Editing Activity-based costing (section)

=== Alternatives ===
{{Main|Management accounting}}
[[Lean accounting]] methods have been developed in recent years to provide relevant and thorough accounting, control, and measurement systems without the complex and costly methods of manually driven ABC.

Lean accounting is primarily used within [[lean manufacturing]]. The approach has proven useful in many service industry areas including healthcare, construction, financial services, governments, and other industries.

Application of [[Theory of constraints]] (TOC) is analysed in a study<ref>[https://ssrn.com/abstract=962270 Who Wins in a Dynamic World: Theory of Constraints Vs. Activity-Based Costing?]</ref> showing interesting aspects of productive coexistence of TOC and ABC application. Identifying cost drivers in ABC is described as somewhat equivalent to identifying bottlenecks in TOC. However the more thorough insight into cost composition for the inspected processes justifies the study result: ABC may deliver a better structured analysis in respect to complex processes, and this is no surprise regarding the necessarily spent effort for detailed ABC reporting.