An Examination of the Factors Influencing the Level of Consideration for Activity-based Costing

Prior research into the extent to which operating units have considered activity-based costing (ABC) has either examined the extent to which operating units have considered or not considered ABC. This paper uses logistic ordinal regression analysis to examine the impact of the level of competition, product customization, manufacturing overhead costs and operating unit size on the level of consideration for ABC when measured on a three-point ordinal scale ranging from not considered, considering and considered ABC. The results indicate that operating unit size is related positively to the level of consideration for ABC. This implies that the availability of financial, labour, computing and time resources should mean that it is more likely for operating units to be considering or have considered ABC.