The functional cost analysis of the fsa is directed. Methodology "Functional cost analysis and simulation modeling

Many users find the Functional Cost Analysis (FCA) method quite difficult to understand. Perhaps this is due to the lack of information explaining what it is. In addition, this method was developed independently in two states: the USA and the USSR.

The founder of the method Activity Based Costing(ABC) is considered Lawrence D. Miles (USA). In 1947, a group was organized at the General Electric Company to create a new method, and in 1949 the first publication about it took place. According to this paradigm, (FSA, Activity Based Costing, ABC) - a method for determining the cost and other characteristics of products, services and consumers, using as a basis the functions and resources involved in production, marketing, sale, delivery, technical support, service delivery, customer service, and quality assurance.

In the USSR, the first work related to the new method was carried out at the Perm telephone plant by Yuri Mikhailovich Sobolev. In 1948, the first success in the application of the method of elemental analysis was registered, and in 1949 the first application for an invention was filed, which was based on a new method. According to this approach, functional cost analysis(FSA) is a method of feasibility study of systems aimed at optimizing the relationship between their consumer properties (functions that are still perceived as quality) and the costs of achieving these properties.

Currently, FSA is used as a methodology for continuous improvement of products, services, production technologies, organizational structures and is almost completely identified with ABC.

The main ideas of the FSA:

the consumer is not interested in the product as such, but in the benefits that he will receive from its use; the consumer seeks to reduce their costs; the functions of the product that are of interest to the consumer can be performed in various ways, and, therefore, with different efficiencies and costs;
among the possible alternatives for the implementation of functions, there are those in which the ratio of quality and price is optimal for the consumer.

To achieve the goal of production - meeting the needs of the consumer - functional cost analysis allows you to perform the following types of work:

determine and conduct a general analysis of the cost of business processes at the enterprise (marketing, production and provision of services, sales, quality management, technical and after-sales service, etc.);
to analyze the functions performed by the structural divisions of enterprises in order to ensure the production of high quality products and the provision of high quality services;
analyze the main and additional functional costs and determine the composition of the functions that are redundant;
compare alternative options for reducing costs in production, marketing and management by streamlining the functions of structural divisions of the enterprise;
to analyze the integrated improvement of the results of the enterprise.

At present, the FSA method has become a comprehensive tool for evaluating any systems, processes and concepts.

The FCA method is designed as an "operations-oriented" alternative to traditional financial approaches. The FSA method, in particular, differs from traditional financial approaches in the following advantages:

provides information in a form understandable for the personnel of the enterprise directly involved in the business process;
allows you to work out the procedure for distributing overhead costs in accordance with a detailed miscalculation of the volume of resource use, a detailed understanding of business processes and their impact on cost.

The FSA method is one of the methods that allows you to indicate possible ways to improve cost indicators. The purpose of creating a FSA-model for improving the activities of enterprises is to achieve improvements in the work of enterprises in terms of cost, labor intensity and productivity. Carrying out calculations according to the FSA model allows you to obtain a large amount of FSA information for making a decision.

FSA-information can be used both for operational ( current) management, and for the adoption strategic solutions.

On the strategic management level(development process management) the results of the FSA provide assistance in making decisions on the reorganization of the enterprise, on changing the range of products and services, on entering new markets, diversification, etc. FSA-information shows how resources can be reallocated with maximum strategic benefit, helps to identify the possibilities of those factors (quality, service, cost reduction, labor intensity reduction) that matter most, as well as to determine the best investment options.

On the operational management level(business process management) information from the FSA-model can be used to form recommendations leading to an increase in profits and an increase in the efficiency of the organization. In this aspect, the main directions of using the information of the FSA-model for the reorganization of business processes are increase productivity, reduce costs and improve quality.

Productivity increase business processes are carried out in three stages:

at the first stage an analysis of the functions that make up the business process is carried out to determine the reserves for increasing their productivity;
on the second- Identifies the causes of unproductive waste of time and ways to eliminate them;
at the third stage monitoring is carried out by measuring the main performance parameters and accelerating the desired functions.

For cost reduction business processes you need:

eliminate unnecessary functions that make up the business process;
form a ranked list of alternative functions by cost, labor intensity or execution time and select from this list functions with low cost, labor intensity and execution time;
organize a possible combination of business process functions;
redistribute resources freed up as a result of improvements.

Obviously, the above actions also contribute to quality improvement business processes. In addition, improving the quality of business processes is carried out by conducting a comparative assessment and choosing rational (in terms of quality) technologies for performing operations or procedures.

Many enterprises are modeling the functions of departments and business processes using the methodology of functional modeling IDEFO.

In the process of constructing functional cost models, it was possible to establish a methodological and technological relationship between functional IDEFO- and FSA models. The kinship of functional modeling and functional cost analysis made it possible to include the FSA model in the tools for calculating the cost of functions and business processes, which are represented by implementation software products IDEF0.

Method Connectivity 1DEF 0 and FSA lies in the fact that both methods consider the enterprise as a set of sequentially performed functions. At the same time, the arcs of inputs, outputs, controls and mechanisms of the /DFFO-model correspond to the cost objects and resources of the FSA-model. On fig. 2.8 presents a conceptual model of the FSA method, and in fig. 2.9 - conceptual element IDEFO- models. It can be seen from a comparison of these concepts that the Resources (Costs) in the FSA model correspond to the concepts of input arcs, control arcs and mechanisms in the /DFFO model, the Products (Value Objects) of the FSA model correspond to the output arcs of the /DFFO model, and the Actions of the FSA correspond to models - Functions in /DFFO-models.

