This research work focuses on the ABC / ABM Methodology Proposal in Cuban companies, based on a study of variables. Its main objective is to propose a methodology for the implementation of an ABC / ABM System in companies.
The proposed system aims to facilitate decision-making by the organization's managers, since current cost systems lack information to efficiently manage the services that customers demand.
A broad search for criteria from different authors was carried out on the evolution of Management Accounting, analyzing its main contributions and demonstrating the advantages of ABC / ABM over Traditional Costs.
As a result of the research, important conclusions are reached that help to improve the way of managing the resources and activities that are consumed and executed in the companies under study. They also allow these variables to be considered to guide the researcher towards where he should go before proposing a methodology for the implementation of a Cost and Management System based on Activities for any Cuban company.
Introduction
The current business environment imposes the need for organizational units to modify the management of their processes and activities. In turn, business improvement seeks greater efficiency in Cuban companies, so that they are recognized both in the national and international markets.
A new organizational culture is gradually being reached in companies, trying to adapt to the new environment that surrounds them, in order to increase their market possibilities. To the extent that this occurs on the outside, important changes occur within it with the same speed, both in organizational structures and in management.
New techniques and tools are succeeded in replacing the already traditional ones, in order to establish maximum efficiency in business management. To do this, new procedures are introduced to strengthen the organization internally, with respect to the environment and customer demands.
The Cost and Management System based on ABC / ABM Activities is currently considered, within the theories related to business management, as a tool to be successful in the proper use of information for internal and external decision making.
Within the business practice according to the articles consulted, there are limitations that have influenced the failure of the ABC / ABM System. However, there is evidence of the need to adopt these systems that guarantee a more effective calculation and management of costs.
Therefore, the research problem lies in how to manage the information with more quality on costs that allows making adequate decisions in Cuban companies?
Starting from the Scientific Problem, the following hypotheses are proposed: If a new methodology is proposed that recognizes the variables that influence the implementation of the ABC / ABM System, then timely information can be obtained for decision-making in Cuban companies.
The General Objective of this work to comply with the proposed hypothesis is:
In the research, methods, techniques and tools are used that facilitate the obtaining of data for the analysis of the object of study, among which are: interviews, questionnaires, surveys, observations, report studies of the selected entity and statistical methods.
Development
The use of an Activity Costs System acquired special relevance in a controversial and dynamic environment such as the final stage of the 20th century, given the conditions in which business managers needed information that would allow them to make decisions regarding the combination and design of products, as well as in technological processes, elements linked to the profitability of the organization on a global scale. Therefore, the methodology that is proposed for the implementation of an ABC / ABM System is presented in Figure # 1. This methodology is made up of three phases and nine stages that will be explained below.
Phase I: Analysis of the variables that influence the implementation of the ABC / ABM System in companies
For the selection of the variables that most influence the implementation of the ABC / ABM System, the competition coefficient for the Selection of Experts will be applied.
An expert is understood as both the individual himself and a group of people or organizations capable of offering conclusive assessments of a problem in question and making recommendations with a maximum of competence.
In preparing the list of experts, a study of their quality is made and their workplace is considered, as well as their real possibility of collaboration.
Phase II: Management of processes and activities
This phase is developed, with the objective of obtaining the processes that are executed within the company, determining the sub-processes that are inherent to it and the activities that correspond to it.
Stage 1: Analysis of the processes
It comprises a management stage, where the advisors and users of the system participate jointly. In it, the selected experts participate, who have knowledge in management systems and have a general command of the entity's processes.
Stage 2: Design or strategic redesign of processes
At this stage people participate who can provide important criteria given the degree of experience accumulated in the activity they carry out. It is a stage that involves the majority of the company's workers, since all areas that carry out activities inherent to the selected processes participate.
Stage 3: Analysis of activities
For the analysis of the activities, the classification of Porter (1985) will be used, in primary activities and support activities. Noting that if it is important to identify the primary activities, it is also important to identify the support activities, since the latter guarantee that all of them can be carried out as efficiently as possible.
