Activity Based Performance Management

Which costing method -Activity Based Costing /Management (ABC/M) or Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TD-ABC) - fits best in the frame of Performance Management? A literature review on both costing methods and qualitative observations from a case study, where ABC/M was implemented in a German logistics company, provide the basis for our research. TD-ABC comes along with a variety of alleged improvements compared to existing ABC/M, which is assumed to struggle with conceptual problems and low diffusion rates (ABC-paradox). Our findings show shortcomings connected to the concept of TD-ABC concerning data gathering and the myopic view on time to reflect all business activities. Furthermore there is significant evidence that a part of the academic world missed to capture ABC/M in its state-of-the-art; for them it still exist in the conceived version from the mid-80’s. ABC/M provides all features necessary to function within the frame of Performance Management. We develop a framework which is based on ABC/M and name this Activity Based Performance Management (ABPM). We show how ABPM supports to align operational and financial decisions to a company’s strategy.