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Public Sector Cost Accounting and Activity Based Costing for Service Departments

This course shows public sector finance teams how to work out what services actually cost so that budgets, tariffs and shared service charges rest on real figures. Participants learn to allocate direct and overhead costs, apply activity based costing to high volume services, and use cost information to improve efficiency. The programme helps institutions defend charges and identify where money is being consumed.

What you will be able to do

  • Distinguish direct, indirect and overhead costs in a service department.
  • Allocate shared and overhead costs to services on a sound basis.
  • Apply activity based costing to high volume public services.
  • Calculate the unit cost of a service for budgeting and tariff setting.
  • Use cost information to identify inefficiency and waste.
  • Present costing results to managers, councils and oversight bodies.

Course outline

  1. 01Cost Concepts in the Public Sector
  2. 02Direct and Overhead Cost Allocation
  3. 03Activity Based Costing in Practice
  4. 04Calculating Unit Costs of Services
  5. 05Costing for Budgets and Tariffs
  6. 06Using Cost Data to Improve Efficiency
  7. 07Presenting Costing Results

Who should attend

This course suits management accountants, budget officers, finance analysts and service managers in municipalities and public entities.

Dates, venues and fees

DatesVenueDaysFeeCalendar
17 to 19 Aug 2026Harare3US$1,500
24 to 26 Aug 2026Kampala3US$1,500
31 Aug to 2 Sep 2026Dar es Salaam3US$1,500
7 to 9 Sep 2026Pretoria3R13,000
14 to 16 Sep 2026Cape Town3R13,000
28 to 30 Sep 2026Online3US$900
5 to 7 Oct 2026Mozambique3US$1,500
12 to 14 Oct 2026Cairo3US$1,500
19 to 21 Oct 2026Accra3US$1,500
26 to 28 Oct 2026Lusaka3US$1,500
2 to 4 Nov 2026Kigali3US$1,500
9 to 11 Nov 2026Nairobi3US$1,500
16 to 18 Nov 2026Durban3R13,000
23 to 25 Nov 2026Johannesburg3R13,000
7 to 9 Dec 2026Mauritius3US$1,500
14 to 16 Dec 2026Dubai3US$1,500
21 to 23 Dec 2026Lagos3US$1,500

Fees are per delegate. South African venues are priced in rand; other locations and online in US dollars. Fees exclude 15% VAT where applicable. Group bookings of three or more delegates from the same organisation qualify for a reduced rate; contact us for a quotation.

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