Toyota: Activity-Based Costing and the Prius Battery Plant
Activity-Based Costing is a good way to consider the impact on pricing and distribution capability that Toyota's battery plant will bear. This implicates two activities for Toyota: the greater capability to meet demand on its Prius and the ability to produce a key resource for the Prius through in-house operations. The activities of Prius sales and battery production both come with inbuilt costs and distinct economic opportunities, which the ABC method of assessment helps to measure against one another.
The primary cost driver to be considered with respect to both of these activities is the cost of the facilities currently under construction. This includes such costs as resource materials, proper licensing and adherence to regulation, effective research and development and the regular long-term maintenance of such a facility. This points to a current cost-driver in the activity of producing the Prius, which is derived from the relative scarcity on the market of the materials needed for the Prius battery. This has long driven up the cost of funding activities pertaining to production and distribution, a condition to which Toyota has responded with the commission of its new facilities.
Accordingly, we find that "Limited supplies of the Prius led to a four per cent drop in U.S. sales this year through August for the market's most fuel-efficient car, even as gasoline prices topped $1.06 a litre. U.S. allocation of the cars is 15,000 a month, little changed from a year ago, said Jim Lentz, president of the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker's U.S. sales unit." (M.P., 1) This means that there is an activity-based cost relating to the acquisition of such batteries that likely exceeds that of in-house battery production. This strategy would be expected in the long-run to reduce the overall cost of the vehicle by reducing the market scarcity of the battery.
Works Cited:
Mixed Power (MP). (2008). Toyota Expands Hybrid Battery Plant. Mixedpower.com.
The above extension or explanation of the responsibility of a managerial accounatant mainly highlights the fact that a managerial accountant has responsibilities not only to the finance department of an organization but also the entire team that is working within the organization. Hence, along with the classification, calculation, assessment, understanding, and transferring all the relevant financial data, the managerial accountant is also responsible for helping the business team: Customer satisfaction reports
Health Care -- Lean Philosophy on Cost Reduction and Quality Improvement Lean Philosophy is initially traced back to Henry Ford's innovative assembly line, revolutionizing manufacturing while failing to provide true variety. Building on Ford's concepts Toyota management established a Lean Philosophy in the 1930's and 1940's that focused on production flow and waste elimination, resulting in rapid, low cost and high quality processes, along with simpler and more accurate management. These
" When JIT was newly introduced all the deliveries were done by bicycles which were handled by humans, although with the rise in scale came the adoption of van and lorries for the deliveries. And this in turn has other problems which were highlighted by Cusumano (1994). Firstly the time which is wasted while the vans are stuck in traffic jams, this can result in late deliveries, the inventory which
Use of single version of the truth and single information Balanced set of strategic metrics (Financial and non-financial). New methods of cost accounting (ABC, Target Costing). Internal vs. External Focus (Benchmarking and Self-Assessment). Process Management and Measures (value delivery). Stakeholder value measures Uniform set of measures Causal relationships between measures across all levels. Source: Lieberman; (1994; et.al.). Automotive Industry Analysis Entering 2007 it is clear that Japanese firms, lead by Toyota, will be at parity with and potentially surpass the
This allows for greater levels of planning and cooperation, and fills in the information gap that currently exists between the factory floor and the rest of the supply chain. Lexmark provides an example of waste. Recently, the company found itself with more than $1 million in scrap from one lot. Engineers had insufficient information to isolate and fix the problem, so were instead relegated to crisis control. With more accurate
"Management believes that the accounting estimates employed are appropriate and the resulting balances are reasonable; however, due to the inherent uncertainties in making estimates actual results could differ from the original estimates, requiring adjustments to these balances in future periods." Based on the data retrieved and the projections made, the accounting division will proceed to the development of the consolidated statements for all of GM subsidies and the overall group.
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now