Activity based costing and activity data collection: a case study in the Higher Education sector

This paper presents a non-traditional method of collecting staff activity data at an Australian university for the purposes of more accurately and completely identifying costs for use in an activity based costing (ABC) model. A discussion of the use of ABC in the nonprofit sector, with particular emphasis on higher education, is followed by a description of the research site and the previous data collection method. Four alternate methods are compared and analysed in the light of various selection criteria, with the revolving door workshop (RDW) being the preferred alternative. The paper reports on the implementation of the RDW and concludes that it is an effective method in the critical process of staff activity data collection as part of broader activity-based management in universities.