The view of Turkish academicians to implemantation on of cost methods in health managements: A research on activity based costing method

In this study, it is aimed at determining the factors which affect application of costing methods in Healthcare Enterprises (ABC) in Turkey. The study was carried out with the case study pattern within the scope of a qualitative research. Document review and semistructured interview method were used to collect data in the study. Use of more than one data collection technique and validity and reliability of data obtained from these methods were increased in study. Academic studies for ABC method in Turkey (47 research papers, 48 master's thesis and 18 Ph.D. thesis studies) and data obtained from 26 semi-structured forms pertaining to interviews had with participants were included in study. Data were analysed with content analysis. According to the findings obtained in study, the factors influencing the application of ABC method in healthcare enterprises are as follows; lack and insufficiency of cost accounting system, complex structured systems of healthcare enterprises, lack of accounting information of personnel, concerns of health enterprises about data sharing, difficulty in data supply, acceptance or partial acceptance of sharing of needed data by healthcare enterprises, inability to obtain research survey permit or the lengthiness of process to take a permit, the cost and time requirements of cost studies and difficulty in the calculation of service costs. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the factors influencing the implementation of ABC method in healthcare institutions in Turkey were mostly nonexistence or insufficiency of cost accounting system (22%), complex structured systems of healthcare enterprises (19%) and lack of accounting information of personnel (13%). Keywords: Activity Based Costing, Activity Based Management, Qualitative Analysis,Content Analysis, Semi-Structured İnterview Method.