环境成本【外文翻译】

外文文献翻译译文

原文：

Environmental Costs

Today, the importance of the environment is widely recognized by companies. With an increase in environmental legislation, corporations realize that they have to factor the environment into their everyday management decisions. However, because some corporations are too focused on earnings and financial costs, the impact of their operations on the environment can only be taken into account if it is quantified in dollar terms —this is significant since environmental costs are often grossly underestimated. According to a 2006 Statistic Canada study, Canadian firms are estimated to have spent a total of $8.6 billion on environmental protection, including 44per cent for capital expenditures and 56 per cent for operating expenditures. This underestimation is due to widespread “hidden” costs. In a study published in 2001, U.S. researcher revealed that for every dollar of environmental costs identified as such by companies, there were hidden environmental costs of $10. Companies can’t manage what they can’t measure; therefore, they need to measure their environmental costs in order to manage and reduce them; or perhaps, turn environmental management into a strategic advantage.

What to include in environmental costs

The first challenge is how to define environmental costs. One solution is to use a classification developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1995. This classification makes a distinction between internal costs (borne by a company) and external costs (assumed by society as a whole, but generated by the company’s operations). Internal costs include conventional costs (e.g., direct and indirect materials, energy, etc.), potentially hidden costs (e.g., site investigation and preparation, audit, disclosure of information, follow-up of data, etc.), potential costs (e.g., penalties, fines, legal fees, etc.) and costs related to corporate image and relationships (e.g., reputation, campaign to influence perceptions, etc.). Moreover, external costs refer to environ mental degradation and to adverse impacts for

humanbeings, their property and their welfare. There is a debate about whether or not external costs should be part of corpora cost management. However, more stringent regulations in terms of environmental liability are increasingly internalizing costs that have heretofore been considered external. This distinction between internal and external costs is crucial to measuring environmental costs.

Life-cycle costing, environmental balance, full-cost accounting, total-cost accounting and activity-based costing are costing methods used by companies. These methods are not mutually exclusive and a number of parameters are common to several methods.

Life-cycle costing

Life-cycle costing is based on a more global approach of life-cycle analysis. There are two major methods based on a product’s life cycle, e.g. from research and development to disposal (the “cradle to grave” approach) or its reuse/ recycling by the producer (the “cradle to cradle” or C2C approach), tak ing into account factors such as transportation. Life-cycle analysis, a method recognized by ISO 14000 standards, consists in analyzing each and every flow of input and output materials for each product. More specifically, in environmental terms, this approach analyzes the actual and potential impacts of these flows on the environment. As such, it includes three stages: (i) an inventory of all flows related to energy, water, raw materials, air and emissions; (ii) a follow-up of the qualitative or quantitative measure of the induced environmental impact; and (iii) an interpretation of the results and an assessment of opportunities for reducing environmental impacts. This approach only makes it possible to include environmental impacts, and not environmental costs.

Life-cycle costing recognizes the environmental costs generated by a company throughout a product’s life cycle, using two types of analysis jointly (on a weighted or unweighted basis) or individually: (i) the financial life-cycle cost that discounts monetary impacts from the environment to the firm, and (ii) the environmental life-cycle cost that monetizes all environmental impacts that were identified during the life-cycle analysis, e.g., impaired resources. Life-cycle costing demonstrates that costs can be several times higher than investments over a product’s life cycle. This

makes life-cycle costing especially relevant for products with a long lifespan or with relatively high operating costs, such as real estate and highways. In addition, the discounting of costs, e.g. the recognition of time, makes it possible to compare the costs of two products. However, this advantage may also be the main drawback of this method, as it raises the problem of correctly planning for future costs and selecting an appropriate discount rate. In fact, discounting specific environmental costs is controversial, since environmental impacts increase over time. It is therefore not unusual for costs to be nil today, but exceedingly high a few years from now, which is contrary to the very principle of discounting. Accordingly, discounting environmental costs could lead to minimizing financial interest for projects that reduce future environmental costs.

Moreover, these two methods raise the same problem of uncertainty as to future repercussions. It may be a good idea to use sensitivity analyses, scenarios, and ranges to allow for the probability that certain contingencies will occur. A more meaningful restriction relates to the fact that these methods exclude consideration of all types of costs. Intangible costs, including those driven by relations with stakeholders, are not considered, nor are contingent costs, since it is not easy to relate such costs to a specific phase in the life-cycle of a product, making it highly improbable that they will be included in life cycle methods.

