of the cement and additive materials, the depth of well cementing, and the ton-kilometers measured by the product of the distance and the weight, the best cost driver is the product of the distance and the weight. Thus, by applying the ABC system and using the product of the distance and the weight as the cost driver will improve the fuel cost allocation accuracy among individual wellsABC is the first to study and select cost driver(s) for a Chinese company using aseries of regression models. This company implements the traditional costing system using a simplified single cost driver, oil well depth, to allocate six overhead costs to individual wells. The companys top management was concerned with the current method that distorted the total cost of each individual oil well cementing work. Our study shows that by using the ABC system and the regression analysis method to select the appropriate cost driver, the company can improve the accuracy of its overhead cost allocation to an individual well.The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The next section describes the company background, activities, and activity cost pools. It is followed by a theoretical analysis of cost driver options. Then we conduct empirical tests of overhead cost driver options using an oil well cementing firms data, which includes hypotheses development, research design, data description and a discussion of the main results. The final section presents the conclusions of this study.ABC Oil Well Cementing Company, a cost center affiliated with a Chinese State-owned Oil Conglomerate, specializes in cementing oil wells and gas wells. In petroleum well construction, cementing is the process used to make sure that an oil or a gas well is firmly protected for the later oil or gas exploration work. The organizational structure of ABC Oil Well Cementing Company is presented in Chart1. There are six headquarter overhead departments, four well cementing units, and four repair and maintenance stations. Under each cementing unit, there are construction teams, lime storages, and laboratories. Cementing units A, B, and C, with an overall annual drilling footage of more than 1.9 million meters, are in charge of oil well cementing work. Cementing unit D, with an overall annual drilling footage of more than 0.8 millionmeters, is in charge of both oil and gas well cementing work. The current costing system is a traditional costing system to account for each of the individual wells. Specifically,(1) The direct material is mainly composed of the cement and additive materials. The direct material cost is charged to the individual wells directly.(2) The overhead cost is recorded under the following six cost accounts: fuel cost,traveling cost, labor cost, equipment related cost, motor vehicle related cost, and other overhead cost.(3) The monthly actual fuel consumption for all cementing units is recorded in the fuel cost account, and is applied to individual wells based on predetermined fuel budget percentages.(4) The monthly actual traveling cost reimbursement for all individual wells from all cementing units is recorded in the traveling cost account. The traveling cost is allocated to individual wells based on the actual well depth.(5) The monthly actual labor cost for all cementing units, including the salary, bonus, fringe benefits, and overtime premium, is recorded in the labor cost account. The labor cost is allocated to the individual wells based on the actual well depth.(6) The monthly actual equipment related overhead cost for all cementing units, including the depreciation expense, rental expense, and repair and maintenance expense, is recorded in the equipment cost account. The equipment cost is allocated to the individual wells based on the actual well depth.