Is Standard Costing Still Used? Evidence from Turkish Automotive Industry

Abstract

Today, there is a debate about the future of standard costing. Some academicians assert that this method is inappropriate in a modern manufacturing environment. The aim of this article is to study the use of standard costing in the automotive industry, the leading manufacturing sector of Turkey. The findings show an average usage rate of 77 percent for standard costing. The majority of non-users are local small supplier firms. There are statistically significant differences between the primary and supplier industries in terms of its importance and usage. Just to name a few differences, supplier firms attach less importance to the budgetary function of the standard costing, and they mostly rely on different methods to set labour and material standards. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]