Aug 02, 2018 · 2 min read
Target costing estimates product cost by subtracting a desired profit margin from a competitive market price. As the target cost makes reference to the competitive market, it is fundamentally customer-focused and an important concept for new product development.
What is it?
Target costing is part of a product development process. It starts with understanding the wants and needs of customer segments across targeted competitive markets, and the prices they're willing to pay for the product and its variants. The business must specify the margin it needs to get the maximum tenable cost for the product and its variants. The margin needs to be sustainable across the product's full expected lifecycle.
Because target costing encompasses a business' full costs, it applies to its full value chain. So, at one end of the value chain, customer value must be expressed in terms of the value the product and its variants generate for customers. At the other end of the value chain, it incorporates how the business will collaborate with its suppliers to generate this value. As target costing has an all-encompassing role, it is multidisciplinary, multifunctional and integral to the business model that generates value for customers. It's as much a change of culture as a change in process. The role of the management accountant is to partner with all the disciplines involved and to understand the impact of decisions on customers. So, it's not just about minimising product costs, but doing so while maintaining or enhancing quality for the customer.
Competitive markets are full of uncertainty. Since the process applies to the product's full lifecycle in competitive markets, businesses will need to continually revise a product's value proposition and price. This is bound to affect the product's target cost over time. So, target costing is an ongoing process that needs continuous improvement effort.
What benefits does the process provide?
Assures that profitability targets for a product portfolio are achievable
Improves sales prospects, since product development is focused on customer needs and wants
Improves profitability of product variants
Reduces the cost and effort of managing a profitable product lifecycle
Reduces reliance on costly post-production product revisions to meet customer needs and wants
Market and customer-led, rather than business capability-led
Extends customer centricity beyond sales to all functions in the business.
Implementing target costing? Questions to consider
Have we segmented our prospect and customer base by their wants and needs?
Have we aligned existing products with customer segments?
Have we made the case for adopting target costing in our strategy?
Do our leaders champion the target costing cause?
Have we put in place the resources to facilitate implementation?
Are key people inspired to embrace target costing or is there resistance to change?
