Activity Driver - Financial Definition

activity driver

a measure of the demands on activities and, thus, the resources consumed by products and services; often indicates an activity’s output

Related Terms:

activity-based budgeting (ABB)

planning approach applying activity drivers to estimate the levels and costs of activities necessary to provide the budgeted quantity and quality of production

Activity-based costing (ABC)

A cost allocation system that compiles costs and assigns them to activities based on relevant activity drivers. The cost of these activities can then be charged to products or customers to arrive at a much more relevant allocation of costs than was previously the case.

Asset activity ratios

Ratios that measure how effectively the firm is managing its assets.

Activity-based budgeting

A method of budgeting that develops budgets based on expected activities and cost drivers – see also activity-based costing.

Activity-based costing

A method of costing that uses cost pools to accumulate the cost of significant business activities and then assigns the costs from the cost pools to products or services based on cost drivers.

Allocation base A measure of activity or volume such as labour

hours, machine hours or volume of production used to apportion overheads to products and services.

Cost driver

The most significant cause of the cost of an activity, a measure of the demand for an activity by each product/service enabling the cost of activities to be assigned from cost pools to products/services.

activity based costing (ABC)

A relatively new method advocated for the allocation of indirect costs. The key idea is to classify indirect costs, many of which are fixed in amount for a period of time, into separate activities and to develop a measure for each activity called a cost driver. The products or other functions in the business that benefit from the activity are allocated shares of the total indirect cost for the period based on their usage as measured by the cost driver.

activity

a repetitive action performed in fulfillment of business functions

activity analysis

the process of detailing the various repetitive actions that are performed in making a product or providing a service, classifying them as value-added and non-value-added, and devising ways of minimizing or eliminating non-value-added activities

activity-based costing (ABC)

a process using multiple cost drivers to predict and allocate costs to products and services; an accounting system collecting financial and operational data on the basis of the underlying nature and extent of business activities; an accounting information and costing system that identifies the various activities performed in an organization, collects costs on the basis of the underlying nature and extent of those activities, and assigns costs to products and services based on consumption of those activities by the products and services

activity-based management (ABM)

a discipline that focuses on the activities incurred during the production/performance process as the way to improve the value received by a customer and the resulting profit achieved by providing this value

activity center

a segment of the production or service process for which management wants to separately report the costs of the activities performed

business-value-added activity

an activity that is necessary for the operation of the business but for which a customer would not want to pay

cost driver

a factor that has a direct cause-effect relationship to a cost; an activity creating a cost

cost driver analysis

the process of investigating, quantifying, and explaining the relationships of cost drivers and their related costs

non-value-added (NVA) activity

an activity that increases the time spent on a product or service but that does not increase its worth or value to the customer

value-added (VA) activity

an activity that increases the worth of the product or service to the customer

Cost driver

A factor that directly impacts the incidence of a cost, and which is generally based on varying levels of activity.

Driver

A factor that has a direct impact on the incurring of a cost. For example, adding an employee results in new costs to purchase office equipment for that person; therefore, additions to headcount are cost driver for office expenses.

Fixed cost

A cost that does not vary in the short run, irrespective of changes in any cost drivers. For example, the rent on a building will not change until the lease runs out or is re-negotiated, irrespective of the level of business activity within that building.

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