1、1.1万英文字符，2000单词，3415汉字 本科毕业论文（设计） 外 文 翻 译 外文出处 International Advances in Economic Research, 2001,7(1): 133-146. 外文作
2、者 Carles Grful-Miquela 原文 ： Activity-Based Costing Methodology for Third-Party Logistics Companies This paper will analyze the main costs that third-party logistics companies are facing and
3、 develops an activity-based costing methodology useful for this kind of company. It will examine the most important activities carried out by third-party distributors in both warehousing and transporting activities. However, the focus is mainly on the activity of distributing the product to the fina
4、l receiver when this final receiver is not the customer of the third-party logistics company. Introduction In the last decade, development of third-party logistics companies has been very important. There are several reasons for such development, the most important being the trend to con
5、centrate in the core business by manufacturing companies and new technological advances, In this context, conventional approaches to costing might generate distorted information, This can result in making wrong decisions. When companies realize this potential danger, the use of activity-based costin
6、g (ABC) methodologies increases within third-party logistics. Costing Methodology: Definition of the Cost Model and Critique of the Conventional Approach Definition of the Cost Model It is first necessary to define what a cost model is. This can be done through analysis of the main
7、 functions that any cost model should perform Kaplan and Cooper, 1998: 1 1) valuation of inventory and measurement of the cost of goods and services sold for financial purposes； 2) estimation of the cost of activities, products, services, and customers； and 3) provide econom
8、ic feedback to managers and staff in general about process efficiency. From this definition, a cost model might be analyzed as the tool that companies use in order to have a proper understanding about the cost to run their businesses. One of the purposes of a cost model is to gather and analyz
9、e data generated in the company in order to gain useful information for making decisions. Therefore, the usefulness of a cost model may be evaluated depending on its capacity to generate the right information to make the right managerial decisions. Evolution of Cost Models The evolution
10、of cost systems has not been a linear and continuous process Johnson and Kaplan, 1987. Indeed, by the 1920s, companies had developed almost all the management accounting procedures that have been used up to the present day. Furthermore, between 1925 and 1980, virtually no new ideas have affected the
11、 design and use of cost management systems. The same concepts always appear: break-even analysis, cost-volume-profit analysis, direct costing, and fixed and variable cost estimates. The idea that conventional accounts are only finance oriented and simply describe historical inputs is shared among ot
12、her authors of costing methodology Bellis- Jones and Develin, 1995. Problems with Conventional Approaches As a result of the described evolution of cost models, the situation at the beginning of the 1980s was that the actual management accounting systems provided few benefits to organiza
13、tions. Normally, the reported information not only inhibited good decision making by managers, but actually encouraged bad decisions Johnson and Kaplan, 1987. The main reason was the use of an obsolete tool in an extremely different and more complex and competitive environment. The main proble
14、m that conventional cost models faced was the allocation of overhead by products on the basis of either direct labor or machine hour content in the 2 manufacturing environment. This problem was growing at the same time that direct labor and machine hour contents of many products and services
15、fell, while overhead costs increased. Conventional costing ignores important differences between products and services, markets and customers, which incur different overhead costs. This was the starting point in carefully analyzing the conventional cost models and in criticizing them because o
16、f their uselessness in accurately explaining the cost of products. Lately, the fact that the same issues apply to the service sector has been noticed. Traditional methods of cost accounting showed some other weaknesses Bellis-Jones and Develin, 1995. That is, companies do not know whether thei
17、r products or services are profitable and they cannot distinguish profitable from unprofitable customers. In addition, traditional methods focus on the short term at the expense of the long term. A Description of ABC Methodology The problems that conventional costing methodologies raised
18、 were the main reason for developing a new theoretical approach to this subject. Johnson and Kaplan are considered the inventors of ABC, although they do not use this terminology at the beginning of their studies Johnson and Kaplan, 1987. The first time the concept of ABC appears is in a later artic
19、le Cooper and Kaplan, 1988. The analysis of cost and profitability of individual products, services, and customers represents a critical issue that companies were concerned with and one where ABC tries to help. The primary focus was to ask what is important for the organization, and what information
20、 is needed for management planning and control functions. Finally, useful information for managerial purposes should not be extracted only from a system designed primarily to satisfy external reporting and auditing requirements (financial information). It is necessary to design systems consistent with the technology of the organization, its product strategy, and its organizational structure. Definition of ABC In literature there are several definitions of ABC. The definition here shows the ABC philosophy Hicks, 1992 briefly and clearly:
