Browsing by Author "Jamalludin Helmi Hashim"

The present study was motivated primarily by the notably void facet in the management accounting literature with respect to the application of contemporary cost management techniques; i.e. Activity-based Costing (ABC), in a public, service-oriented and higher education institutional setting. The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical benchmark that can be used to calculate the cost of education of Bachelor in Accountancy (BACC) in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). This study intends: (i) to develop the ABC model for the UiTM to determine the cost of BACC programme; (ii) to compare the cost of the BACC programme produced by the ABC system against the existing (traditional) costing system; (iii) to investigate the differences in perceptions on the usefulness of costing information produced by ABC (with regard to its quality and functionality) compared to the traditional costing system; (iv) to investigate the relationship between contextual factors and perceived usefulness of ABC information in a public multi-campus university system; and (iv) to examine the differences in perceived usefulness of the ABC system between users and preparers of the costing system. This study utilised a mixed methods approach using the quantitative as the dominant approach and complement with the qualitative approach that explain the “why” part. Using the professional software, ABM-SAS, the actual education expense figure for BACC in the year 2004 was used to develop the ABC Model in the first phase. In the subsequent phase, the data was collected using survey questionnaires that were distributed to 153 respondents across twelve branch campuses including the main campus at Shah Alam, Selangor. Finally, the post survey semi-structured interviews with twelve selected personnel were conducted. The cost computed using the ABC Model is lower compared to the cost from the traditional (current) method, i.e. RM 8,678.54 and RM 10,509.99, respectively. The result from the quantitative analysis indicated that the respondents perceived higher functionality of the information produced by ABC compared to the traditional costing system. Furthermore, there are also several contextual factors that have significant relationship with perceived usefulness of ABC information. Dissatisfaction with the current costing system was found to have a significant relationship with POQ and POF, whilst FCIT has a significant relationship with POQ. The statistical analysis also found that there is no significant difference in perception towards usefulness of ABC information between users and preparers. The qualitative approach does not just provide some descriptive explanation beyond the hypothesis testing but it also provides some complementary results to the quantitative results. The findings from the present study provide some understanding on costs, its causes, the identification of the resources to undertake specific activities, as well as to provide management with relevant information for various decision making process. The knowledge of successful implementation of any costing innovation may contingent upon several factors will assist them to appreciate the importance of using a sophisticated costing system to cope with the uncertainties in the educational environment.