Cost of integrating assisted partner services in HIV testing services in Kisumu and Homa Bay counties, Kenya: a microcosting study

Background HIV assisted partner services (aPS), or provider notification and testing for sexual and injecting partners of people diagnosed with HIV, is shown to be safe, effective, and cost-effective and was scaled up within the national HIV testing services (HTS) program in Kenya in 2016. We estimated the costs of integrating aPS into routine HTS within an ongoing aPS scale-up project in western Kenya. Methods We conducted microcosting using the payer perspective in 14 facilities offering aPS. Although aPS was offered to both males and females testing HIV-positive (index clients), we only collected data on female index clients and their male sex partners (MSP). We used activity-based costing to identify key aPS activities, inputs, resources, and estimated financial and economic costs of goods and services. We analyzed costs by start-up (August 2018), and recurrent costs one-year after aPS implementation (Kisumu: August 2019; Homa Bay: January 2020) and conducted time-and-motion observations of aPS activities. We estimated the incremental costs of aPS, average cost per MSP traced, tested, testing HIV-positive, and on antiretroviral therapy, cost shares, and costs disaggregated by facility. Results Overall, the number of MSPs traced, tested, testing HIV-positive, and on antiretroviral therapy was 1027, 869, 370, and 272 respectively. Average unit costs per MSP traced, tested, testing HIV-positive, and on antiretroviral therapy were $34.54, $42.50, $108.71 and $152.28, respectively, which varied by county and facility client volume. The weighted average incremental cost of integrating aPS was $7,485.97 per facility per year, with recurrent costs accounting for approximately 90% of costs. The largest cost drivers were personnel (49%) and transport (13%). Providers spent approximately 25% of the HTS visit obtaining MSP contact information (HIV-negative clients: 13 out of 54 min; HIV-positive clients: 20 out of 96 min), while the median time spent per MSP traced on phone and in-person was 6 min and 2.5 hours, respectively. Conclusion Average facility costs will increase when integrating aPS to HTS with incremental costs largely driven by personnel and transport. Strategies to efficiently utilize healthcare personnel will be critical for effective, affordable, and sustainable aPS.

ABC Cost Driver Framing and Altering the Balance of Power in Customer-Supplier Negotiations

This study examines how activity-based costing (ABC) cost driver framing affects suppliers’ ability to increase their bargaining power when facing powerful customers. Results of an experiment show that suppliers with high potential to contribute to increasing joint profits are able to increase their power and earn a higher share of joint profits than suppliers with low contribution potential. However, providing suppliers with externally framed cost drivers (cost drivers represented as customers’ activities) instead of internally framed cost drivers (cost drivers represented as suppliers’ own activities) reduces their ability to utilize contribution potential as a source of power. Analyses of negotiators’ behavior show that suppliers with high contribution potential and internally framed cost drivers use more integrative tactics to increase joint profits, allowing them to earn higher shares of joint profits. This study shows that the how firms frame cost drivers affects negotiators’ ability to improve joint profits and negotiation power.

ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF BASALT-BASED BRAKE PAD IN NIGERIA

The economic analysis reveals the basic information on the expenditure and profit to an investor who is willing to invest on the production of basalt-based brake pad in Nigeria, Nigeria has huge demand of brake as revealed by data obtained from National Bureau of Statistics Abuja (NBS). The analysis was based on deductive economic analysis which assumptions were made and arrived at particular result and the costing was based on Activity-Based Costing (ABC) where overhead and indirect cost were assigned to the related product. The economic analysis will give an insight to an investor (s) who has been skeptic about investing in the manufacturing of brake pad in Nigeria. The analysis revealed that the total capital require for this investment is #54,520,184.00 to set up a manufacturing plant with a capacity of 12,960 pieces of brake pad per day with a depreciation period of ten years. It also showed that if the line will run at 75% efficiency, the annual production is 2,566,080 pieces of brake pads. The unit cost of production is #520.85, unit selling price is #572.935, interest before tax of #6,797,983.869, break-even quantity of 861,019pieces, payback period of eight months. The annual total cost of production is #1,373,924,104.00, annual total sales revenue of #1,470,309,952.00.Twenty-seven people are require for manning the plant.It is clear from above information the investment is worthwhile because of the good payback period and considering the huge demand in Nigeria.

