Without proper cost measurement, a company risks moving blindly. Truly knowing one’s costs means transforming raw data into useful knowledge, capable of guiding informed decisions, distinguishing real opportunities from illusory ones, and building sustainable long-term strategies.
Cost measurement thus becomes a managerial compass, a tool that strengthens decision-making capacity and entrepreneurial creativity, offering solid foundations on which to base growth and innovation, Massimo Aielli argues in his Misurare i costi. Elementi per le decisioni strategiche (Measuring costs. Elements for strategic decisions, EGEA, 2025, in Italian).
The volume is structured as a progressive journey. After two introductory chapters devoted to the managerial meaning of cost measurement and to the main classifications useful for decision-making, the book moves into the core of costing systems, illustrating how they work and the logic used to allocate direct and indirect costs. Significant space is dedicated to a critical comparison of the main models adopted in practice and in the literature, culminating in Activity Based Costing, presented as the most advanced solution for managing indirect costs. The final part of the book brings the framework together, systematically addressing the key design issues required to develop reliable measurement systems, striking the right balance between information quality and implementation costs.
Alongside its methodical structure, several underlying reflections run throughout the text. The author insists that costs are not mere numbers, but a language that makes it possible to read organizational reality with greater clarity. Information quality depends on the ability to trace precise links between resources consumed and results achieved, avoiding rough shortcuts and arbitrary allocations. From this perspective, cost accounting becomes a monetary representation of the connections between corporate inputs and outputs, a cognitive tool even before a technical one, essential for assessing the reliability of decisions based on those figures.
The book is particularly useful for controllers, finance and accounting managers, consultants, and managers who rely on cost information in decision-making processes. It can also be a valuable resource for students and project managers involved in reviewing or redesigning management accounting systems. The pragmatic approach, enriched with case studies, numerical examples, and downloadable operational tools, allows readers to move quickly from theory to practice. In this sense, the volume presents itself as a concrete guide for those who want to transform cost measurement from an administrative requirement into a driver of competitiveness and business growth.
- Publisher: EGEA
- Publication date: 2025
- Pages: 256
- ISBN/EAN: 9791222980256
- Format: Print, e-Pub, Digitabook.
MASSIMO AIELLI is Senior Lecturer in Management Control Systems at SDA Bocconi School of Management and Professor of Planning and Control at Bocconi University.
