Investigating the Empirical Effect of ABC Stages on the Performance of Companies

The major aim of this study is to extend Zhang and Isa’s (2011) study by investigating the moderating effect of the stages of ABC application on the firms’ performance. This study selects 106 Chinese manufacturing companies and employs multiple regression technique and structural equation modelling. It examines whether successful application of the ABC directly affects the firm’s performance, and tests whether the stages of ABC application could produce a moderating effect on the firms’ performance. Results indicate that successful application of ABC, significantly affects achievement of the costs and quality, while sales volume is only marginally affected by ABC application, and there is an insignificant relationship between ABC application and achievement of the targets pertaining to productivity, services, and profits. Moreover, this study reports that stages of ABC application would improve the strength of the relationship between ABC application success and firms’ performance. The findings emphasize the importance of cost, quality, and stages of ABC implementation issues for management, especially for the intention of the performance evaluation.