The application of costs in make-or-buy decisions: an analysis

There has been little recent empirical research which has examined the application of costs in make-or-buy decisions. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey with 256 British management accountants and interviews with 55 of them that gather evidence about the application of costs in make-or-buy decisions. The results of the questionnaire show that, in general, direct, manufacturing or total costs or some combination thereof are used in make-or-buy decisions. The interviews showed that in some cases that costs may be used inappropriately when the costs include allocated and assigned overheads and this might lead to sub-optimal decisions.