Activity-Based Cost Management for the Public Sector

In this era marked with uncertainty and economic downturns, brought about by globalization and aggressive competition, the focus has now settled on cutting down unnecessary expenditure. Prudence and sensibility when it comes to spending, is not only fundamental for the success of any organization, it has become critical for survival. National economic policies need to be revisited and spending reforms need to be introduced. But as governments seek for a compromise solution to safeguard their economy, they may unwillingly be sending a shockwave. Deficits have to perilous stand-offs, resorting to expenditure shrinkages and other drastic austerity measures. But this is just another recipe for disaster, one which leads to economic meltdowns. It is not the level of spending that needs to be addressed but the quality and sustainability of such spending. Threading on the divide that prevails between traditional public funds management and modern activity based cost-approaches, the author becomes the proponent of the opportunities that ABCM systems could afford governmental policy makers, a plausible approach to face recent economic turbulences, as well as those which are forthcoming.