An activity-based cost analysis of the Substance Abuse Counseling Center, Marine Corps Base Hawaii

Abstract

Activity-based costing (ABC) has been widely adopted by the Marine Corps to organize cost management information. The primary focus of ABC is to provide accurate information on the cost of providing a good or service. This thesis presents the application of the ABC methodology to the operations of the Substance Abuse Counseling Center (SACC) aboard Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH). Activities have been examined for a three-year period from fiscal years 2000-2002. The ABC analysis identifies average total resource consumption over the three-year period of $747,099. Detailed information is provided for determining the cost to counsel a Marine, which is $85.84 for a clinical evaluation, $60.57 to provide substance abuse prevention, and $495.35 for a professional consultation. Additional information is provided on SACC value-added and non-value-added activities and how these activities ranked in terms of resource consumption. Finally, the core competencies of the SACC are discussed and a comparison of counseling costs to outside vendors was used to determine if outsourcing of certain SACC processes or activities is an option.