All functions or business processes in the /DFFO model can be decomposed, i.e. are represented more accurately and detailed with a lower level /DEFO model. Then the formation of FSA indicators of functions and business processes based on the /DFFO model is performed according to the following rules:

1. An individual function is characterized by a number that represents the cost or time to complete this function.
2. The cost or execution time of a function that does not have decomposition is set by the developer of the information system.
3. The cost or execution time of a function (business process) that has a decomposition is determined as the sum of the costs (times) of all subfunctions that make up the decomposition of this function at a given level.

Rice. 2.8.

As a result of such a procedure, all functions or business processes / DEFO models receive cost or execution time characteristics.

Rice. 2.9. Function block and interface arcsIDEFO

Functional cost analysis

The essence of the method

Functional cost analysis (FSA, A activity B settled C osting, ABC) is a technology that allows you to evaluate the real value of a product or service, regardless of the organizational structure of the company. Both direct and indirect costs are allocated to products and services depending on the amount of resources required at each stage of production. The actions performed at these stages, in the context of the FSA method, are called functions (activities).

The purpose of the FSA is to ensure the correct allocation of funds allocated for the production of products or the provision of services, according to direct and indirect costs. This allows for the most realistic assessment of the company's costs.

Essentially, the FSA method works according to the following algorithm:

Does the market dictate the price level or is it possible to set the price of products that will give the planned profit?
Should the projected premium on FSA costs be applied equally across all operations, or do some functions generate more revenue than others?
how does the final selling price of products compare with FSA indicators?

Thus, using this method, you can quickly estimate the amount of profit expected from the production of a particular product or service.

If the original cost estimate is correct, then income (before taxes) will be equal to the difference between the selling price and the costs calculated using the FCA method. In addition, it will immediately become clear which products or services will be unprofitable (their selling price will be lower than the estimated costs). Based on this data, you can quickly take corrective actions, including revisiting business goals and strategies for the coming periods.

Reasons for the appearance of FSA

The FSA method appeared in the 80s, when traditional methods of cost calculation began to lose their relevance. The latter appeared and developed at the turn of the last and the century before last (1870 - 1920). But since the early 1960s, and especially in the 1980s, changes in the way we manufacture and do business have led to the traditional method of cost accounting being labeled "enemy number one for manufacturing" because its usefulness has become highly questionable.

Traditional cost estimating methods were originally developed (according to GAAP standards based on the principles of "objectivity, verifiability and significance") for the evaluation of inventories and were intended for external consumers - creditors, investors, the Securities Commission ( S economy E xchange C ommission), Internal Revenue Service ( I internal R evening S service).

However, these methods have a number of weaknesses, especially noticeable in internal management. Of these, the two biggest drawbacks are:

The impossibility of accurately conveying the costs of producing a particular product.
Failure to provide feedback– information for managers necessary for operational management.

As a result, managers of companies selling various types of products make important decisions regarding pricing, product combination and production technology, based on inaccurate cost information.

So, cost analysis was called upon to solve modern problems, and ultimately it turned out to be one of the most important innovations in management in the last hundred years.

The developers of the method, Harvard University professors Robin Cooper and Robert Kaplan, identified three independent, but in concert, factors that are the main reasons for the practical application of the FSA:

The process of structuring costs has changed very significantly. And if at the beginning of the century labor was about 50% of total costs, the cost of materials - 35%, and overheads - 15%, now overheads are about 60%, materials - 30%, and labor - only 10% of production costs. . It is obvious that using working hours as a cost allocation base made sense 90 years ago, but with the current cost structure it has already lost its force.
The level of competition that most companies face has increased tremendously. “A rapidly changing global competitive environment” is not a cliché, but a very real nuisance for most firms. Knowing the actual costs is very important to survive in such a situation.
The cost of performing measurements and calculations has declined as information processing technologies have advanced. Even 20 years ago, the collection, processing and analysis of the data needed for the FSA were very expensive. And today, not only special automated data evaluation systems are available, but also the data itself, which, as a rule, has already been collected in one form or another and stored in each company.

In this regard, the FSA can be a very valuable method, since it provides information on the full range of operational functions, their cost and consumption.

Difference from traditional methods

Under traditional financial and accounting methods, a company's performance is valued by functional operations rather than by services provided to the customer. The calculation of the effectiveness of a functional unit is made according to the execution of the budget, regardless of whether it benefits the client of the company. In contrast, functional cost analysis is a process management tool that measures the cost of performing a service. The assessment is carried out both for functions that increase the value of a service or product, and taking into account additional functions that do not change this value. If traditional methods calculate the costs of a certain type of activity only by categories of expenses, then the FCA shows the cost of performing all process steps. FSA explores all possible functions in order to determine the most accurate cost of providing services, as well as to ensure the possibility of upgrading processes and increasing productivity.

Here are three main differences between FSA and traditional methods (see Figure 1):

Traditional accounting assumes that cost objects consume resources, while in FSA it is assumed that cost objects consume functions.
Traditional accounting uses quantitative indicators as the basis for allocating costs, while FSA uses sources of costs at various levels.
Traditional accounting is focused on the structure of production, while the FSA is focused on processes (functions).

Rice. 1. Main differences between FSA and traditional cost accounting methods

The direction of the arrows is different, as the FSA provides detailed information about the processes for cost estimation and performance management at multiple levels. And traditional cost accounting methods simply allocate costs to cost objects, without taking into account cause and effect relationships.

So traditional cost accounting systems focus on the product. All costs are attributed to the product, since it is believed that the manufacture of each element of the product consumes a certain amount of resources proportional to the volume of production. Therefore, the quantitative parameters of the product are used as cost sources for calculating overhead costs ( work time, machine hours, cost of materials, etc.).

However, quantitative indicators do not allow taking into account the diversity of products in terms of size and complexity of manufacture. In addition, they do not reveal a direct relationship between the level of expenditure and the volume of production.

