Cost Analysis and Control Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Management Accountants, Cost Accountants and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-121

Before you join: Participants should understand basic financial statements, double-entry concepts, budgeting terminology and spreadsheet calculations.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Cost information is only useful when it explains what drives spending, where resources are consumed and which management actions will change the result. Many organisations rely on broad overhead allocations, static budgets and variance reports that arrive too late to influence decisions. This can distort product, customer and contract profitability, obscure capacity costs and encourage cost cuts that damage service, quality or delivery performance.

This course develops the analytical methods used to measure, explain and control costs. Participants classify cost behaviour, select allocation bases, calculate departmental and activity-based costs, build standard costs and interpret material, labour and overhead variances. They use contribution analysis, cost-volume-profit models and relevant-cost analysis for pricing, outsourcing and resource decisions. The course also covers flexible budgeting, rolling forecasts, target costing, value engineering, bottleneck analysis and cost-control dashboards.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with worked calculations, sector-based cases, group analysis and reporting simulations. Cases reflect common issues in manufacturing, banking operations, public services, procurement, logistics and project-based organisations. Participants leave with a practical cost-control workbook containing reusable calculation models, reporting formats, diagnostic checklists and a 90-day application plan. The course is delivered over five days in a classroom in 50+ cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants who complete the course receive a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Classify fixed, variable, mixed and step-fixed costs using ledger evidence
  • Allocate indirect costs using appropriate cost pools, drivers and service-department methods
  • Construct activity-based costing and time-driven ABC models for cost objects
  • Calculate standard costs and interpret material, labour and overhead variances
  • Apply contribution, break-even and relevant-cost analysis to operational decisions
  • Prepare flexible budgets, rolling forecasts and budget-to-actual variance bridges
  • Identify cost-reduction opportunities using target costing, value engineering and bottleneck analysis
  • Design cost-control reports, accountability structures and corrective-action plans

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible product, service and customer cost analyses
  • Explain variances with clear operational causes and corrective actions
  • Support pricing, outsourcing and capacity decisions using relevant-cost evidence
  • Build more credible budgets and forecasts linked to operating drivers
  • Present cost-control findings confidently to operational and senior managers

For your organisation

  • More accurate profitability reporting for products, customers, contracts and channels
  • Earlier identification of overspend, inefficient processes and underused capacity
  • Improved budget accountability through defined cost ownership and review cycles
  • Better pricing and sourcing decisions based on incremental costs and constraints
  • Trackable savings initiatives with clear owners, evidence and realised-benefit measures

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can classify costs and define cost structures suitable for management analysis.

  • Cost objects, cost centres and responsibility centres mapped to reporting needs
  • Traceable direct costs separated from indirect cost pools
  • Fixed, variable, step-fixed and mixed costs classified using account evidence
  • Relevant range assumptions tested against capacity and contractual commitments
  • High-low method estimates variable rates and fixed cost components
  • Scattergraphs and least-squares regression assess mixed-cost behaviour from monthly ledger data

Participants can allocate shared costs using appropriate bases and service-department methods.

  • Cost allocation bases evaluated using causality, benefits received and materiality tests
  • Single-rate allocation assigns shared service costs through one selected driver
  • Departmental overhead rates calculated from budgeted pools and normal activity
  • Step-down allocation recognises service department support before production allocation
  • Reciprocal method solves mutual service costs using simultaneous equations
  • Plantwide versus departmental rates compared for cross-subsidisation risk

Participants can build activity-based cost models and assess customer profitability.

  • Activity-based costing links resource pools, activities, drivers and cost objects
  • Unit-level, batch-level, product-level and facility-level activities classified for costing design
  • Cost-driver rates computed from practical capacity and activity volumes
  • Time-driven ABC uses capacity cost rates and time equations
  • Customer profitability analysis identifies service intensity, discounts and order costs
  • ABC results reconciled to general ledger totals before management reporting

Participants can construct standard costs and calculate core production cost variances.

  • Standard cost cards specify material, labour and overhead consumption assumptions
  • Bill-of-materials, routing and labour standards support product cost build-up
  • Purchase price and usage variances isolate material cost movements
  • Labour rate and efficiency variances separate pay from productivity
  • Variable overhead spending and efficiency variances follow standard hours
  • Fixed overhead budget and volume variances explain capacity absorption

Participants can investigate material variances and assign corrective actions to accountable owners.

  • Variance investigation thresholds distinguish material exceptions from normal operating noise
  • Price-volume-mix analysis explains revenue and contribution movement drivers
  • Sales volume, sales mix and market size effects separated
  • Operational root-cause analysis applies five whys and fishbone diagrams
  • Controllable and non-controllable variances assigned to accountable managers
  • Corrective actions tracked through owners, dates, evidence and status

Participants can use relevant-cost and contribution models for short-term management decisions.

