Making Cost Control Work [electronic resource

My other piece of advice Copperfield, you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf withered, the God of day goes down upon the dreary scene and-and in short you are forever floored. As I am. Goodness knows where Mr Micawber would be with Barclaycard and Access. We talk of being cost-conscious, but in times of plenty we grow fat on broken resolutions. In times of famine we start cost-cutting and search for economies in areas that were once considered basic necessity. Cost control should be a continuous activity aimed at improving efficiency and quality by ensuring the right resources are provided and efficiently used. Cost control is not only concerned with meeting anticipated levels; it is also concerned with understanding how and why costs change. It is concerned with the setting of performance standards and the monitoring of actual results against these standards and finally it is concerned with people's attitudes and motivation when handling money which is not their own. 1. For further information on variance accounting refer to Laidler E., Variance Accounting, Macmillan and the ICMA, 1976. Front Matter....Pages i-vii Front Matter....Pages 1-2 Waste is Big Business....Pages 3-10 Added Value....Pages 11-15 Cost Behaviour....Pages 16-24 Control Standards....Pages 25-32 Who Controls Costs?....Pages 33-42 Front Matter....Pages 43-43 Collecting the Data....Pages 45-54 Contribution Accounting....Pages 55-62 Using Contribution Accounts....Pages 63-72 A Basis for Control....Pages 73-80 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Standard Costs....Pages 83-97 Measuring Performance....Pages 98-116 Cost Reduction....Pages 117-121 Front Matter....Pages 123-123 Costs and Benefits....Pages 125-135 Activity Resource Planning....Pages 136-147 Back Matter....Pages 149-152