What does it really cost? Allocating indirect costs

Better managerial control in terms of decision making and understanding the total costs of a system or service result from allocating indirect costs. Allocation requires a three‐step process of selecting cost objectives, pooling related overhead costs, and selecting costs bases to connect the objectives to the pooled costs. Allocation may be simple, relying on a single base, or activity‐based costing (ABC), relying on multiple bases. Contrasts the methods of allocation, and argues that ABC may be more useful for costing electronic services.