The FSA method uses a different approach. Here, the costs of performing individual functions are first determined. And then, depending on the degree of influence of various functions on the manufacture of a particular product, these costs are correlated with the production of all products. Therefore, when calculating overhead costs, functional parameters such as equipment setup time, number of design changes, number of processing processes, etc. are also taken into account as cost sources.

Consequently, the more functional parameters there are, the more detailed the production chain will be described and, accordingly, the real cost of production will be more accurately estimated.

Another important difference between traditional cost estimation systems and the FSA is the scope of functions. In traditional inventory valuation methods, only internal production costs are tracked. The FSA theory does not agree with this approach, believing that when calculating the cost of a product, all functions should be taken into account - both those related to supporting production and the delivery of goods and services to the consumer. Examples of such functions include: production, technology development, logistics, distribution, service, information support, financial administration and general management.

Traditional economic theory and financial management systems consider costs as variables only in case of short-term fluctuations in production volumes. Value-for-money theory suggests that many important price categories also fluctuate over long periods (several years) as the design, composition, and range of a company's products and customers change.

Table 1 compares the FSA and traditional cost accounting methods.

Table 1. FCA and Traditional Cost Accounting Methods

	Traditional Methods	Explanation
Feature Consumption	Resource consumption	Traditional accounting methods are based on the assumption that prices can be controlled, but as the practice of most managers has shown, this is practically impossible. The theory of functional cost analysis recognizes that only what is produced can be controlled, and prices change as a result. The advantage of the FSA approach is that it provides a wider range of measures to improve business performance. In a systematic study of the functions performed, not only the factors affecting the increase or decrease in productivity are revealed, but also the incorrect allocation of resources is detected. Therefore, in order to reduce costs, it is possible to rationally allocate power and achieve higher productivity than in the traditional way.
Sources of costs at different levels	Quantitative cost allocation bases	As overhead costs rise, new technologies emerge, and of course, allocating costs based on 5-15% (as in most companies) of total total costs is too risky. In fact, errors can reach several hundred percent. In functional cost analysis, costs are distributed in accordance with cause-and-effect relationships between functions and cost objects. These links are fixed with the help of cost sources. In practice, the sources of costs are divided into several levels. Here are the most important ones: Unity level. At this level, sources are considered for each unit of output produced. For example: a person and a machine that produce a product per unit of time. The corresponding working time will be considered a cost source for the unit level. This is a quantitative measure similar to the cost allocation basis used in traditional accounting methods. Batch level. These sources are no longer associated with units, but with batches of products. An example of using the functions of this level would be production planning, which is carried out for each batch, regardless of its size. A quantitative indicator of such sources is, as a rule, the number of parties. Product level. Here we are talking about sources related to the release of a particular type of product, regardless of the number of units and batches produced. As an indicator, for example, the number of hours required to develop a product is used. The higher this indicator, the greater the costs allocated to this product. Enterprise level. Sources of this level are not directly related to products, these are general functions related to the operation of the enterprise as a whole. However, the costs they cause are allocated later on by product.
Process orientation	Structural Orientation	Traditional costing systems focus more on the organizational structure than on the existing process. They cannot answer the question: “What should be done?”, because they do not know anything about the process. They have only information about the availability of resources needed to do the job. And the process-oriented method of FCA gives managers the opportunity to most accurately match resource requirements and available capacities, and therefore increase productivity.

FSA application. Example

Mispricing of products occurs in almost all companies involved in the production or sale of a large number of goods or the provision of various services. To understand why this happens, consider two hypothetical factories that produce simple items - ballpoint pens. Factory #1 produces a million blue pens every year. Factory #2 also produces blue pens, but only 100,000 a year. In order for the production to operate at full capacity, as well as to ensure the employment of personnel and extract the necessary profit, plant No. 2, in addition to blue pens, produces a number of similar products: 60 thousand black pens, 12 thousand red pens, 10 thousand purple pens, etc. Usually, plant No. 2 produces up to a thousand different types of goods per year, the volumes of which range from 500 to 100 thousand units. So, the total output of plant No. 2 is equal to one million products. This value coincides with the volume of production of plant No. 1, so they require the same number of labor and machine hours, they have the same material costs. However, despite the similarity of goods and the same volume of production, an outside observer can notice significant differences. Plant #2 has more staff to support production. There are employees involved in:

equipment management and configuration;
checking products after setting;
receiving and checking incoming materials and parts;
movement of stocks, collection and shipment of orders, their fast forwarding;
processing of defective products;
design and implementation of design changes;
negotiations with suppliers;
planning the receipt of materials and parts;
modernization and programming of a much larger (than the first plant) computer information system).

Plant #2 has higher rates of downtime, overtime, warehouse overload, rework, and waste. A large staff supporting the production process, as well as a general inefficiency in manufacturing technology, leads to a discrepancy in prices.
Most companies calculate the cost of running such a production process in two stages. First, the costs associated with certain categories of responsibility (responsibility centers) are taken into account - production management, quality control, receipts, etc. - and then these costs are associated with the relevant departments of the company. Many firms are very good at implementing this stage. But here's the second step, where the costs of the divisions should be distributed to specific products, is performed too simplistic. Until now, working hours are often used as the basis for calculation. In other cases, two more additional bases are taken into account for calculation. Material costs (expenses for the purchase, receipt, verification and storage of materials) are allocated directly to products in the form of a percentage premium to direct material costs. In highly automated plants, machine hours (processing time) are also taken into account.

Regardless of whether one or all of these approaches are used, the cost of producing high-volume items (blue handles) is always significantly higher than the cost of producing the same item in the first plant. Blue pens, representing 10% of production, will require 10% of the cost. Accordingly, purple pens, the output of which will be 1%, will require 1% of the cost. In fact, if the standard costs of labor and machine hours, materials per unit of production are the same for both blue and purple pens (ordered, produced, packaged and shipped in much smaller volumes), then the overhead costs per unit of goods for purple there will be more pens.

