Part 1 of Essay
In today's competitive economy, the cost structure is much more complex than that of the past, and there is a lot less room for error than that allowed in the more laid back economy of the past. Today's costing concerns arise from the growing disparity between direct and indirect product costs. American manufacturers ha ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... allocate overhead based on some burdened rate (direct labor hours is a good example). This was acceptable when overhead was small and direct costs were high. But in today’s automated factory, this can lead to disaster. Conventional systems report inaccurate product costs--often grossly inaccurate. Management, in turn, makes strategic decisions based on these inaccurate product costs. Traditional cost systems assume all overhead activities are consumed equally by all products relative to volume produced. Further ....