Download or read book Cost Accounting in the Service of Policy Reform written by Richard Kielbowicz and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long the nation's largest public utility, the Post Office Department lacked a regular means of ascertaining the costs of providing different mail services until 1926. The paucity of cost data, however, did not deter Congress from setting postage rates down to a fraction of a cent or from devising sweeping policies governing the nation's postal system. In setting rates, Congress had at best vague pricing theories in mind: value of service (mainly for letter mail), public service (the social utility of disseminating public information), and cost of service (advertising and parcels). Pressure to accurately gauge postal costs grew as the Post Office became a channel for different -- and often competing -- business services. In Lowi's typology of policy arenas, setting postage became a regulatory function. The best way for one mail class to obtain or retain low rates by the late 1800s was to see that postage was raised for another.Applied to postal policy, cost accounting revealed who benefited, and to what extent, from the federal government's largest enterprise. Rival parties seized on cost accounting for the added leverage it gave them in postal policymaking. Mailers other than publishers insisted that their postage cross-subsidized the dissemination of newspapers and magazines. These mailers and their allies in Congress had grown weary of publishers' repeated claims that cheap postage for periodicals was justified by the intangible benefits accruing to society; postal reformers now insisted on knowing the policy's tangible costs. Almost all players in policymaking found some benefit in cost accounting. Postal administrators, long blamed for the Department's deficits, saw cost ascertainment as a means to rebut critics and to improve their management of a far-flung bureaucracy. Private-sector accountants welcomed the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise in a public arena at a time when they were seeking popular support to extend their professional roles. The executive branch also encouraged cost accounting at the Post Office as part of its grander plans to overhaul the federal budgetary process. Some Progressive Era lawmakers hoped that the data adduced through cost accounting, a tool for the scientific management of public enterprises, would prompt reform of the postal subsidy long enjoyed by the press. Limitations in assigning joint costs, however, hindered reformers' efforts, which left a sizable realm for political judgments.
Download or read book Cost Accounting in Government written by Zachary Mohr and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Managerial cost accounting is the financial and managerial tool that is used to estimate the organizational cost of products and services in business and government. In recent decades, cost accounting in the United States and other advanced industrial countries has been dominated by discussions of Activity Based Costing or ABC. While ABC can be shown to produce a more accurate estimate of cost than older and more basic types of cost accounting, ABC is not used extensively in many governments. We argue that this recent focus on ABC has stifled examination and discussion of how government cost accounting is being used and how it could be used in practice. The study of cost accounting practice reveals an important and underexplored area of financial management in government. Given the scandals that cost accounting estimates can create and that different types of cost accounting can create different estimates of cost it may be reasonable to ask whether the cost accounting exercise is worth it? Cost Accounting in Government: Theory and Applications addresses these unusual and unusually important topics through a series of studies of different government cost accounting practices. The first section of the book presents two chapters on the history and basic elements of cost accounting. The second section of the book provides further discussion and case studies of actual cost accounting practices in the main areas that cost accounting has been used in government: benchmarking the performance of government services, rate setting, grant overhead cost recovery, and cost management. The last two chapters discuss cost accounting practices in Europe and the future of cost accounting. These cases span local and federal governments and provide a much needed context to the study of cost accounting in government. Aimed at academics, researchers and policy makers in the fields of Accounting, Public Administration, and Government Studies, Cost Accounting in Government: Theory and Applications seeks to address the practical and theoretical gap in government cost accounting research with case studies of different public agencies that are using cost accounting for different purposes. The case studies illustrate that different purposes for cost accounting create unique and interesting cost accounting practices. The case studies provide useful examples of actual cost accounting systems that can inform both research and instruction