Over time, the market price for blue pens (produced in the highest volumes) will be determined by more successful manufacturers specializing in the production of this product (for example, plant No. 1). The managers of Plant #2 will find that the profit margins for blue handles will be lower than those for specialty products. The price of blue pens is lower than purple pens, but the cost estimation system invariably calculates that blue pens are just as expensive to produce as purple pens.

Frustrated by low profits, Plant 2's managers are content to produce a full range of products. Customers are willing to pay more for specialty items such as purple pens, which are obviously not nearly as expensive to produce as regular blue pens. What, logically, should be the strategic step in response to this situation? It is necessary to downplay the role of blue handles and offer an expanded set of differentiated products, with unique features and capabilities.

In fact, such a strategy would be detrimental. Despite the results of the costing system, the production of blue pens at the second plant is cheaper than purple. Reducing the production of blue pens and replacing them with newer models will further increase overhead costs. The managers of the second plant will be deeply disappointed, as total costs will rise and the goal of increasing profitability will not be achieved.
Many managers realize that their accounting systems are misrepresenting the value of an item, so they make informal adjustments to compensate for this. However, the example described above clearly demonstrates that few managers can predict specific adjustments and their subsequent impact on production in advance.

Only a system of functional cost analysis can help them in this, which will not give distorted information and disorienting strategic ideas.

Advantages and disadvantages of functional cost analysis compared to traditional methods

In conclusion, we present the final list of the advantages and disadvantages of the FSA.

Advantages

A more accurate knowledge of the cost of products makes it possible to make the right strategic decisions on:
a) setting prices for products;
b) the right combination of products;
c) the choice between the ability to make one's own or purchase;
d) investing in research and development, process automation, promotion, etc.
Greater clarity about the functions performed, through which companies are able to:
a) pay more attention to managerial functions, such as improving the efficiency of high-value operations;
b) identify and reduce the volume of operations that do not add value to products.

Disadvantages:

The feature description process can be overly detailed, and the model is sometimes too complex and difficult to maintain.
Often the stage of collecting data on data sources by functions (activity drivers) is underestimated
For high-quality implementation, special software tools are required.
The model often becomes outdated due to organizational changes.
Implementation is often seen as an unnecessary "whim" of financial management, not sufficiently supported by operational management.

A cost driver is a process (function) that occurs at the stage of production of a product or service, which requires material costs from the company. A cost source is always assigned a quantity.

For example, with the disclosure of the structure of the activities of divisions, or at the level of the main stages of production

16.1. Essence, tasks and scope of functional cost analysis.

16.2. Object functions and their classification.

16.3. Principles of functional cost analysis.

16.4. The sequence and methodology for conducting a functional cost analysis.

Educational training.

Essence, tasks and scope of functional cost analysis

Functional cost analysis- one of the methods of heuristic analysis, the purpose of which is to select the optimal option that ensures the full performance of the object under study (product, technological process, form of organization or production management, etc.) of its main functions at minimal cost.

The study of the possibilities of reducing the cost of the functions performed led to the name of this type of analysis in domestic science - functional cost analysis (FCA). In foreign countries, other names are also used: value analysis (or use value), engineering cost analysis, management cost (value analysis, value engineering, value management).

Functional cost analysis appeared in the 40s of the last century as a result of almost simultaneously (but in different countries) research conducted by a Russian designer

Yu.M. Sobolev from the Perm Telephone Plant and American engineer L.D. Miles of General Electric. The first development of Yu.M. Sobolev, designed using the results of the FSA, - the microtelephone amplification unit made it possible to reduce the number of parts by 70%, the consumption of materials - by 42%, the labor intensity of production - by 69%, and the total cost - by 1.7 times.

L.D. Miles in 1946 first formulated the very concept of cost-benefit analysis, defining it as "an applied philosophy of management, as a system of ways to save costs before, during and after their implementation." Since then, the FSA has been considered one of the most important innovations in management over the past hundred years.

The goal of the FSA is to achieve optimal utility at the lowest cost. Mathematically, the goal of the FSA can be represented as follows:

where Z is the cost of achieving the required consumer properties;

PC - a set of consumer properties of the object.

A feature of the purpose of the FSA is not the improvement of a particular object under study, but, first of all, the search for alternative options for performing its functions and choosing the most economical among them, providing the optimal ratio between consumer properties and the costs of their implementation. It is extremely important that FSA allows solving, at first glance, two mutually exclusive tasks - reducing costs and improving the quality of the product.

The main tasks of the FSA are:

Increasing the competitiveness of products in the domestic and foreign markets;

Reducing production costs (reducing the capacity of fixed assets, working capital, energy intensity, labor intensity, increasing the return on fixed assets, material efficiency, etc.);

Improvement of production technology;

Justification of management decisions.

Object functions and their classification

The object of the FSA is the functions and their cost.

Each product, product is produced and exists in order to satisfy certain needs of consumers, that is, to perform functions in accordance with its purpose. Functions are understood as consumer properties of the object being analyzed.

A detailed study shows that objects and goods perform not one, but many functions. For example, a vase can serve as a container for flowers, as an antique, interior item, as a family heirloom, while satisfying certain aesthetic needs.

All functions in the FSA are classified according to the sphere of manifestation, the role in meeting the needs, in operation, according to the nature of detection, the degree of necessity (Fig. 16.1).

According to the sphere of manifestation and the role in meeting the needs of consumers, external and internal functions are distinguished. External (objective) functions are those that are performed by an object in interaction with the external environment.

Internal functions - those that reflect the actions and relationships within the object, due to the mechanism of its construction, performance features. The consumer advantage does not know and is not interested in them.

