Analysis of Relevance

The construction of a costing system based on an existing representation or on the basis of a new one does not pose any technical problems, but even then one has to make sure that the tool developed is relevant. This relevance must be assessed according to targets one has set for oneself. These are, it may be recalled, three in number: management of internal resources, dialogue with the environment and orientation of behav­iours. On the internal level, the representation of internal movement of resources must facilitate their management, that is to say, their control. On the external level, the tool must facilitate dialogue with the environment by enabling the coupling of cost and value. These two objectives are not easy to achieve separately, nor are they easy to join together, and very often call for additional tools like performance indicators and budgets. Reaching these objectives supposes in fact reaching a third objective because no information, as relevant as it may be, is transformed into action without input from people who make up the organization. The order of presentation chosen here in no way implies the supremacy of internal objectives over the external ones; from our viewpoint, the three objectives pursued by developing a costing system form a part of the same reality and deserve the same attention. All three of these contribute to the implementation of the organizational strategy.