(7) The motor vehicle cost for all cementing units, including the insurance, government charged administration fee for highway transportation, vehicle license fee, and the road toll charge, etc., is recorded in the motor vehicle cost account. The vehicle cost is allocated to the individual wells based on the actual well depth.(8) All other overhead cost is allocated to the individual wells based on the actual well depth. ABC Oil Well Cementing Companys overhead cost is about 50% of the total cost. Under the current costing system, overhead cost is primarily allocated to the individual wells based on the actual well depth. As a result, the current overhead allocation method is over-simplified. There is not much cause-effect relationship between each of the six overhead account costs and the cost driver of using the actual well depth. That means that under the current costing system, the companys individual well cementing costs are distorted substantially. Therefore, the companys top management decided to improve the accuracy of the current costing system by setting up an ABC team with the consultation of two of our co-authors to conduct an empirical study of the companys major activities, activity cost pools, and to design and implement an ABC system with appropriate cost drivers.At ABC Oil Well Cementing Company, the ABC team, in consultation with top managers, identifies six activity centers of lime storage, well drillings, transportation, repair and maintenance, laboratory testing, and administrative coordination.In these six activities, the ABC team finds that the transportation activity overhead cost is the most important cost for company management to control. The transportation activity includes packing, loading, and transporting the direct materials and the equipment needed for well drillings from the company office to the oil well field. Cement trucks, tank trucks, water-tank lorries, and pressure cars are needed for the transportation activity. Cement trucks are viewed by the ABC Company as transportation equipment, while tank trucks, water-tank lorries, and pressure cars are viewed as transportation andcementing equipment.The resource consumption or overhead cost for the transportation activity includes labor cost, equipment related cost, facility related cost such as parking or renting fees, and other motor vehicle cost. Considering that driving the tank trucks, water-tank lorries, and pressure cars from the company office to the oil field are needed both for the transportation purpose and the well drilling purpose, it is difficult to decide on the proportion of labor cost and equipment cost that should be assigned to the “transportation” activity pool and the “well drillings” activity pool.Fuel cost is also incurred both for the purpose of transportation and for the purpose of well drillings. Again, it is difficult to decide which part of the fuel expense should be assigned to the activity pool of “transportation” and which part of the fuel cost should be assigned to the activity pool of “well drillings”. According to the historical data pattern revealed from the field interview, the fuel cost incurred for the purpose of well drillings account for 30% of the total fuel cost. The ABC team decides to assign all the fuel cost to the activity pool “transportation” and to assign related labor and equipment costs to the activity pool of “well drillings.” Fuel cost accounts for 8-12% of the total overhead cost, thus the application of fuel cost will significantly influence the cost of the individual wells. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate cost driver of fuel cost is critical for an accurate cost assignment.There are two purposes of activity-based costing. The first purpose is to prevent cost distortion. Cost distortion occurs because traditional costing combines all indirect costs into a single cost pool. This pool is allocated on the basis of some resource common to all of the companys products, typically direct labor. Cost distortion is prevented in ABC by adopting multiple cost pools (activities) and cost drivers. The second purpose is to minimize waste or non-value-adding activities by providing a process view. This objective can be achieved by activity analysis with multiple cost pools (activities) and cost drivers.COST DRIVERSThe cost driver is at the heart of activity-based costing. A cost driver in ABC is defined more specifically as an allocation base of costs to activities (Horngren et al. 1999). The major distinction between traditional cost accounting and ABC is that ABC uses multiple cost drivers to assign activity costs to products or services (Cokins 1996). The final output of an activity-based costing is cost driver information (Miller 1996). Understanding the causal relationship between an activity and its cost driver enables management to focus improvement efforts on those areas that will produce the best results (Miller 1996). Because causal relationship can change according to situation, cost driver for an activity can change. Therefore it is required to check and update the activity data to make sure that appropriate cost drivers are being used. As that being said, please note that cost driver example shown in Table 4 is one of many options.EXAMPLE Construction, Inc has an industrial project (D-890) consisting of five different buildings in which form and rebar work is done direct-hire (using its own employees). Suppose that D-890 is a cost-plus project. A new project manager recognized that the current costing method does not accurately assign costs for each building and neither provides nor promotes a process view. He persuades the company to adopt a new costing method.ABC AND NON-FINANCIAL INFORMATIONManagers can get a different information channel (non-financial information) other than cost information. Quality information such as the number of inspection failures can be an example. However, ABC converts non-financial information to cost information. Dollar is a media with which all managers and workers can communicate each other. It can be said that ABC provides a frame in which various non-financial information can be utilized. Information that is converted to a dollar value has more impact on human behavior than other information. IMPLEMENTATION: MOVING FORWARDAs seen from the above example, managers can get accurate cost information on each work division or each building, and get a process view by using ABC. The research needs more case studies on actual construction projects. In case studies, a researcher will participate as a consultant in an active way. The researcher will teach engineers a detailed procedure for implementing ABC and encourage them to test that procedure on their own projects. For a case study, one general contractors project without direct-hire work and several direct-hire projects will be selected and tested. Note that the research will test the implementation of ABC only on several cost accounts during a specific time frame instead of a whole project. ABC reports will be discussed with professionals in comparison with previous cost reports. Discussion will focus on the opportunity that ABC reports provide.CONCLUSIONSThe paper deals with only the use of the information during implementation of the project. Of course, the information can be used in the preparation of the project. Choosing an alternative in procurement channel or subcontract selection can be an