According to the role in meeting the needs of consumers, among the external functions, the main and secondary ones are distinguished, and among the internal ones - the main (working) and auxiliary ones.

The main function is an external function that reflects the purpose, essence and purpose of creating an object. The main functions are viable for a long period. Moreover, there may be one (in the vast majority of objects) or several (in complex systems).

A secondary function is an external function, characterizing the secondary goals of creating an object, in particular, ensuring its aesthetics, ease of use, compliance with fashion, compliance with ergonomic characteristics in order to increase demand.

Rice. 16.1. The main functions of the FSA object

The main (working) function is an internal function, which is to create necessary conditions for the implementation of external functions (transfer, transformation, storage, delivery of results).

Auxiliary function - an internal function that contributes to the implementation of the main functions (connecting, isolating, fixing, guaranteeing, etc.). The number and composition of auxiliary functions depends on the design, technological, managerial, organizational features.

In general, we can say that the main functions are those that correspond to the main purpose of the object; main - those that ensure the implementation of the main ones; auxiliary help and main; superfluous are either not needed or harmful functions.

If the object under study is not complex, then in the process of FSA it is possible to single out a smaller number of functions, for example, basic, auxiliary and superfluous.

By the nature of detection, such functions are distinguished as nominal - those that are provided and declared for execution (indicated in the documentation, technical data sheet), real - are actually implemented, and potential - those that can be implemented.

According to the degree of need, functions are divided into necessary and unnecessary. Necessary (useful) functions are those that satisfy the needs of consumers and are expressed in the consumer properties of the object. Technique, which is at the design stage, these requirements are specified in the terms of reference.

Extra (negative) features are those that are not needed and that may even be detrimental to consumers. Based on this, unnecessary functions are divided into unnecessary and harmful.

Unnecessary - functions that do not contribute to an increase in the efficiency of activities, the operation of an object and the improvement of consumer properties, however, they cause a rise in its cost through unproductive functions and expenses.

Harmful - these are functions that negatively affect the consumer cost and performance of the object, while causing its rise in price.

According to the role in the operation process, all functions are divided into working and non-working. Workers - functions that implement their properties during operation, direct application of the object.

Non-working (aesthetic) functions - those that satisfy the aesthetic needs of consumers in the form of design - finishes, colors, shapes, and the like.

In FSA, it is very common to group functions according to the Eisenhower principle, called the "ABC principle". In accordance with it, all functions are divided into:

On the main, basic and useful (A);

Secondary, auxiliary and useful (B);

Secondary, auxiliary and those that do not bring any benefit (C).

Separation of the functions of FSA objects is carried out using the rules given in the works of M. Karpunin, A.Ya. Kibanova, N.K. Moiseeva. So, the first rule: if the main control function cannot be carried out with the help of any specific set of basic functions, then this means that one or more basic control functions are not provided for in this set.

Rule two: if the main control function can be implemented without any of the functions included in the originally planned set of basic functions, then this indicates that it is not the main one, but an auxiliary one.

For example, among the functions performed by the department after-sales service There are two main enterprises - receiving orders for service and organizing the installation of equipment at the customer's. The other two act as auxiliary functions, namely: the study of product quality requirements and the organization of training for the customer's personnel in the operation of equipment, and the like. However, the service department also performs unnecessary functions, duplicating the work of other structural divisions of the enterprise, in particular, it organizes advertising and promotion of goods and services, compiles reports on the number of claims received and satisfied, and also considers claims for delivered products.

In economically developed countries, FSA is used by almost all enterprises. In Japan, FSA began to be actively used immediately after the United States removed the "top secret" for this type of analysis, and at present, almost two-thirds of products are covered by economization methods, and the average annual reduction in their cost is 12%. Now the first places in the world in terms of the scale of obtaining and implementing the results of the FSA are occupied by the USA, Japan and Germany.

Functional cost analysis has penetrated into all spheres of human activity, primarily in management, to work out measures to achieve high consumer properties of products while reducing all types of production costs. FSA is used to predict the effectiveness of a new facility or something that is being modernized, contributing to the implementation of program-target management of the scientific and technical development of the economy. This is what distinguishes it from other types of analysis, which study only acting objects. FSA is also used to assess the mastered process of production and operation of an object in order to improve the consumer properties of the latter and reduce the associated costs. In this case, the FSA covers the process from the creation to the operation of the object. Both creators and consumers of the object participate in such an analysis.

Functional cost analysis is also useful for improving technology, organization and production management. For example, the study of costs associated with the automation of individual control functions, allows you to reduce the total amount of costs by rational allocation of subsystems that implement these functions.

FSA has also become widely used in the design and modernization of products in mechanical engineering, where products have a complex technical structure, and with an increase in quality, costs grow progressively.

The FSA plays an important role in carrying out marketing research, because it allows you to determine an objective indicator of competitiveness in the form of a ratio of price and quality of products compared to competitors, contributing to an increase in the reliability of the results obtained.

Functional cost analysis also acts effective tool improvement of the management system. It is indispensable in solving the issues of optimizing the organizational structure of the enterprise management apparatus, improving the quality of functions performed by structural divisions, and improving the personnel, information and technical support of the management system.

Introduction

The method of functional cost analysis as a tool for improving enterprise management is relatively young and is almost not covered in the press. Functional cost analysis is widely used in a number of branches of the engineering industry in the design and modernization of product designs, improvement technological processes, standardization and unification of products, organization of main and auxiliary production. Recently, FSA has been used to improve management.

FSA principles

FSA of an enterprise management system is a method of feasibility study of functions aimed at finding ways to improve and reserves to reduce management costs. The FSA of the enterprise management system is based on the following principles: a systematic approach, a functional approach, the principle of matching the degree of importance of functions to costs and the level of quality of their implementation, the national economic approach, the principle of collective creativity.

