Question 1 What forces have caused cost and management accounting systems designed decades ago to become less relevant and less valuable for organizational employees in today's globally competitive environment? Question 2 As a Cost and Management Consultant in the banking industry in Ghana, one of your highly esteemed clients, a top tier banking institution in Ghana has required of you to advise them as to whether target costing can be applied to the banking industry in Ghana. They further require you to advise them on what products or services can target costing be applied.

Answer to Question 1:

The forces that had lessened the importance of the cost and management accounting systems in today's dynamic world are as under:

Answer to Question 2:

The target costing is a costing technique that helps to reduce the cost of the company operations by setting cost targets for the operations. The first step under target costing is to set a selling price for the product and the second step is to set the target profit margin. Now at this position we are able to derive the target cost by taking the difference of profit margin and the selling price of the product. At this stage the actions and reforms required to achieve this target cost are determined and implemented in the current operating activities. The best part of the target costing is that it says that the pricing though matters but the main aspect of a product success is its cost controls. If the company is able to control the cost of the product then it can control the movement of prices in the market. So target costing specially focuses and stresses upon cost control procedures.

As Target costing is all about cost controlling and can be applied to any sector. In Ghana, target costing will help to control the cost of the services that the banking sector renders to its customers. This reduction in services cost can be achieved by automation, installation of new softwares, Investing in automated teller machines, etc. By gaining efficiencies, the banking sector will substantially reduce its cost thus achieving its target cost.

By achieving the target cost the bank will have to sell at the same rate as the bank had invested its time and money in efficiency gaining activities. There are a lot of activities and products that can be automated and that can help to achieve the target cost. For example, promoting internet banking will reduce the cost of ATM management, paper cost, management time, additional branch opening or extension of building, etc. We can see how easily internet banking will assist the banking sector to achieve its target costs.

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