Needless to say, cost management is an old and new research area, and the accumulation of research is still progressing. The significance of developing cost management and dealing with today’s issues is not small. Unifying theme for the 2022 Annual National Convention of the Japan Association of Management Accounting, it was decided to examine the theme as “Cost Management Current State and Issues.” First, we focus on the historical changes in cost management in Japan. In addition, under these changes, the three presenters of the unified topic will examine it from their respective standpoints based on the prospect of the fusion of theory and practice. At the same time, I expect that it will be an opportunity to discuss what neo cost management will be like.

The core of Toyota’s cost management is a continuous cycle of improvement based on the three pillars of cost planning, cost maintenance, and cost improvement. It is carried out as part of the target profit achievement activities under the system of the company-wide management plan. The essences of Toyota’s cost management are (1) cost matrix management (vertical profit and loss management by vehicle type and horizontal cost item management) and (2) horizontal expansion of cost management (cross-vehicle activities). Future issues for Toyota’s cost management are: (1) construction and enhancement of overseas cost planning system, (2) response to the shift to electronics, software, and EVs in automobiles (restructuring cost reduction methods in response to changes in cost structure), (3) flexible response to organizational reforms, (4) response to the servitization of the automobile business, and (5) response to the virtualization of the automobile business.

This paper is based on the common topic of the 2022 Annual Conference of The Japanese Association of Management Accounting, “The Current Situation and Issues of Cost Management in Japan,” focusing on Gemba Kaizen and consider cost management to support Kaizen. Gemba Kaizen Costing (GKC) was proposed by the author together with Dr. Yasuyuki Kazusa, emeritus professor of Kyoto University. It is based on the TPS and “design information transcription theory.” GKC brought the concept of “opportunity loss” in the cost accounting, making it possible to measure the Kaizen effects. Furthermore, the viewpoint of cost management changed to the output management. In this paper, the practical example is shown to consider the possibility of GKC’s contribution.

Cost management is one of the most important issues in business management. The traditional cost management have developed around standard costing. Subsequently, Japanese cost management has been systematized, and then strategic elements, value chain, and upstream management were emphasized, leading to the development into strategic cost management. However, the traditional cost management has developed on the basis of manufacturers and has not necessarily adapted to the situation where manufacturers are transforming themselves into service providers that not only offer tangible products but also add services and go further to offer solutions. In such a context, based on the knowledge of profitability planning research on servitization, this paper organizes the development onto value-led costing adapted to servitization, and clarifies new research issues.

It is thought to be one of the reasons why an employee turnover rate is high that a motivation to work is constantly declining and an organization culture is reluctant to take new challenges. In such an organization, there are structural defects such as lack of communication and human resources to lead the organization. To solve this problem, it is necessary to have some implements for active communication and for nurturing leaders who will revitalize the organization. Efforts to match vectors of all employees are also needed to proceed concrete measure. BSC was adopted to actualize those plans. The most important thing in this procedure was dialogue between top management and the employees. And this dialogue creates trust.