The implementation of activity-based costing by a local government: an actor-network theory and trial of strength perspective

Purpose Some public sector organizations have decided to implement activity-based costing (ABC), a new cost calculation device and management accounting innovation initially designed for the private sector. The purpose of this study is to better understand the translation of this new calculation device in the context of a local government and to identify the trials of strength that actors faced during the implementation. Design/methodology/approach Building on actor-network theory and the concept of “trial of strength,” this study examines how a major change in a large local government’s structure, the merger of several cities, led to the adoption of ABC. This case study provides a setting for conducting a longitudinal analysis of the translation of a cost management innovation, ABC, in a public sector organization. Findings This study highlights how human and non-human actors interact when implementing a management accounting innovation in a local government and the trials of strength that they face. It also shows that although ABC helped the local government deal with issues such as setting fees, assessing outsourcing opportunities, increasing accountability and improving processes, the oversophistication of the technology used to implement the ABC model and the lack of links between the costing device and the budgeting process provoked a struggle among these two networks, leading actors to choose the budget over ABC. Originality/value This study’s findings extend the work on trials of strength of Christensen et al. (2019) and Laguecir et al. (2020). While those two studies focused on the struggles existing between opposing networks of human actors regarding the strategic orientation or the mission of public sector organizations, this study highlights that trials of strength may also occur when actors agree on the objectives of the new accounting innovation but not on how it is implemented.

Analysis of Calculation Methods Currently Practised at V4 Agricultural Holdings

This paper assesses calculation methods in the Visegrad 4 countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and, based thereon, recommends and considers activity-based costing (ABC) in the agricultural sector, while evaluating manager knowledge of ABC as an appropriate alternative to outdated, “conventional” methods of calculating costs that are used in practice. It was found that a majority of agricultural holdings in the V4 are currently using conventional cost calculation methods and the most frequent reason for their failure to incorporate ABC is low awareness among managers. Farms and agricultural holdings that have introduced ABC and utilise it to assign their costs evaluate its benefits highly positively, in particular, ABC’s more accurate identification of costs, mainly overheads; more effective cost management and the accuracy of price estimates. From this analysis and assessment, introduction of ABC is recommended for companies in order to obtain the different benefits associated with the method. Successfully implementing ABC leads to a number of advantages, especially in the inevitable decision-making agricultural holdings face about high overhead costs. From the information obtained, managers at agricultural holdings have little information, in most cases, about ABC as an appropriate alternative to the outdated “conventional” cost estimate methods practised today. It is therefore important to work on raising managers' awareness of new approaches to costing by publishing scientific articles with specific examples from practice, pointing out the advantage of the ABC method, especially with high overheads, which are almost the rule in agricultural holdings.

Penerapan Metode Activity Based Costing dalam Penentuan Harga Pokok Produk pada UD. Elza Putra Jember

Penelitian ini dilakukan pada UD. Elza Putra di Kabupaten Jember yang memproduksi jajanan tradisioanl. Tujuan peneltian untuk mengetahui perbedaan harga pokok produk antara metode konvensional dengan metode Activity Based Costing. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif dengan studi kasus. Data primer untuk justifikasi aktivitas dikumpulkan secara langsung saat penelitian dengan melakukan observasi dan wawancara; sedangkan data sekunder dikumpulkan dengan melakukan dokumentasi laporan keuangan perusahaan. Teknik analisis menggunakan metode konvensional dan metode Activity Based Costing . Hasil penelitian menunjukkan harga pokok produk lima dari enam jenis produk mengunakan metode Activity Based Costing lebih tinggi dibanding dengan metode konvensional, dan hanya satu produk yang memiliki nilai yang lebih rendah