Environmental balance

The environmental balance method consists in identifying, and then measuring, the flows of inputs and outputs of a firm, a service, a process or a product in terms of energy, water, materials, waste or emissions. It can therefore be used at the inventory stage of the life-cycle analysis or as an initial step of many other methods. The underlying assumption of this method is based on the law of conservation of thermodynamic masses—total inputs are by definition equal to total outputs plus the net accumulation of materials in the system. All inputs become outputs, hence the term “balance.” The part of a flow that actually goes into the production of goods can be used to indicate the percentage loss of materials and, accordingly, the opportunities to improve the production process. Similarly, a large number of

environmental performance indicators can be determined from the data produced by an environmental balance. Traditionally, an environmental balance is performed in physical, non-monetary terms (kilograms, kilowatts, etc.). Moreover, a sub-category of environmental balance, called material flow analysis (MFA), allows a company to include an allocation stage of flows to each of its various products.

Two major criticisms have been levelled at the environmental balance method. First, its input/output analyses fail to measure environmental impacts, as they relate strictly to a company’s use of natural resources without regard to their valu e for the environment. The second major criticism is that this method fails to provide monetary information. However, the value of flows could be estimated in monetary terms if required. In addition, the environmental balance is generally used only as a prerequisite to the use of other methods.

Full-cost accounting

The full cost represents an allocation of all costs to a product (materials, labour, overhead, etc.) including potential and actual environmental costs. With this approach, it is possible to obtain enhanced operational knowledge and to select products with a lower cost (whether it be environmental or not). However, in environmental terms, full cost often refers to a consideration of the monetary value of external costs. This raises the problem of how complex it is to monetize the cost of externalities.

Total-cost assessment

The total-cost assessment method, developed by the Tellus Institute, is similar to full-cost accounting. Whereas the latter approach is generally used to measure the cost of products, total-cost assessment is often carried out to measure the cost of capital investments. Additionally, the classification of costs used for a total-cost assessment requires the identification of costs that are specifically related to the environment. The full-cost accounting method deals with all of the costs related to a product, and does not require that environmental costs be identified.

The major advantage of total-cost assessment is that it includes more of the costs relating to a capital investment or a product than life-cycle costing, e.g. intangible and contingent costs, while still taking the entire life cycle into account. Thus, it measures

direct and indirect costs, contingent and intangible costs with due consideration for risks and, accordingly, the related probabilities that they will occur. In addition, external costs can be included in a total-cost assessment, and this method can be applied simply by using software containing a database to assess external costs related to pollutants and compute them according to the probability that they will occur. Activity-based costing

One of the primary problems with measuring and managing environmental costs is related to the allocation of such costs to the activities or products that generated them. In fact, many companies treat environmental costs as overhead and don’t identify them as related to the environment, which contributes heavily to the underestimation of environmental costs. Activity-based costing can therefore enable a firm to allocate environmental costs to activities, and then to products, overcoming any inaccuracies related to their inclusion in overhead. It should be noted, though, that using this approach requires the prior identification of environmental costs. Activity-based costing can be used the traditional way or by inserting an “environmental” driver to allocate environmental costs either to activities first and products second, or from an “environmental” activity to the products that generate the costs.

How to measure external environmental costs

Although there are several methods to measure external costs, the three major methods are: 1) control costs, 2) restoration costs and 3) damage costs.

1) Control costs

The underlying assumption for this method is that the cost of environmental impacts (including pollution) for a company would be equal to the cost of installing, operating and maintaining technologies that might have enabled the company to avoid such damage to the environment. The logic is based on marginal cost, e.g. the cost of an additional unit of damage is estimated by the cost that the company would have been required to spend to avoid such damage. This is the most simple method of measuring external costs, and the easiest to justify, as it generates the cost that a company would actually have incurred to avoid the production of externalities or that

企业成本控制外文翻译文献

企业成本控制外文翻译文献(文档含英文原文和中文翻译)