· Systems approach requires the study of the enterprise management system as an integral system consisting of subsystems and elements. This approach involves considering the relationships within the system between subsystems and elements, between the control system as a whole and the production system that are in interaction, as well as external relations a system that is part of a higher-level control system.
· functional approach allows you to represent the control system as a set of functions performed. The management functions that ensure the development, justification, adoption and implementation of management decisions of a given quality level in order to achieve results - obtaining the planned volume and composition of consumer values with a minimum level of socially necessary costs for management and production are subject to research. The main task is to find the best ways to perform the functions of the control system . This gives freedom to find fundamentally new solutions that are not related to the old organizational structure, or to simplify it to the maximum so that the quality of the performance of functions does not decrease.
· The principle of matching the degree of significance of functions to costs and the level of quality of their implementation lies in the fact that the importance of each function of the management system in comparison with other functions, the actual costs of implementing these functions and the level of quality of their implementation are determined. Then there is a comparison of the significance of functions with the costs of their implementation and the level of quality of their implementation. This technique allows you to give an economic assessment of the existing and proposed management system.
· National economic approach to assess the results of management activities and the cost of maintaining and improving the management apparatus of the enterprise is caused by the need to save resources as an important condition for rational management. The national economic approach requires the analysis and evaluation of functions and their carriers at all stages of the life of the management system (creation, formation, functioning, development). This approach is manifested in the formulation and solution of problems from a national standpoint.
· The principle of collective creativity to search for and develop the most effective options for improving the management system is that when conducting the FSA, a different combination of intuitive, deductive and other ways of thinking is used. At the same time, a wide range of specialists of different profiles and different levels of management are involved in solving problems: managers, management specialists, workers and employees associated with the activities of the management system.

FSA of the management system is carried out in the development of management systems for newly built enterprises; improvement of the enterprise management system during the period of reconstruction or technical re-equipment; improvement of the enterprise management system as a result of any production situations (bottlenecks). In the latter case, the object of analysis is not the entire management system, but a separate subsystem (production or functional unit).

The goals of the FSA of the enterprise management system or a separate part of it are: reducing the cost of implementing management functions while maintaining or improving their quality level: increasing the efficiency of the enterprise management apparatus to achieve the best production results.

The main tasks of the FSA control system :

Achieving the best balance between the efficiency of the production management apparatus and the cost of its maintenance;
Reducing the cost of products and improving their quality;
Improving the productivity of managerial employees and workers in production units;
improving the use of material
human and financial resources,
production funds;
· reduction or elimination of marriage, elimination of bottlenecks and disproportions in management and production.

The organization and implementation of the FSA of the enterprise management system is entrusted to the specialists of the laboratory (department) of the organization of labor production and management, the economic laboratory, the department of automated control systems, the computer center, and divisions of the FSA. It is necessary to introduce staff units of management organization specialists or other management specialists into the structure of the FSA units.

The results of the FSA of the management system should be used by the management bodies of the industry and enterprises when planning measures to improve management and contribute to the development of cost accounting in the areas of management and production.

FSA of the enterprise management system includes the following steps:

preparatory, informational, analytical, creative, research, advisory, implementation. This is the typical composition of the stages adopted in our country.

The FSA method occupies an important place in the system of progressive tools for improving management, which contribute to increasing production efficiency. Since one of the principles of the FSA is a functional approach, the high universality of which has been proven by many years of practice, this method began to be used in the field of organizing control systems. The functional approach is of great importance for understanding the system. It is the functions that determine the structure, content of the management system, the distribution of rights, powers and responsibilities of individual bodies and officials.

The functional approach is of great importance for the study and construction of the system. However, there are no functions without their carriers. The functions of the control system are "tied" to their carriers - subsystems elements. This or that specific function in the system can be performed not by any subsystem or element, but by a specific subsystem or element. Therefore, when building a control system, each subsystem or element is formed for certain functions. In turn, the subsystem or element affects the functions and their quality.

For example, two different dispatchers perform the same function of production scheduling in different ways. Or one more thing: one and the same numerical information can be processed on an adding machine and on a modern computer. Efficiency and quality of calculations will be different.

Although the functions determine the structure of the system, the components of the system (subsystems and elements), their carriers, are primary in relation to them, therefore their interconnection and interaction also affect the structure. At the same time, the structure of the system affects the components, integrating them, and the functions they perform, changing the latter.

Each management function is subordinated to the goal and is carried out to achieve the goal, which is objectively determined. However, management functions are feasible only when the capabilities of subsystems and elements of the management system (including structures) and the external environment that feeds the information management system, finances and other components necessary for the functioning and development of the system are realized.

The functional approach must necessarily go along with the systematic approach in research. FSA as a method of systematic research has the following properties. The study of the function of systems and their components using the FSA methods allows you to analyze all the subsystems and elements (carriers of the function) that make up the control system, the external environment, their state and interconnection. At the same time, the FSA is supplemented by cost analysis, which distinguishes this method from other traditional methods common in the practice of designing enterprise management systems.

FSA allows you to determine the state of functioning and development trends of the management system, the state and changes in subsystems and elements that occur during the implementation of its (system) use value. In addition, the FSA allows you to identify the costs necessary to implement the functions of the system and its components of a given quality level.

The FSA of control systems begins with the identification and definition of functions. This is the original base of the method. Therefore, it is very important to give the correct precise formulation of the function, which would accurately determine the essence of their carriers. This will make it possible to establish requirements for the quality of functions, their composition, and, consequently, for the state of the function carrier. But this is already the task of the FSA methodology, which will be discussed below.

