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Strategic Cost Analysis is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press and written by Roger Hussey, Dean of Guangzhou International Business School and Professor Emeritus at the University of the West of England, and Audra Ong, Associate Professor at the Odette School of Business at University of Windsor. This book provides tools for managers to understand and interpret financial information as part of their organization's strategic planning and decision-making. The authors say that, regardless of industry or field, all managers must be able to use financial information effectively in their jobs. Through the context of four key questions, the authors explain how to calculate, control, and monitor costs, as well as to integrate cost analysis into organizational decision-making. The book includes examples and practical tips for managers at all levels. In Chapter 2, Cost Concepts and Methods (30 pages), the authors focus on the first question in their framework, "What did it cost?" They review different ways to identify and classify costs, emphasizing the most useful characteristic of direct versus indirect cost. They explore two approaches to managing the challenges of indirect costs by full costing and activity-based costing (ABC). They explain how the ABC method is most relevant for decision-making and outline the steps in the process. The authors also explain the development of the "time-driven ABC" method and review the different needs of costing in the service industry

Strategic Cost Analysis is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press and written by Roger Hussey, Dean of Guangzhou International Business School and Professor Emeritus at the University of the West of England, and Audra Ong, Associate Professor at the Odette School of Business at University of Windsor. This book provides tools for managers to understand and interpret financial information as part of their organization's strategic planning and decision-making. The authors say that, regardless of industry or field, all managers must be able to use financial information effectively in their jobs. Through the context of four key questions, the authors explain how to calculate, control, and monitor costs, as well as to integrate cost analysis into organizational decision-making. The book includes examples and practical tips for managers at all levels. Chapter 3, Establishing Plans (27 pages), addresses the second question in the author's framework, "What should it cost?" The authors outline two ways an organization may approach planning: standard cost and budgetary control. Standard cost is most useful in the short-term and enables a manager to compare actual costs with an established goal for those costs. The authors explore issues in standard costing and calculating variances between the plan and performance. The budgetary control method is valuable in long-term planning and closely linked to organizational strategy. The authors describe the benefits of budgets and outline different managerial approaches. They also evaluate incremental, zero-based, rolling, and activity-based budgets. The chapter includes criteria for successful budgeting, a discussion of budget implementation, and examples of how to create and integrate budgets in an organizational setting.

Strategic Cost Analysis is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press and written by Roger Hussey, Dean of Guangzhou International Business School and Professor Emeritus at the University of the West of England, and Audra Ong, Associate Professor at the Odette School of Business at University of Windsor. This book provides tools for managers to understand and interpret financial information as part of their organization's strategic planning and decision-making. The authors say that, regardless of industry or field, all managers must be able to use financial information effectively in their jobs. Through the context of four key questions, the authors explain how to calculate, control, and monitor costs, as well as to integrate cost analysis into organizational decision-making. The book includes examples and practical tips for managers at all levels. In Chapter 4, Monitoring and Control (23 pages), the authors explain the third element of their framework, using financial reports to monitor the success of strategy implementation. The authors review the critical variances in the standard costing approach, including direct costs, overhead, and sales, as well as how these factors interrelate. They discuss the challenges of budgetary control, which is often managed by "exemption," or looking for large variances in performance. They offer guidelines for alternative ways to analyze variances, including dollars and percentages, recurring trends, and contradictions and abnormalities. The authors also examine fixed versus flexible budgets and assess the overall strengths and weaknesses of budgeting itself.

Strategic Cost Analysis is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press and written by Roger Hussey, Dean of Guangzhou International Business School and Professor Emeritus at the University of the West of England, and Audra Ong, Associate Professor at the Odette School of Business at University of Windsor. This book provides tools for managers to understand and interpret financial information as part of their organization's strategic planning and decision-making. The authors say that, regardless of industry or field, all managers must be able to use financial information effectively in their jobs. Through the context of four key questions, the authors explain how to calculate, control, and monitor costs, as well as to integrate cost analysis into organizational decision-making. The book includes examples and practical tips for managers at all levels. Chapter 5, Managerial Decision Making (25 pages), explains costing techniques. The authors look at the impact of fluctuating activity levels on cost and outline three methods to determine total costs. They explain how to put cost management into action through breakeven analysis and Cost Volume Profit analysis. The authors highlight the value of calculating a unit's contribution margin, which is the net amount each unit contributes towards fixed costs and profit, and how to use data to make strategic decisions, such as pricing special orders and selecting the most profitable alternative. They also explore how to use incremental analysis to isolate the relevant costs in a particular decision. The chapter includes insight into the inclusion of non-financial factors as decision criteria and a list of six questions to help managers select techniques for managing costs.