  • Contribution margin calculated by product, customer, channel and contract
  • Break-even and margin-of-safety calculations test operating risk scenarios
  • Cost-volume-profit models incorporate sales mix and capacity constraints
  • Relevant-cost analysis excludes sunk costs and includes opportunity costs
  • Make-or-buy decisions quantify avoidable costs, quality and supply risk
  • Special-order pricing tests incremental contribution and scarce-resource consumption

Participants can prepare driver-based budgets and explain actual results at changing activity levels.

  • Driver-based budgets link volumes, staffing, procurement and overhead requirements
  • Flexible budgets restate expected costs at actual output levels
  • Rolling forecasts update cost expectations using current operational assumptions
  • Zero-based budgeting challenges recurring expenditure through decision packages
  • Forecast-versus-budget bridges explain volume, price, mix and timing differences
  • Budget ownership matrices define approvals, assumptions and review cadence

Participants can identify sustainable cost-reduction opportunities without weakening required performance.

  • Target costing derives allowable cost from market price and margin
  • Value engineering removes cost without reducing required function or quality
  • Kaizen costing sets continuous annual cost-reduction expectations during production
  • Life-cycle costing captures acquisition, operation, maintenance and disposal costs
  • Theory of Constraints identifies bottlenecks and throughput improvement priorities
  • Supplier cost analysis separates quoted price, specification and process drivers

Participants can establish cost-control routines, indicators and reporting responsibilities.

  • Responsibility accounting aligns cost reports with managerial authority and accountability
  • Cost-control dashboards combine actuals, budget, forecast and variance indicators
  • Key performance indicators balance unit cost, quality, service and throughput
  • Segregation of duties protects purchasing, inventory and payroll cost data
  • Exception reporting escalates unusual spend, override patterns and control breaches
  • Internal control evidence supports audit trails and management review

Participants can communicate cost findings and establish an actionable cost-control plan.

  • Management cost reports present drivers, variances, risks and recommended actions
  • Waterfall charts communicate budget-to-actual bridges to non-finance stakeholders
  • Cost reduction initiatives prioritised using savings, feasibility, risk and ownership
  • Benefits tracking distinguishes realised savings, cost avoidance and deferred spend
  • Monthly control calendars schedule close, review, escalation and action follow-up
  • Personal application plans define immediate analyses, stakeholders and success measures

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Cost behaviour classification worksheet
  2. Overhead allocation and activity-based costing model
  3. Standard cost and variance analysis template
  4. Contribution and relevant-cost decision model
  5. Flexible budget and rolling forecast template
  6. 90-day cost-control action plan

Who should attend

  • Management Accountants — need stronger methods for costing, variance analysis and management reporting
  • Cost Accountants — need defensible allocation, standard costing and cost-control techniques
  • Finance Business Partners — need to explain cost drivers and support operational decisions
  • Financial Analysts — need practical models for profitability, forecasting and investment decisions
  • Operations Managers — need to manage resource use, capacity costs and departmental spending
  • Procurement and Supply Chain Managers — need to assess supplier costs, outsourcing and purchase-price variances

Skills and tools covered

Cost behaviour analysisOverhead allocationVariance analysisActivity-based costingFlexible budgetingCost control reporting

Tools and standards

Activity-Based Costing, Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing, Standard Costing, Theory of Constraints

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by worked calculations, facilitated case analysis, group exercises and reporting simulations. Participants analyse cost data, select allocation methods, calculate variances and test decisions using contribution and relevant-cost models. Cases address issues such as shared-service charging, product profitability, procurement variance and departmental overspend. Instructor feedback focuses on calculation accuracy, assumptions, decision relevance and communication. The final sessions convert findings into cost-control priorities, reporting routines and individual application plans.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic financial statements, double-entry concepts, budgeting terminology and spreadsheet calculations. Experience preparing budgets, reviewing departmental expenses, analysing management accounts or supporting operational decisions is useful. Participants should be comfortable working with percentages, ratios and simple algebra. The course assumes no prior specialist knowledge of activity-based costing, standard costing, regression analysis or cost accounting systems. Advanced statistical training, programming skills and professional accounting qualifications are not required. Participants should bring a calculator or laptop capable of using spreadsheet software.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic familiarity with management accounts, budgeting and spreadsheet calculations. No previous study of activity-based costing, standard costing or advanced statistics is required.

Participants should bring a calculator or laptop with spreadsheet software. Where organisational policy permits, they may also bring anonymised cost reports, budgets or recurring cost-control questions.

The course is designed for finance professionals who support management decisions and operational managers accountable for cost, budgets or productivity. It is particularly useful where indirect costs, shared services or product profitability require closer analysis.

Financial accounting focuses on external reporting, accounting standards and published financial statements. This course focuses on internal cost measurement, operational decision support, budgeting, variance investigation and cost-control action.

Participants can use the supplied templates to review cost allocations, investigate material variances, test pricing or outsourcing decisions and improve budget reviews. The final application plan identifies a priority analysis and the stakeholders needed to act on it.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. The ten modules progress from cost foundations and allocation methods through decision analysis, budgeting, cost reduction, reporting and action planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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