Activity-Based Costing
by Jordan McGhee
Award Nominee
Activity-Based Costing is the process of assigning an organization’s costs through activities to the products and services provided. This podcast gives an example of how a company goes about assigning costs of activities to the products it provides.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I give this pod cast a three star rating because it is well-done, useful, and relevant, but could use just a little more polish. Jordan immediately grabs the viewer’s attention with his clever graphics and music selection. He uses fault with the traditional system to introduce his topic which helps lock in the viewer’s interest. Jordan does a thorough job of defining and explaining the intricacies of Activity Based Costing and he uses an extensive example to help demonstrate the process and its perks. I think the use of an example for such a complex topic is ideal. One concern I have is the fact that the example is so detailed, the viewer can potentially get lost in all the figures and terms despite Jordan’s best efforts to be clear. My suggestion is that he use a much simpler example first, and then get into the longer one. While the visuals added comic relief and technical support, they were not properly formatted. Since they often did not fit the square window, the images were often cut off. This was particularly a problem during the example when the audio/visual pairing was most crucial for the viewer’s understanding. In terms of vocal delivery, Jordan spoke at a good volume, but occaisionally sped up or used unusual inflection and emphasis. This might be attributed to the quirks of recording one’s self and would be easy to fix. All in all, Jordan’s pod cast was entertaining and educational.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
2.5
Jordan’s podcast provides an energetic and fast-paced explanation of activity-based costing (ABC). Notably, he engages his listeners with humorous images, helpful tables, and quick music. His main points regarding ABC are fairly clear, but some of the finer points are lost as a result of various visual and musical distractions. In particular, the banjo music and cropped slides and images may prompt listeners to pay less attention to his verbal calculations and analysis. Though humor and enthusiasm are vital in any training video and enhance the quality of this podcast, less than professional images that are sometimes ill-timed detract from this podcast’s success. All in all, Jordan relays very important information about ABC. Unfortunately, this information is not supplemented with truly useful supporting materials.