The first part of the FSA - the functional analysis of management - has a certain history and experience, and is widely used in practice. This cannot be said about the second part of the cost analysis (if we talk about the cost of the management function). Determining the costs (cost) for the implementation of the functions of control systems has its own difficulties and great specifics, in contrast to the cost of performing the functions of technical systems. In this work, a special section will be devoted to this problem. However, it should be borne in mind that it has not yet been fully resolved either in theory or in practice.

What is the cost of management functions? First of all, these are the costs associated with the maintenance of the carrier of functions (management systems, department, laboratory, bureau, group, specialist or head of department). It includes wages management employees with social insurance contributions, the cost of technical equipment, management tools (depreciation), the cost of stationery, etc. But since the finished product, which becomes a commodity and is sold on the market, is created not only by the labor of managers, these costs are part of the cost of production and are reflected in cost items: "shop expenses", "general factory expenses", and are also included in other items. costs. Therefore, it is legitimate to speak not only about the cost of management functions, but about the costs of their implementation. These costs are reimbursed to the enterprise along with the sale of goods - finished products in the cost of which they are included. Therefore, the assessment of the degree of their social necessity is given by the market, judging by the product as a whole in the process of realizing its use value.

The carriers of management functions do not enter into social relations on their own in the process of selling finished products, which means that they cannot have use value in this sense. Then the expression "use value of management functions" is inaccurate. After all, it is not the management functions, not their carriers that are not a commodity, which means that they are not sold on the market. Management functions affect the cost of goods, participate in its formation, affect its use properties, participate in the formation of the use value of goods, having an intermediate use value, which is better called use properties, and more precisely, the quality of management functions, the level of which is assessed using the system indicators.

Thus, the FSA allows you to look at the management system or its part (as a product: from the side of use value and value) from two sides: one side is the composition and quality of the implementation of management functions, and the second is the costs of implementing the functions. In this case, both sides are considered in unity, as they are sides of the same coin. Therefore, in a philosophical sense, the main task of the FSA of control systems can be represented as achieving this unity by resolving the contradiction between the quality of control functions and the costs of their implementation.

It should be remembered that the concept of cost and costs are not identical. They are at different levels of abstraction. Cost is decomposed at a higher level of abstraction. The concept: costs, costs, prime cost are close in content and some difference between them does not play a significant role in the analysis of costs for the implementation of management functions, therefore, in the future we will use the term "costs".

Components, parts of the whole can be: a person, objects and phenomena, relationships, processes. They may or may not be real. The components of the enterprise as a system are the production system and the control system and their subsystems and elements.

Any of the main subsystems of production uses the services of auxiliary subsystems and cannot do without them.

The management system includes a subsystem of general and line management, target, main and auxiliary subsystems.

The subsystem of general linear management provides production management by performing specific functions based on the implementation of the principles of unity of command in management and coordinating the activities of target, main and auxiliary management subsystems at each management level.

The main management subsystems provide the performance of specific management functions to achieve all the main goals of the enterprise.

Auxiliary management subsystems perform specific management functions aimed at providing services for the performance of specific functions of the subsystem of general and line management, main and target subsystems to achieve all the main goals of the enterprise.

With the functioning of all management subsystems: general and linear management, target, main and auxiliary, the general functions of the management cycle are performed: regulation, planning, organization, coordination and regulation, activation and stimulation, control, accounting, analysis. Each of the subsystems of the production system and the enterprise management system consists of elements.

Unlike systems and subsystems, which are divided into separate components, an element is indivisible within specific system or subsystems in this capacity. The division of the element brings us to another system, where the element can act as a system or a subsystem. So, if we consider a means of labor (for example, a tool) not as an element of a production system, but as a technical system, then in the device of a machine or unit we will single out technical subsystems and elements (assemblies and parts) that perform certain functions within this technical system. systems necessary for its normal functioning.

Functions are inherent in the enterprise as an integral system.

Functions are an integrated result of the operation of the production system and the management system that make up the enterprise. In turn, both the production system and the control system perform functions that are an integrated result of the implementation of the functions of their constituent subsystems. And each subsystem of either a production system or a control system performs functions that are an integrated result of the functioning of its constituent elements.

Based on the foregoing, we will give a definition of the essence of production functions and management functions.

The production function is an integrated result of the manifestation of properties, the functioning of all subsystems and elements of the production system, aimed at manufacturing finished products.

Essentially, the FSA method works according to the following algorithm:

Does the market dictate the price level or is it possible to set the price of products that will give the planned profit?
Should the projected premium on FSA costs be applied equally across all operations, or do some functions generate more revenue than others?
how does the final selling price of products compare with FSA indicators?

Thus, using this method, you can quickly estimate the amount of profit expected from the production of a particular product or service.

Reasons for the appearance of FSA

The FSA method appeared in the 80s, when traditional methods of cost calculation began to lose their relevance. The latter appeared and developed at the turn of the last and the century before last (1870 - 1920). But since the early 1960s, and especially in the 1980s, changes in the way we manufacture and do business have led traditional cost accounting to be called "enemy number one for production" because its usefulness has become highly questionable.

Traditional cost estimation methods were originally developed (according to GAAP standards based on the principles of "objectivity, verifiability and significance") for the evaluation of inventories and were intended for external consumers - creditors, investors, the Securities Commission ( S economy E xchange C ommission), Internal Revenue Service ( I internal R evening S service).

However, these methods have a number of weaknesses, especially noticeable in internal management. Of these, the two biggest drawbacks are:

The impossibility of accurately conveying the costs of producing a particular product.
The inability to provide feedback - information for managers, necessary for operational management.

As a result, managers of companies selling various types of products make important decisions regarding pricing, product combination and production technology, based on inaccurate cost information.

So, cost analysis was called upon to solve modern problems, and ultimately it turned out to be one of the most important innovations in management in the last hundred years.

