Title: Application of ABC in hot spring country inn

Authors: Wen-Hsien Tsai, Jui-Ling Hsu, Chia-Hsin Chen, Yu-Wei Chou, Sin-Jin Lin, Wan-Rung Lin

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan. ' Department of International Trade, Feng Chia University, Taichung 407, Taiwan. ' Department of Finance, Ming-Hsin University of Science and Technology, Hsin-Feng, Hsin-Chu 304, Taiwan. ' Department of Business Administration, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan. ' Department of Business Administration, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan. ' Department of Business Administration, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan

Abstract: This paper implements activity-based costing (ABC) method to analyse the operational costs structure of a hot spring country inn in the Yang-Ming-Shan area of Taiwan. ABC method was used to compute the lodging, hot spring use and meal serving costs per customer. The result shows a real cost structure in B&B industry where study in this non-traditional lodging is rare in literature. In addition, we find that the major advantage of using ABC of a country inn is that it gives better insight into the customer costs for each market segment in order to offer more accurate cost information for innkeepers to make better managerial decision. Also, we compare the ABC with the traditional costing method, and conclude that the ABC method is a more suitable and appropriate tool than traditional accounting method in a country inn.

Keywords: ABC; activity-based costing; country inns; hospitality industry; hotels; hot springs; cost analysis; operational costs; non-value-added activities; Yang-Ming-Shan; Taiwan; lodgings; meals; catering; customer costs; B&B industry; bed and breakfast; innkeepers; tourism; tourist industry; decision making; accounting methods; accountancy; management; enterprise development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMED.2010.031546

International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 2010 Vol.8 No.2, pp.152 - 174

Published online: 10 Feb 2010 *

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