New cost accounting models in measuring of library employees' performance

Abstract

PurposeThe current article aims to give an overview of how the new cost accounting models, such as activity‐based costing (ABC) and time‐driven activity‐based costing (TDABC) are researched and adapted by university libraries, focusing on the methods used for measuring work time allocation as well as on the strengths and weaknesses of both models.Design/methodology/approachThe data used in this paper are based on reviewing and summarizing of relevant studies which were conducted in libraries inspired by the ideas of modern theoretical considerations and treatments relating to cost accounting and costing, originally developed for industry and private sector organizations.FindingsThe implementation of cost accounting systems in libraries has historically been treated as a technical innovation rather than an organizational or management innovation. The most important consideration is that librarians are not machines, which can be set at a given speed and expected to produce a uniform product. It turns out that the results of such research are largely affected by what methods are used to identify the time spent on activities and how well the management of libraries or researchers were able to explain to the staff the necessity for such research.Originality/valueBesides the articles published so far dealing with the implementation of ABC and TDABC in libraries, no research or surveys focus on these issues from the perspective of employees.

Activity-Based Costing of Library Services in Universities—A Case Study of a Private University

“…Therefore, this study illustrates the implementation of activity-based costing of library services in a private university in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study is based on a four-step approach which includes the following (Ellis-Newman, 2003;Kont, 2012): 1) Interviews with library staff; 2) Identification of activities and relevant cost drivers;…”

“…The cost pool may be a very general accumulation, such as aggregating all costs involved in user services into one cost pool, or it may be more detailed so that each separate activity carried out in user services has its own cost pool. Aggregating all user services costs into one cost pool will greatly reduce the accuracy of the measured service costs, as the majority of activities in user services are driven by different cost drivers (Kont, 2012).…”

“…With the data they have traditionally collected, libraries can assess details about the costs of collection building; what they need now is reliable data about the costs of their services and products (Onat, Anitsal, & Anitsal, 2014). Kont (2012) argues that ABC is ideally suited for use in academic libraries. Many activities are discrete and the major expenditure, salaries, can be easily traced according to the amount of time each staff member spends on each activity.…”

Comparative Study: Activity Based Costing and Time Driven Activity Based Costing in Electronic Industry

“…ABC had been widely used due to its several advantages. It provided accurate, timely and reliable information to managers in order to make decisions [6], helped to determine the process cost of contemporary production processes [7], provided a more accurate product cost than TCA [8], helped to doing cost estimation during complex processes exist [9], achieved a proper cost estimation tool to set up budget of a complex project [10], allowed to estimate production costs and environmental cost accurately [11], helped to estimates the product/service costs by assigning the cost to the activities involved in the creation process [12], provided actual cost information to support management to do decision making [13], provided detailed and accurate cost information often required in taking various managerial decisions [14], provided detailed information for planning and controlling which lead to reduce unnecessarily costs [15], provided actual cost information that make management easy to provide decision making [16], helped to understand how to allocate resources and funding for activities to each system through appropriate cost drivers [17], helped for effectively computing values of cost drivers as well as making accurate cost estimations [18], helped managers understand how to allocate resources for activities through appropriate cost drivers [19], provided more detailed information on costs accurately calculate the manufacturing cost of our choice [20], helped to calculate an increasingly accurate manufacturing cost amidst the situation in which the share of indirect manufacturing cost increases due to the production technology advancement [9], helped to identify profitable and non-profitable products and account for resource constraints [21], determined the relative profitability of each market segment [22], helped to provide production plan and achieve the optimal profitable product mix [11] and improved all the company's inefficient activities [23].…”

Improving Library Management by Using Cost Analysis Tools: A Case Study for Cataloguing Processes

“…However, these studies were mainly treated as technical rather than organizational or managerial innovations (Kont, 2011). EllisNewman et al (1996) report that the majority of prior studies on library costs were undertaken in the United States, utilizing cost allocation models more compatible with traditional costing methods.…”