译文： 在价值链的成本控制下减少费用和获得更多的利润 摘要： 根据基于价值链的成本管理理念和基于价值的重要因素是必要的。首先，必须有足够的资源，必须创造了有利的价值投资，同时还需要基于客户价值活动链，以确定他们的成本管理优势的价值链。其次，消耗的资源必须尽量减少，使最小的运营成本价值链和确保成本优势是基于最大商业价值或利润，这是一种成本控制系统内部整个视图的创建和供应的具实践，它也是一种成本控制制度基于价值链，包括足够的控制和必要的资源投资价值的观点，创建和保持消费的资源到合理的水平，具有价值的观点主要对象的第一个因素是构造有利的价值链，从创造顾客价值开始；第二个因素是加强有利的价值链，从供应或生产客户价值开始。因此它是一个新型的理念，去探索成本控制从整个视图的创建和供应的商品更盈利企业获得可持续的竞争优势。 关键词：成本控制，价值链，收益，支出，收入，成本会计 1、介绍 根据价值链理论，企业的目的是创造最大的顾客价值；和企业的竞争优势在于尽可能提供尽可能多的价值给他们的客户，作为低成本可能的。这要求企业必须首先考虑他们是否能为顾客创造价值，和然后考虑在很长一段时间内如何创造它。然而，竞争一直以“商品”（或“产品”）作为最直接的载体，因此，传统的成本控制方法主要集中在对“产品”和生产流程的过程。很显然，这不能解决企业的问题，企业是否或如何能为客户创造价值。换句话说，这至少不能从根本上解决它。 因此，企业必须首先投入足够的资源，以便他们能够创建客户值取向，然后提供它以最少的资源费用。所以在整个视图中对价值创造和提供整体的观点来控制成本，它可以为客户提供完美的动力和操作运行机制运行成本的控制，也可以从根本上彻底克服了传统的成本控制方法的缺点，解决了无法控制的创造和供应不足的真正价值。基于此，本文试图从创作的整体观讨论成本控制提供价值并探讨实现良性循环的策略，也就是说，“创造价值投资成本供应价值创造价值”。 2、成本及其控制的基于价值链理念 2.1基于价值链的成本观念 根据价值链理论，如果企业是要被客户接受，它必须创造和提供能满足其客户的价值。因此，成本（价值或资源支付费用）这不离为创造和提供顾客价值的活动，其活动的价值链。因此，我们应该从价值链角度看成本的重要。

成本管理外文文献及翻译

成本管理外文文献 China's Enterprise Cost Management Analysis and Countermeasures Abstract: With the progress and China's traditional Cost Management model difficult to adapt to an increasingly competitive market environment. This paper exists in our country a number of Cost Management and finally put forward to address these issues a number of measures to strengthen Cost Management. Keywords:: Cost Management measures In a market economy conditions, as the global economic integration, the development of increasingly fierce market competition, corporate profit margins shrinking. In this case, the level of high and low business costs directly determines the size of an enterprise profitability and competitive strength. Therefore, strengthen enterprise Cost Management business has become an inevitable choice for the survival and development. First, the reality of China's Enterprise Cost Management Analysis Cost Management in our country after years of development, has made many achievements, but now faces a new environment, China's Cost Management has also exposed some new problems, mainly in the following aspects: (A) Cost Management concept behind the Chinese enterprises lag behind the concept of Cost Management in pervasive phenomenon, mainly in Cost Management of the scope, purpose and means from time to biased. Many enterprises will continue to limit the scope of Cost Management within the enterprise or even only the production process at the expense of other related companies and related fields cost behavior management. We supply side, for example. The supply side of the price of the product cost of doing business, one of the most important motives. As the supply side of the price of the product and its cost plus profit, so the supply side of price in the form of its own costs to the enterprise. However, some enterprises to the supply side too much rock bottom price, as their source of high profits, without considering each other's interests, resulting in supply-side to conceal their true costs, price increase in disguise. This increase in procurement costs, thereby increasing commodity costs, making goods less competitive. The purpose of Cost Management from the point of view, many enterprises confined to lower costs, but less from the perspective of cost-effectiveness of the effectiveness of the means of cost reduction mainly rely on savings, can not be cost-effective. In traditional Cost Management, Cost Management purposes has been reduced to cut costs, saving has become the basic means to reduce costs. From the perspective of Cost Management to analyze the Cost Management of this goal, not difficult to find cost-reduction is conditional and limits, and in some cases, control of costs, could lead to product quality and enterprise efficiency decline. In addition, the vast majority of enterprises in the overall concept of lack of Cost