Download or read book The Next Steps in Services Acquisition Reform written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cost Accounting Cost Recovery and Inter agency Sharing of Data Processing Facilities written by United States. Office of Management and Budget and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Economics of Defense Policy Cost accounting standards independent research and development and miscellaneous matters written by United States. Congress. Joint Economic Committee and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book True Cost Accounting for Food written by Barbara Gemmill-Herren and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains how True Cost Accounting is an effective tool we can use to address the pervasive imbalance in our food system. Calls are coming from all quarters that the food system is broken and needs a radical transformation. A system that feeds many yet continues to create both extreme hunger and diet-related diseases, and one which has significant environmental impacts, is not serving the world adequately. This volume argues that True Cost Accounting in our food system can create a framework for a systemic shift. What sounds on the surface like a practice relegated to accountants is ultimately a call for a new lens on the valuation of food and a new relationship with the food we eat, starting with the reform of a system out of balance. From the true cost of corn, rice and water, to incentives for soil health, the chapters economically compare conventional and regenerative, more equitable farming practices in and food system structures, including taking an unflinching look at the true cost of cheap labour. Overall, this volume points towards the potential for our food system to be more human-centred than profit-centred and one that has a more respectful relationship to the planet. It sets forth a path forward based on True Cost Accounting for food. This path seeks to fix our current food metrics, in policy and in practice, by applying a holistic lens that evaluates the actual costs and benefits of different food systems, and the impacts and dependencies between natural systems, human systems, agriculture and food systems. This volume is essential reading for professionals and policymakers involved in developing and reforming the food system, as well as students and scholars working on food policy, food systems and sustainability.
Download or read book Analytical Contribution Accounting written by W. Georges and published by Praeger. This book was released on 1987 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Business success or failure is often determined by decisions made in establishing selling prices for products and services. . . . In this clear and readable work, the authors present a good summary of the literature on pricing policy, emphasizing the relevance of costs. They propose a system that involves analyzing indirect costs to distinguish those that may be relevant to pricing in some circumstances but not others. This `analytical contribution accounting' has promise as a tool for many businesses. Students writing papers on costs and pricing policy would find this volume a useful starting point. The bibliography is good. . . . College and university collections. Using practical examples and simple language, this book develops an accounting system that is a new and functional key to making product pricing decisions. This accounting system, which bridges the gap between full and direct costing, is called Analytical Contribution Accounting. Georges and McGee demonstrate practically as well as theoretically why it is so superior for pricing purposes. The system is based on the relativity aspects implicit in the direct cost method, and on the calculations of a set of differentiated contributions.
Download or read book The Services Acquisition Reform Act SARA written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Management of the Department of Defense Cost accounting standards written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Managerial Cost Accounting Concepts and Standards for the Federal Government written by United States. Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Rethinking Public Accounting written by S.K. Das and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-06-25 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume argues for reforms in India's public spending and accounting systems. According to the author, it will help set performance standards and provide reliable information to monitor government expenditure. Critically analysing the cash accounting system, he shows that it is inadequate to respond to the requirements of public accounting. Comparative in nature, the book explores the lessons learnt from cutting-edge accounting practices in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden, and draws out and prescribes methods for India.
Download or read book Costing for the Service Industry written by Veda Malagatti and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A significant and innovative feature of this textbook is its detailed insights into the use of costing methodology for practical implications. It will serve to foster the reader’s analytical and critical thinking skills, and it highlights both traditional and the most current practices of costing methodology using real examples drawn from the service industry. Its methodological focus will allow the reader to understand the introduction of relevant costs, their functions and their behavior towards uses and limitations of cost allocations.
Download or read book FEHBP written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on Civil Service and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Approaches to Budgeting and Cost Analysis written by Project Share and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 34 references to recent journal articles and miscellaneous monographs that reflect new tools or methods available. Documents selected on basis of interest to personnel in the field of human services. Alphabetical arrangement by titles. Entry gives bibliographical information and lengthy abstract. Contains listing of agencies, organizations, or persons responsible for the studies.
Download or read book Moving forward with services acquisition reform written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Regulatory Reform written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Retirement Accounting Changes written by United States. Congressional Budget Office and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
