Activity Based Costing

Recently, the controller of a retail company just had a $50,000 request to implement an

ABC system quickly turned down. A senior vice president, in rejecting the request,

noted, "Given a choice, I will always prefer a $50,000 investment in improving things a

customer sees or experiences, such as our shelves or our store layout. How does a

customer benefit by our spending $50,000 on a supposedly better accounting system?"

Based on reasons given for implementing an ABC system, how should the controller

respond? This should be 100-200 words in length.