企业环境成本会计外文翻译

企业环境成本会计外文翻译 ACCOUNTING IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES 1．ENVIRONMENTAL COST ACCOUNTING IN SMES Since its inception some 30 years ago, Environmental Cost Accounting (ECA) has reached a stage of development where individual ECA systems are separated from the core accounting system based an assessment of environmental costs with (see Fichter et al., 1997, Letmathe and Wagner , 2002). As environmental costs are commonly assessed as overhead costs, neither the older concepts of full costs accounting nor the relatively recent one of direct costing appear to represent an appropriate basis for the implementation of ECA. Similar to developments in conventional accounting, the theoretical and conceptual sphere of ECA has focused on process-based accounting since the 1990s (see Hallay and Pfriem, 1992, Fischer and Blasius, 1995, BMU/UBA, 1996, Heller et al., 1995, Letmathe, 1998, Spengler and H.hre, 1998). Taking available concepts of ECA into consideration, process-based concepts seem the best option regarding the establishment of ECA (see Heupel and Wendisch , 2002). These concepts, however, have to be continuously revised to ensure that they work well when applied in small and medium-sized companies. Based on the framework for Environmental Management Accounting presented in Burritt et al. (2002), our concept of ECA focuses on two main groups of environmentally related impacts. These are environmentally induced financial effects and company-related effects on environmental systems (see Burritt and Schaltegger, 2000, p.58). Each of these impacts relate to specific categories of financial and environmental information. The environmentally induced financial effects are represented by monetary environmental information and the effects on environmental systems are represented by physical environmental information. Conventional accounting deals with both – monetary as well as physical units – but does not focus on environmental impact as such. To arrive at a practical solution to the implementation of ECA in a company’s existing accounting system, and to comply with the problem of distinguishing between monetary and physical aspects, an integrated concept is required. As physical information is often the basis for the monetary information (e.g. kilograms of a raw material are the basis for the monetary valuation of raw material consumption), the integration

物流成本控制中英文对照外文翻译文献

中英文翻译 原文 Logistics costs and controlling Abstract Logistic costs are defined differently in companies. In many cases, the reported logistic costs of companies even within the same business differ more than justified by their operations. Some companies do not count interest and depreciation on inventories as logistic costs. Others include the distribution costs of their suppliers or the purchasing costs. In some cases, even the purchase value of the procured goods is included in the logistic costs (Baumgarten et al. 1993; Gudehus and Kotzab 2004; Weber 2002). Logistic costs are defined differently in companies. In many cases, the reported logistic costs of companies even within the same business differ more than justified by their operations. Some companies do not count interest and depreciation on inventories as logistic costs. Others include the distribution costs of their suppliers or the purchasing costs. In some cases, even the purchase value of the procured goods is included in the logistic costs (Baumgarten et al. 1993; Gudehus and Kotzab 2004; Weber 2002).

环境会计方面的外文文献汇总

EVOLUTION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT PROGRAM J. H. Maday T. L. Kuusinen October 1991 Presented at the Environmental Auditing Conference October 22-23, 1991 Seattle, Washington Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-ACO6-76RLO 1830 Pacific Northwest Laboratory Richland, Washington 99352

DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States。Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Evolution of an Environmental Audit Program Joseph H. Maday, Jr. (ASQC-CQA) Technical Group Leader - Quality Verification Department and Tapio Kuusinen Senior Research Scientist Environmental Policy and Compliance Group Pacific Northwest Laboratory Richland, Washington 99352