Stage 4: Hierarchy of activities by levels
The hierarchy of activities is nothing more than the grouping of homogeneous activities at different levels according to their behavior in the process. The activities should be grouped by levels: unit level; batch level; product level; customer level and finally company level.
The hierarchy of activities in this research is established considering the parameter that determines the variability of the cost, in this way we work with variable costs at different levels of activity, which allows transforming most of the indirect costs with respect to the service, into direct costs with respect to some of the activity levels mentioned above.
Stage 5: Choice of cost drivers
At this stage, it is important to clearly define the difference between the cost driver and the activity unit:
Cost driver: constitutes the cause of the origin of the cost, that is, the variable that causes the level of cost reached.
Activity unit: represents the effect and is related to the result of the process, that is, to the final service or product, therefore, it determines or tries to measure the effect, determining the variations in the cost structure of an activity.
A characteristic of the proposed procedure is that the same cost driver can be used for various activities, as long as the grouped activities are homogeneous.
Phase III. Determination of the cost of the processes
This phase begins from the sixth stage of the procedure and is fundamentally related to the determination of the cost of the different stages that continue and that are part of the total cost of the services that clients demand.
Stage 6: Calculation of the cost of primary and support activities
In order to determine the cost of the primary and support activities, it is necessary to use the previously stated stages, since it depends on this to know more exactly the total cost of the activity that is executed within the process.
In this sense, the primary documents help and support decision-making through the information they provide from the existing record and control of said activity.
Stage 7: Allocation of the cost of support activities to primary activities.
To make the cost allocation it is necessary to consider the 5th. Stage of Phase II. In other words, identify and select the cost drivers that reflect the best cause-effect relationship for each primary activity that is executed.
Once the costs of the support activities have been assigned to the primary activities, the costs of the activities are assigned to the different processes carried out in the company.
Stage 8: Allocation of the cost of activities to operational processes
In this stage occurs the allocation of the cost of the support activities to the primary activities of the different processes and the allocation of the activities of the strategic processes and of support to the operational processes.
First, the allocation of the cost of the support activities to the different primary activities inherent to the different processes that occur, and then the allocation of the primary activities of these processes to the operational processes of the company.
In turn, it is important to point out that the unidentified costs and expenses of the primary and support activities inherent to the selected processes will be treated as costs and expenses for the period as mentioned above.
Stage 9: Calculation of the total cost of operational processes
To determine the cost of the operational processes, the allocation of the cost of the primary activities of the strategic processes and support to the operational processes should be considered.
In this sense, the costs that are finally assigned to said operational processes constitute the final objective of each process, which will allow to subsequently evaluate the activities that were not profitable and that must be improved in the shortest possible time and that is reflected in the sequence to follow for the determination of said calculation.
Determining the cost of operational processes makes it possible to know how much it costs to execute operational processes.
Conclusions
1. Studying the doctrinal foundations of the ABC / ABM System, facilitated the elaboration of an ABC / ABM methodology for Cuban companies,
2. The ABC / ABM System is a system that integrates the analysis of costs in a detailed way, with an approach more efficient management by analyzing the processes and activities that actually incur costs and add value to the customer.
3. The current cost systems in Cuban companies limit timely decision-making by not providing all the necessary information on the management of their areas.
4. Through research, it is possible to know the variables that most influence the proposed ABC / ABM methodology, which will facilitate working on those that constitute barriers in the search for information.
recommendations
1. For the application of this system, training and advisory courses must be planned and carried out for company personnel, which will allow the proposed ABC / ABM methodology to be put into practice in the shortest possible time.
2. Disseminate the results of the investigation in different ways with a view to its theoretical and practical consolidation in companies.
3. That the research carried out be used as a methodological document for all company personnel, in order to achieve a greater culture on the ABC / ABM System.
4. Integrate the ABC / ABM Software to the proposed methodology so that the information and results are obtained in the shortest possible time.
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