The process of structuring costs has changed very significantly. And if at the beginning of the century labor was about 50% of total costs, the cost of materials - 35%, and overheads - 15%, now overheads are about 60%, materials - 30%, and labor - only 10% of production costs. . It is obvious that using working hours as a cost allocation base made sense 90 years ago, but with the current cost structure it has already lost its force.
The level of competition that most companies face has increased tremendously. "A rapidly changing global competitive environment" is not a cliché, but a very real nuisance for most firms. Knowing the actual costs is very important to survive in such a situation.
The cost of performing measurements and calculations has declined as information processing technologies have advanced. Even 20 years ago, the collection, processing and analysis of the data needed for the FSA were very expensive. And today, not only special automated data evaluation systems are available, but also the data itself, which, as a rule, has already been collected in one form or another and stored in each company.

In this regard, the FSA can be a very valuable method, since it provides information on the full range of operational functions, their cost and consumption.

Difference from traditional methods

Here are three main differences between FSA and traditional methods (see Figure 1):

Traditional accounting assumes that cost objects consume resources, while in FSA it is assumed that cost objects consume functions.
Traditional accounting uses quantitative indicators as the basis for allocating costs, while FSA uses sources of costs at various levels.
Traditional accounting is focused on the structure of production, while the FSA is focused on processes (functions).

Rice. 1. Main differences between FSA and traditional cost accounting methods

So traditional cost accounting systems focus on the product. All costs are attributed to the product, since it is believed that the manufacture of each element of the product consumes a certain amount of resources proportional to the volume of production. Therefore, the quantitative parameters of the product (working time, machine hours, cost of materials, etc.) are used as cost sources for calculating overhead costs.

Consequently, the more functional parameters there are, the more detailed the production chain will be described and, accordingly, the real cost of production will be more accurately estimated.

Another important difference between traditional cost estimation systems and FSA is the scope of functions. In traditional inventory valuation methods, only internal production costs are tracked. The FSA theory does not agree with this approach, believing that when calculating the cost of a product, all functions should be taken into account - both those related to supporting production and the delivery of goods and services to the consumer. Examples of such functions include: production, technology development, logistics, distribution, service, information support, financial administration and general management.

Table 1 compares the FSA and traditional cost accounting methods.

Table 1. FCA and Traditional Cost Accounting Methods

FSA	Traditional Methods	Explanation
Feature Consumption	Resource consumption	Traditional accounting methods are based on the assumption that prices can be controlled, but as the practice of most managers has shown, this is practically impossible. The theory of functional cost analysis recognizes that only what is produced can be controlled, and prices change as a result. The advantage of the FSA approach is that it provides a wider range of measures to improve business performance. In a systematic study of the functions performed, not only the factors affecting the increase or decrease in productivity are revealed, but also the incorrect distribution of resources is detected. Therefore, in order to reduce costs, it is possible to rationally allocate power and achieve higher productivity than in the traditional way.
Sources of costs at different levels	Quantitative cost allocation bases	As overhead costs rise, new technologies emerge, and of course, allocating costs based on 5-15% (as in most companies) of total total costs is too risky. In fact, errors can reach several hundred percent. In functional cost analysis, costs are distributed in accordance with cause-and-effect relationships between functions and cost objects. These links are fixed with the help of cost sources. In practice, the sources of costs are divided into several levels. Here are the most important ones: Unity level. At this level, sources are considered for each unit of output produced. For example: a person and a machine that produce a product per unit of time. The corresponding working time will be considered a cost source for the unit level. This is a quantitative measure similar to the cost allocation basis used in traditional accounting methods. Batch level. These sources are no longer associated with units, but with batches of products. An example of using the functions of this level would be production planning, which is carried out for each batch, regardless of its size. A quantitative indicator of such sources is, as a rule, the number of parties. Product level. Here we are talking about sources related to the release of a particular type of product, regardless of the number of units and batches produced. As an indicator, for example, the number of hours required to develop a product is used. The higher this indicator, the greater the costs allocated to this product. Enterprise level. Sources of this level are not directly related to products, these are general functions related to the operation of the enterprise as a whole. However, the costs they cause are allocated later on by product.
Process orientation	Structural Orientation	Traditional costing systems focus more on the organizational structure than on the existing process. They cannot answer the question: "What should be done?" because they do not know anything about the process. They have only information about the availability of resources needed to do the job. And the process-oriented method of FCA gives managers the opportunity to most accurately match resource requirements and available capacities, and therefore increase productivity.

FSA application. Example

equipment management and configuration;
checking products after setting;
receiving and checking incoming materials and parts;
movement of stocks, collection and shipment of orders, their fast forwarding;
processing of defective products;
design and implementation of design changes;
negotiations with suppliers;
planning the receipt of materials and parts;
modernization and programming of a much larger (than the first plant) computer information system).

Only a system of functional cost analysis can help them in this, which will not give distorted information and disorienting strategic ideas.

Advantages and disadvantages of functional cost analysis compared to traditional methods

In conclusion, we present the final list of the advantages and disadvantages of the FSA.
Advantages

A more accurate knowledge of the cost of products makes it possible to make the right strategic decisions on:
Greater clarity about the functions performed, through which companies are able to:

Disadvantages:

The feature description process can be overly detailed, and the model is sometimes too complex and difficult to maintain.
Often the stage of collecting data on data sources by functions (activity drivers) is underestimated
For high-quality implementation, special software tools are required.
The model often becomes outdated due to organizational changes.
Implementation is often viewed as an unnecessary "whim" of financial management, not sufficiently supported by operational management.

Footnotes

Source of costs (cost driver) - a process (function) occurring at the stage of production of a product or service, which requires material costs from the company. A cost source is always assigned a quantity.

For example, with the disclosure of the structure of the activities of divisions, or at the level of the main stages of production