An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association American Accounting Association 2006 Annual Meeting August 6–9, 2006 Washington, D.C.

Shahid L. Ansari
Bbason College

Jan Bell
Babson College

Hiroshi Okano
Osaka City University

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on target costing using a new life cycle approach to organize the literature. Target costing is a relatively new area of management accounting. It is a practice that is increasingly being adopted by organizations and has been responsible for profitable turnaround for several major corporations such as Caterpillar and Chrysler.

We use a “knowledge progression cycle” approach to organize the literature on target costing. The model postulates that a new managerial practice progresses through a knowledge progression cycle model that begins with advocacy and ends up with institutionalization of a practice as the practice matures. It encourages new research that logically progresses the topic through its entire life cycle.

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