成本控制【外文翻译】

外文翻译 原文 Cost Control Material Source:Encyclopedia of business,2 and ed. Author:Anthony, Robet N 1 Cost Control Cost control, also known as cost management or cost containment, is a broad set of cost accounting methods and management techniques with the common goal of improving business cost-efficiency by reducing costs, or at least restricting their rate of growth. Businesses use cost control methods to monitor, evaluate, and ultimately enhance the efficiency of specific areas, such as departments, divisions, or product lines, within their operations. During the 1990s cost control initiatives received paramount attention from corporate America. Often taking the form of corporate restructuring, divestment of peripheral activities, mass layoffs, or outsourcing, cost control strategies were seen as necessary to preserve—or boost—corporate profits and to maintain—or gain—a competitive advantage. The objective was often to be the low-cost producer in a given industry, which would typically allow the company to take a greater profit per unit of sales than its competitors at a given price level. Some cost control proponents believe that such strategic cost-cutting must be planned carefully, as not all cost reduction techniques yield the same benefits. In a notable late 1990s example, chief executive Albert J. Dunlap, nicknamed "Chainsaw Al" because of his penchant for deep cost cutting at the companies he headed, failed to restore the ailing small appliance maker Sunbeam Corporation to profitability despite his drastic cost reduction tactics. Dunlap laid off thousands of workers and sold off business units, but made little contribution to Sunbeam's competitive position or share price in his two years as CEO. Consequently, in 1998 Sunbeam's board fired Dunlap, having lost confidence in his "one-trick" approach to management. A complex business requires frequent information about operations in order to plan for the future, to control present activities, and to evaluate the past performance of managers, employees, and related business segments. To be successful,

会计专业外文文献翻译--中小企业环境成本会计的实施

IMPLEMENTING ENVIRONMENTAL COST ACCOUNTING IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES 1．ENVIRONMENTAL COST ACCOUNTING IN SMES Since its inception some 30 years ago, Environmental Cost Accounting (ECA) has reached a stage of development where individual ECA systems are separated from the core accounting system based an assessment of environmental costs with (see Fichter et al., 1997, Letmathe and Wagner , 2002). As environmental costs are commonly assessed as overhead costs, neither the older concepts of full costs accounting nor the relatively recent one of direct costing appear to represent an appropriate basis for the implementation of ECA. Similar to developments in conventional accounting, the theoretical and conceptual sphere of ECA has focused on process-based accounting since the 1990s (see Hallay and Pfriem, 1992, Fischer and Blasius, 1995, BMU/UBA, 1996, Heller et al., 1995, Letmathe, 1998, Spengler and H.hre, 1998). Taking available concepts of ECA into consideration, process-based concepts seem the best option regarding the establishment of ECA (see Heupel and Wendisch , 2002). These concepts, however, have to be continuously revised to ensure that they work well when applied in small and medium-sized companies. Based on the framework for Environmental Management Accounting presented in Burritt et al. (2002), our concept of ECA focuses on two main groups of environmentally related impacts. These are environmentally induced financial effects and company-related effects on environmental systems (see Burritt and Schaltegger, 2000, p.58). Each of these impacts relate to specific categories of financial and environmental information. The environmentally induced financial effects are represented by monetary environmental information and the effects on environmental systems are represented by physical environmental information. Conventional accounting deals with both – monetary as well as physical units – but does not focus on environmental impact as such. To arrive at a practical solution to the implementation of ECA in a company’s existing accounting system, and to comply with the problem of distinguishing between monetary and physical aspects, an integrated concept is required. As physical information is often the basis for the monetary information (e.g. kilograms of a raw material are the basis for the monetary valuation of raw material consumption), the integration

成本控制和成本管理战略【外文翻译】

外文翻译 原文 Cost-Containment and Cost-Management Strategies Material Source: Author: Alan f. Goldberg ,William P. Fleming The leadership and boards of trustees of all healthcare organizations are the ultimate stewards of the limited resources available to best meet community needs. The strategic planning process leads the organization down a clear path of setting priorities, making choices, and taking action. The day a new cancer center opens or the latest technology arrives is an exciting one for the community. After the ribbon cutting, these new programs become the responsibility of the hospital's service line directors or clinical managers. Their staffing is based on projections and other assumptions that may or may not be on point but have a direct impact on the operations and finances of the organization. As part of normal decision making for a hospital's new initiatives, a payer mix and revenue stream were predicted. Now two significant environmental events have made projections more uncertain and put aggressive cost management on center stage: the economic downturn and payment reform. The economic downturn affecting hospitals began in the fall of 2008. Its broad impact on the organization was described by Goldberg and Petasnick (2010): With credit markets drying up, unemployment rising, consumer confidence eroding, and employee morale shaken, healthcare system executives had their hands full. The combined result of the turmoil made the old adage "cash is king" truer than ever. As consumers pulled back and individuals lost health insurance, hospitals experienced losses in volume for elective, nonemergent healthcare. Financial operating results suffered. Meanwhile, losses in investment values eliminated the safety net reserves created by nonoperating income. Many hospitals and healthcare systems were forced to consider or enact layoffs and postpone or cancel capital-intensive projects. All were required to rethink their strategic plans. Because of the economic downturn and high unemployment, which led to income declines and individuals losing job-based healthcare coverage, Medicaid enrollment is projected to increase 10.5 percent in fiscal 2010.