example. However, such use in the preparation of the project can be possible only after activity cost data is available. Therefore setting up a new costing system and its use during the implementation is to be accomplished first. This paper showed an example of the application of ABC in construction and its potential benefits compared with RBC. Theoretically ABC is based on a “flow view” of production theory in at least two ways: First, process-based costing assumes that resources are assigned to activities (processes) and activities (processes) are assigned to pieces of projects whereas resource-based costing assumes resources are directly assigned to pieces of projects/ products. Second, the purpose of process-based costing is not only preventing a cost distortion but also providing a process view, thereby helping reduce or eliminate wastes or non-value-added activities. In conclusion, lean project control can encompass the cost control by adopting an activity-based costing system.Source: U.S. Thomas W Lin, ABC Driver Selection: Application to the Chinese oil companies, International Journal of Management. Vol 27 (2), 2010 (8): P367-371. 译文：作业成本法成本动因选择： 应用于中国石油公司近年来，作业成本法（ABC）已成为一个热门的成本和运营管理技术，提高产品或服务的成本能为企业保持竞争力。两位作者去了西安地区收集了一份中国油井公司的燃料成本开销样本数据表，口井数，井深度，距离，重量和公里。我们也验证了控制器与公司数据的准确性。本研究探讨如何选择燃油在通过农业银行的间接费用适当的成本驱动程序。采用线性回归分析和最-R-平方改善（MAXR）模型选择方法，实证结果显示，公司几年的五个油井的成本驱动，从办公室到外地的距离，水泥的重量，添加剂材料，固井，变化与吨由距离和重量，最好的成本驱动的距离和重量产品的产品检测公里深度。因此，通过运用ABC系统和使用产品的距离，以提高单井燃料之间的成本分配的准确性。中国公司使用一系列回归模型第一次选择了作业成本法的研究和选择成本驱动程序。这家公司实现了传统的成本核算系统简化了单一成本驱动，油井深度，间接费用分配六个人口井。该公司的高层管理人员所关心方法，是个别固井工作的总成本。我们的研究表明，通过使用ABC系统和回归分析方法来选择合适的成本动因，公司可以提高其准确性，间接费用分配到个人。本文的其余部分的结构如下。介绍公司背景，活动和作业成本法。其次是一个理论体系分析成本动因的选择。然后，我们进行的间接成本驱动程序使用石油固井公司的数据，其中包括假设的开发，研究设计，数据描述和讨论结果，实证检验。最后一节介绍了这项研究的结论。 美国广播公司油井固井公司是成本中心与中国国有石油砾岩下属，专门从事固井油井和天然气井。在石油建井，固井是用来确保油井或井，为后来坚决石油或天然气的勘探工作做好ABC的油井固井公司组织结构保护的气体在Chart1提出的过程。总部开销有六个部门，四个固井单位，四个修理和维修站。在每个固井设备，有施工队伍，石灰储量和实验室。固井单位，整体190多万米钻井进尺的A，B和C，是在石油固井工作负责。固井，整体超过年度钻井进尺080.00万米单元D，在石油和固井工作做好当前的煤气费是成本核算系统是一种传统的成本核算系统的每个帐户单井。具体来说，（1）直接材料主要由水泥和含添加剂的材料。直接材料成本直接记入个人井。 （2）间接费用是记录在以下六个成本账户：燃料成本，行程成本，劳动力成本，设备相关成本，汽车相关的成本，和其他间接成本。 （3）每月对所有固井单位的实际耗油量记录在燃料成本账户，并应用到预定的燃料预算百分比计算单井。 （4）每月实际旅行费用的一切个别井固井单位报销所有记录在旅行费用帐户。旅游成本分配到实际单井井深为基础。 （5）每月对所有固井单位，包括工资，奖金，福利和加班费保费实际的劳工成本，是记录在劳动力成本的帐户。劳动成本分配到实际井深为基础的个人井。（6）每月实际固井设备的所有单位，包括折旧费，租赁费，维修保养费用和相关的管理费用，都被记录在设备的费用帐户。该设备的成本分配到实际井深为基础的个人井。 （7）所有固井单位，包括机动车辆保险费用，政府收取的公路运输，车辆牌照费，道路通行费，手续费等，在汽车的成本帐。车辆费用分配上的实际井深为基础的个人井。 （8）所有其他间接成本分配到实际井深为基础的个人井。 美国广播公司油井固井公司的开销成本大约是成本总数的50。根据目前的成本核算系统，主要是间接成本分配到实际井深为基础的个人井。因此，目前的开销分配方法过于简单。没有太多的因果关系的六个开销帐户费用和使用的实际井深成本动因每个关系。这意味着，在目前的成本核算体系，使公司的个人固井成本大幅扭曲。因此，公司的高层管理人员决定改进，成立了ABC团队进行对该公司的主要活动的研究，活动成本库的实证研究当前成本核算系统的准确性，设计并实施适当的成本动因ABC制度。在美国广播公司油井固井公司，美国广播公司的团队与高层管理者进行磋商，确定了六个石灰储存，以及钻探，运输，修理和维护，实验室检测，活动中心和行政协调。在这六项活动，美国广播公司的团队认为，运输活动的开销成本是公司最重要的管理控制成本。活动包括包装运输，装卸和运输的直接材料和良好的公司办公室的石油钻井井场所需的设备。水泥车，油罐车，水罐槽货车，轿车和压力，需要的运输活动。水泥车被视为由ABC公司作为交通运输设备，而坦克车，水货车水箱和压力车运输和固井设备。用于运输活动的资源消耗或间接成本包括如停车或租用费，以及其他机动车低成本劳动力成本，设备相关成本，设施相关的成本。考虑到驾驶的坦克车，水罐货车，并从公司办公室到油田压力汽车所需的运输目的和宗旨都钻井，这是很难决定的劳动力成本和设备成本的比例应分配到“行”活动的游泳池和“井钻探”活动池。燃料成本既为运输目的，也为井钻的目的。再次，这是很难决定哪种燃料支出部分应分配到“行”和它的燃料成本部分应分配到“井钻探”的活动池。根据历史数据模式从外地采访时透露，燃油费用为井钻探目的而引起的占“30总燃料成本。美国广播公司团队决定转让其全部的燃料成本的活动池“交通”，并指派相关劳力和设备成本的活动池8-12的总开销“井钻探。”燃料成本账户，从而应用的燃料成本将大大影响到个人井的费用。因此，适当的燃料成本成本动因的选择是一个准确的成本分配的关键。有两种作业成本法的目的。第一个目的是为了防止成本扭曲。成本扭曲的原因在于传统的成本核算结合成一个单一成本池中的所有间接费用。该池是分配资源的基础上的一些共同的公司的所有产品，通常直接的劳动。成本扭曲，是防止在ABC采用多个成本池（活动）和成本驱动因素。第二个目的是减少废物和非增值提供了一个进程的活动。这个目标可以通过多种活动成本库（活动）和成本驱动因素的分析。成本驱动成本驱动程序是在作业成本法的核心。以ABC成本驱动程序更明确的规定作为成本分配基础的活动（霍恩格伦等。1999年）。与传统的成本会计和美国广播公司ABC的主要区别是，使用多个成本动因活动费分配到产品或服务（Cokins1996年）。一个基于活动的成本最终结果是成本驱动程序信息（米勒1996年）。活动之间的了解和其成本驱动的因果关系使管理层专注于这些领域，将产生最佳结果（米勒1996）改进的努力。由于因果关系，可以根据情况变化，对某项活动的成本驱动程序可以改变。因此，这是需要检查和更新的活动数据，以确保适当的成本驱动因素正在使用。正如他这样说，