Abstract
We observed while studying on IT utilization in small food manufacturers that many small manufacturers have a common issue that profit does not increase despite sales growth. Thus, we proposed a hypothesis that product cost accounting was not determined by the manufacturers and the profitability of some products were below zero. After the investigation of 15 food manufacturers in Miyagi prefecture, it was confirmed that 80% of them does not recognize the product-by-product cost breakdown structure. We also confirmed low yield products. In one manufacturer, the profit ratio was below zero for 2% of its products. We believe the visualization of product cost breakdown structure contributes to the management improvement of small food manufacturers.
