From banks to brokerage houses, profitability is the watchword for today's financial institutions. The search is unceasing for better ways to achieve it, maintain it, and defend it against competitive pressures.

For some time, managers within financial institutions have been aware of a powerful new tool for cost analysis developed in the manufacturing sector: activity-based costing (ABC). A handful of financial services consultants around the world have been helping their financial services clients to migrate ABC from its birthplace in the manufacturing sector to the world of financial services, where it can be immensely effective as a basis for strategic decisions.

It was time for a book that clarifies for general executives how ABC works and what contributions it can make to the formation of winning strategies. And it was time for a practical, comprehensive book that initiates management accountants in the financial services sector into this new approach to cost analysis. The Price Waterhouse Guide to Activity-Based Costing for Financial Institutions is that book.

The ABC approach is particularly effective because financial services companies sell services as well as products. Profitability measurement cannot rely on older, more traditional methods of cost accounting, techniques that focus on the costs of raw materials and labor.

The Price Waterhouse Guide to Activity-Based Costing for Financial Institutions shows how these firms can use the breakthrough concept of ABC in the same way that other companies manage all activities from the top down, more efficiently. This book explains the methods of this technique, with detailed guidelines that help firms plan for costs before they occur, rather than simply monitoring them.