工程管理专业外文翻译--项目成本控制剖析(可编辑修改word版)

项目成本控制 1施工企业成本控制原则 施工企业的成本控制是以施工项目成本控制为中心，施工项目成本控制原则是企业成本管理的基础和核心，施工企业项目经理部在对项目施工过程进行成本控制时，必须遵循以下基本原则。 1.1成本最低化原则。施工项目成本控制的根本目的，在于通过成本管理的各种手段，促进不断降低施工项目成本，以达到可能实现最低的目标成本的要求。在实行成本最低化原则时，应注意降低成本的可能性和合理的成本最低化。一方面挖掘各种降低成本的能力，使可能性变为现实；另一方面要从实际出发，制定通过主观努力可能达到合理的最低成本水平。 1.2全面成本控制原则。全面成本管理是全企业、全员和全过程的管理，亦称“三全”管理。项目成本的全员控制有一个系统的实质性内容，包括各部门、各单位的责任网络和班组经济核算等等，应防止成本控制人人有责，人人不管。项目成本的全过程控制要求成本控制工作要随着项目施工进展的各个阶段连续进行，既不能疏漏，又不能时紧时松，应使施工项目成本自始至终置于有效的控制之下。 1.3动态控制原则。施工项目是一次性的，成本控制应强调项目的中间控制，即动 态控制。因为施工准备阶段的成本控制只是根据施工组织设计的具体内容确定成本目标、编制成本计划、制订成本控制的方案，为今后的成本控制作好准备。而竣工阶段的成本控制，由于成本盈亏已基本定局，即使发生了偏差，也已来不及纠正。 1.4目标管理原则。目标管理的内容包括：目标的设定和分解，目标的责任到位和执行，检查目标的执行结果，评价目标和修正目标，形成目标管理的计划、实施、检查、处理循环，即 PDCA 循环。 1.5责、权、利相结的原则。在项目施工过程中，项目经理部各部门、各班组在肩负成本控制责任的同时，享有成本控制的权力，同时项目经理要对各部门、各班组在成本控制中的业绩进行定期的检查和考评，实行有奖有罚。只有真正做好责、权、利相结合的成本控制，才能收到预期的效果。

Costcontrol成本控制外文翻译

Reference for business,Encyclopedia of Business.2nd ed,Cos Des Cost control Roger J. Binder Abstract Cost control, also known as cost management or cost containment, is a broad set of cost accounting methods and management techniques with the common goal of improving business cost-efficiency by reducing costs, or at least restricting their rate of growth. Businesses use cost control methods to monitor, evaluate, and ultimately enhance the efficiency of specific areas, such as departments, divisions, or product lines, within their operations. Control of the business entity, then, is essentially a managerial and supervisory function. Control consists of those actions necessary to assure that the entity's resources and operations are focused on attaining established objectives, goals and plans. Control, exercised continuously, flags potential problems so that crises may be prevented. It also standardizes the quality and quantity of output, and provides managers with objective information about employee performance. Management compares actual performance to predetermined standards and takes action when necessary to correct variances from the standards. Keywords: Cost control；Applications；Control reports；Standards；Strategic Cost control, also known as cost management or cost containment, is a broad set of cost accounting methods and management techniques with the common goal of improving business cost-efficiency by reducing costs, or at least restricting their rate of growth. Businesses use cost control methods to monitor, evaluate, and ultimately enhance the efficiency of specific areas, such as departments, divisions, or product lines, within their operations. During the 1990s cost control initiatives received paramount attention from corporate America. Often taking the form of corporate restructuring, divestment of