Review recent issues of business publications (e.g., BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal) for information about companies that have implemented activity based costing. Choose one company to research in detail.

Required:

Answer the following questions:

1. Briefly describe the company, its products, and its history.

2. If the company has multiple divisions or segments, has one or more of them implemented activity based costing (ABC)?

3. If one or more divisions or segments use ABC, what factor(s) prompted the decision to do so?

4. What type of costing system was utilized prior to the conversion to ABC?

5. Were any specific difficulties experienced during the switch?

6. What benefits has the company or one or more of its divisions or segments identified as a result of implementing ABC?

7. Did the move to an ABC system impact other areas of the company and/or result in changes to other aspects of its operation?

8. Does the company view the ABC implementation as successful?