IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accted/v10y2001i4p413-419.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Overhead allocation: a cautionary tale!

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Luther
  • Neil Robson

Abstract

This paper examines the behavioural consequences of charging/allocating central overheads to profit centres within a UK public sector institution. It is based on actual events at a UK university and the issues are set out in a case study format using correspondence from the profit centre manager to highlight issues of contol and measurement. A number of student tasks are suggested that require students to think beyond accounting numbers and consider the potentially conflicting roles of accounting information. In particular there is a conflict between the need to recover full costs from the University/Head Office perspective and the potential alienation of profit centre managers with only crude models for overhead recovery. The problems caused by inappropriate communication of accounting data and reactions to that data are also considered and instructors may use the case to introduce students to the differences between profit and not-for-profit organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Luther & Neil Robson, 2001. "Overhead allocation: a cautionary tale!," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 413-419.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accted:v:10:y:2001:i:4:p:413-419
    DOI: 10.1080/09639280110091263
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09639280110091263
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09639280110091263?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trevor Hassall & Sarah Lewis & Mike Broadbent, 1998. "Teaching and learning using case studies: a teaching note," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 325-334.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mark Huijben & Arno Geurtsen & Jan van Helden, 2014. "Managing overhead in public sector organizations through benchmarking," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 27-34, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Margaret Healy & Maeve McCutcheon, 2010. "Teaching with Case Studies: An Empirical Investigation of Accounting Lecturers' Experiences," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(6), pages 555-567.
    2. Joan Ballantine & Patricia McCourt Larres, 2004. "A critical analysis of students' perceptions of the usefulness of the case study method in an advanced management accounting module: the impact of relevant work experience," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 171-189.
    3. Jose Luis Arquero Montano & Sergio Manuel Jimenez Cardoso & John Joyce, 2004. "Skills development, motivation and learning in financial statement analysis: an evaluation of alternative types of case studies," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 191-212.
    4. Sidney Weil & Peter Oyelere & Joanna Yeoh & Colin Firer, 2001. "A study of students' perceptions of the usefulness of case studies for the development of finance and accounting-related skills and knowledge," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 123-146.
    5. Hartwell Herring & Barry Bryan, 2001. "Curriculum development research: a literature guide," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 315-323.
    6. Sidney Weil & Peter Oyelere & Elizabeth Rainsbury, 2004. "The usefulness of case studies in developing core competencies in a professional accounting programme: a New Zealand study," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 139-169.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:accted:v:10:y:2001:i:4:p:413-419. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAED20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.