Strategic Cost Analysis is a six-chapter book published by the Business Expert Press and written by Roger Hussey, Dean of Guangzhou International Business School and Professor Emeritus at the University of the West of England, and Audra Ong, Associate Professor at the Odette School of Business at University of Windsor. This book provides tools for managers to understand and interpret financial information as part of their organization's strategic planning and decision-making. The authors say that, regardless of industry or field, all managers must be able to use financial information effectively in their jobs. Through the context of four key questions, the authors explain how to calculate, control, and monitor costs, as well as to integrate cost analysis into organizational decision-making. The book includes examples and practical tips for managers at all levels. Chapter 6, Strategic Cost Management (22 pages), reviews trends in cost analysis and shows how to use it in strategic planning. The authors summarize two techniques that offer a comprehensive view of an organization: value chain analysis and the balanced scorecard. They provide practical guidance for reducing costs and evaluate three methods: target costing, life-cycle costing, and activity-based management. They discuss performance evaluation and emphasize the importance of determining what measures are required for effective evaluation. Finally, the authors relate strategic cost management to the larger context of an organization's performance and highlight the manager's responsibility for first gathering the right data, and then using it in decision-making.

Philips Electronics is a leader in integrated reporting. In 2010 it produced its third generation report. Since its first report in 2008, Philips' integrated reports and its integrated reporting website had grown in sophistication. In planning for its integrated report for 2011, the company is exploring the issues that will need to be addressed in order to produce an integrated report. KPMG is the company's auditor for both the financial and nonfinancial information contained in the integrated report, but these are covered by separate assurance opinions. Among the challenges of providing an integrated audit is getting the internal measurement and control systems for nonfinancial information to be of the same quality as for financial information. A further challenge is that the cultures of the finance function and those who work in sustainability are very different.

In March 2010, a city in Southwestern Ontario received a costing proposal from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). The mayor and the other city councillors needed to decide whether to disband the city’s current municipally based Sarnia Police Services (SPS) and replace it with contract policing from the OPP. The city’s request for the proposal had created much discomfort for the SPS employees, and had polarized the entire community. After analyzing the OPP contract proposal, the city planned to make several adjustments to the OPP financial estimate so that it would more closely reflect the current level of service provided by the SPS.

This case is a supplement to Goats: The Green Alternative (A). The (B) case can be used independently of the (A) case if the professor wishes to focus exclusively on capital budgeting. See also Goats: The Green Alternative (C) 9B15D001.

This case enables students to simulate a risk management workshop based on the description of an innovative capital project in the energy sector. Students will discuss, assess, and vote on the riskiness of the Smart Meters project and experience the dynamics of a risk workshop.

The owner of a goat herd had successfully rented a portion of his herd to clear land at a nearby resort. The resort land clearing job generated a small profit and now the owner is evaluating the prospects of bidding on similar land clearing projects in the area. The owner believes that profitability for this line of business is constrained by the size of the truck and trailer used to transport the goats to the job site. He reasons that a larger truck and trailer would allow him to transport more goats to the job site each day, generating incremental revenues. He also realizes that a larger truck and trailer would result in increased operating costs. The owner determines the investment needed to upgrade the truck and trailer. He must then determine if incremental revenues and costs associated with the larger truck and trailer would justify the initial investment. This case provides a realistic analysis of incremental revenues and costs in the context of capital budgeting. The (B) case can be used independently of the (A) case if the professor wishes to focus exclusively on capital budgeting.

Spreadsheet supplement for 111-070.

The owner of a goat herd in Tennessee must decide whether to rent out his herd for a land-clearing project at a nearby resort. Goats are better suited to clearing the land than humans and machines, but the owner has never rented out his goats for such a purpose. The owner must identify costs associated with the project, then determine a price to charge for the service. Since the owner has no prior experience renting out livestock, he must come up with estimates of the incremental costs associated with the rental operation and prepare a bid with little knowledge of rates charged by competitors for goat rentals. This case provides a realistic example of the thought processes that business owners go through when evaluating whether to expand into complementary lines of business, as well as the considerations of entrepreneurs contemplating starting new businesses. See also Goats: The Green Alternative (B) 9B11B025 and Goats: The Green Alternative (C) 9B15D001.

