Change in the relevance of cost information and costing systems: evidence from two Italian surveys

This paper aims to contribute to the stream of the “costing system change” research agenda by studyingthe role played by contextual factors, adopting a demand-side approach (Ax and Bjørnenak, 2007), and byhighlighting the movements of change in the adoption and use of Activity-Based Costing (ABC) andTarget Costing (TC) (Burns and Vaivio, 2001; Schoute, 2011). Thus, the possibility of costing change withramifications beyond those typically studied in the literature concerning the functional view of costaccounting is discussed and demonstrated (Sturdy, 2004; Tsoukas and Chia, 2002).This paper compares the results of two surveys over a decade apart on two samples of large-sizemanufacturing companies (132 and 86 companies, respectively) that investigated changes in cost objects,costing purposes and the adoption and use of two advanced costing techniques, ABC and TC.The findings reveal an increase in the number of cost objects considered, a wider use of cost informationfor managerial purposes and a slight increase in the use of ABC and TC in the sample. The discussionshows an increase of awareness of potentiality of cost information to support decision-making, and arefinement of cost allocation processes. The presence of “forward” and “backward” movements of ABCand TC changes in adoption and use, addresses the possibility that costing change has different directionsthan those usually considered under a rational view of cost accounting.[...]