The owner of a goat herd in Tennessee must decide whether to rent out his herd for a land-clearing project at a nearby resort. Goats are better suited to clearing the land than humans and machines, but the owner has never rented out his goats for such a purpose. The owner must identify costs associated with the project, then determine a price to charge for the service. Since the owner has no prior experience renting out livestock, he must come up with estimates of the incremental costs associated with the rental operation and prepare a bid with little knowledge of rates charged by competitors for goat rentals. This case provides a realistic example of the thought processes that business owners go through when evaluating whether to expand into complementary lines of business, as well as the considerations of entrepreneurs contemplating starting new businesses. See also Goats: The Green Alternative (B) and Goats: The Green Alternative (C).

Crown Investment Corporation (CIC) of Saskatchewan and its partners, Mosaic Corporation and CIBC, have decided to sell a fertilizer plant that they jointly own. Now, CIC and its associates have to come up with a value assessment and mode of sale. Using different valuation methodologies, students are to determine the plant's value.

No abstract available.

Robert Venter, second-generation Chief Executive (CE) of family-owned Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd (Altron), considered the pros and cons of more clearly linking the firm's compensation system to sustainability performance. In June 2011, Altron, a conglomerate headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, controlled more than 200 companies in Africa, Europe, the US, the UK, Australia, and the Far East. More than 14,000 employees designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed a range of telecommunications, electronics, power electronics, and information technology systems and products. Having made a clear commitment to sustainable development, Venter was confident that the commitment was shared across the senior management team. However, there appeared to be more acceptance in the operating units for meeting financial targets than for meeting sustainability targets. Did the existing incentive structure send the correct message about the sustainability-oriented corporate strategy? Looking at the reshaped strategic themes, Venter considered the pros and cons of more clearly linking the firm's compensation system to sustainability performance.

The case studies the decision of the security services corporation Brink's Company to spin-off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds who felt that Brink's was chronically undervalued and the individual businesses were worth more than the combined company. The company resisted the decision for over a year before agreeing to the break up. The case follows the argument made by the company and each of the investors. It also describes the actions by the company to convince its shareholders of the merits of keeping the company together, as well as the actions the activist investors took to get the attention of management, the board, and other investors. The businesses, secure transportation and home security monitoring, are described from both a business strategy and a financial perspective so that the potential value of different value enhancing options can be analyzed.

Rodolfo Guttilla, Director of Corporate Affairs for Natura Cosméticos S.A. (Natura), prepared for a meeting with key stakeholders to discuss the future of integrated reporting at Natura. A cosmetics company with a strong brand, robust growth in international and domestic markets, and premium price and margins, Natura was consistently rated as one of the preferred places to work in Brazil. Its focus on social and environmental responsibility was a source of innovation; strong employee motivation contributed to the company's superior productivity and market share gain in Brazil's cosmetics, fragrances, and toiletries (CF&T) industry. By 2009, Natura's direct sales business model generated income for over 1 million people in Brazil and Latin America. Natura was the first organization in Brazil to produce an integrated report. Senior leadership was convinced that Natura's success over the years had been aided by its corporate responsibility and strategy to continuously seek improvements in both financial and nonfinancial (e.g., environmental, social, and governance) performance. As he prepared for the meeting, Guttilla considered the future of integrated reporting for Natura. What should the future of integrated reporting be like at Natura? How could the organization increase society's participation in the collaborative effort to develop new solutions to today's most challenging problems? How could the report provide a clearer representation of the organization's strategy and its ability to create and sustain value over the long term? And finally, how could web-based technologies be used to promote the organization's integrated reporting and sustainable development objectives?

On the eve of the Blackstone Group's much anticipated initial public offering (IPO), a Wall Street portfolio manager contemplates his commitment to purchase 20,000 units at $31.00 each. As one of the largest IPOs in recent history and the first major PE fund to go public in the United States, the offering had stirred up significant media and congressional interest, some of which was potentially damaging for the PE industry. Even taking the uncertainty of the tax law into consideration, the manager thought the market would respond positively to Blackstone's newly traded units. But there were still risks to consider.

tudents can examine how international taxation is a system of global tax rules that apply to transactions between two or more countries. They will see how, given differing tax consequences across countries, taxpayers must incorporate tax planning into their strategic decisions to avoid excessive taxation by structuring transactions to limit their additional global tax exposure while taxpayers, seeking to maximize after-tax returns, can structure transactions to chase the lowest tax consequences.