Customer testimonials

former Managing Director

at Black & Decker, LEGO, Europapier

Activity based costing – the essence in leadership and management

In today’s technological world and information overkill leaders and managers tend to lose an eye for the essential basics enabling them to successfully plan, manage, measure and constantly improve their business.

Once in a managerial responsibility, the managers are longing for simple and reliable analysis that facilitate the strategic decision making process. In addition, information should be transparent and understandable for each manager and all employees.

Managers drawing their knowledge from existing, highly sophisticated reporting systems often claim to know their business upside down. But they have no answers when it comes to questions about business process performance. At least then managers realise that the information provided is far to general and not to the point.
It is simple insufficient to know the business results down to margin level one or two and then have the big amount of overheads and operational cost broken down in just a few cost categories.

Overheads and operational cost must be related to each and every business process, so that vital information such us the profitability of individual products and customers can be obtained. In addition, the cost and performances of all employees need to be monitored likewise, so that the employees can themselves plan and measure their performance.

This is the kind of information that, not only, will tremendously improve the strategic decision making process, but is an important step towards performance orientation.
To have this knowledge is a MUST in modern leadership and management and indispensable for all companies that want to survive in today’s highly competitive world.

I have fully realised the advantages resulting from a simple, user friendly and long proven activity based costing system. It enables me to constantly update the “customer value proposition” and maintain the cost leadership of the company.
And what can be better, that all this is driven and supported by a team of highly motivated, performance orientated managers and employees.

Before I got to know the Cobol version of the cost accounting program called “Greko” in 1987, I had already made my acquaintance with a multitude of KORE systems, spreadsheet tools, individually programmed cost allocation with pay-as-you-go and prefabricated account sheets for manual entry.

For over 10 years, when I was looking for a simple, technically supported and intelligent application, I had the vision of a modern business accounting sheet.

From the combination of what I’ve learnt and my daily work with all the seemingly insoluble knowledge, needs and listening to the Deyhle’s and Plaut’s of this world, this image had settled in me. And how surprised I was when I met Ing. Helmuth Köchert and Ing. Walter Konrath with their “Greko” in 1987. Already after the first cautious thought exchange of views, in which these two then advisers said e.g.: “Well, in terms of gross wage and salary costs you will have to consider whether they are not predominantly proportional. And in “Greko” you can! How do you feel about flexible plan marginal costing?” Then I knew: That’s it and they are the right partners for me! “Greko” is a software that can prove a rapid technical development in the last decades. But what is even more relevant and important to me is: “Greko” is a philosophy. “Greko” is the epitome of a transparent and flexible business knowledge.

First and foremost, it is about the will and the need to get to know your company, its processes and changes in order to be able to take suitable measures and make business decisions.

This also means that the appropriate thinking model in the business consideration is…. “Greko”. And as additional benefit, this software depicts the thinking model in all sensible variants, plan – target – actual – preview. In the first place, Ing. Köchert understood how to implement this cost accounting philosophy with modern technology and thus to make the access to business management interesting and exciting.

Greko is a very flexible and clear software. In this sense, Mr. Günther Pichler continues “Greko” and is constantly working on further developments in order to cover the needs of his customers in the best possible way. I say “thank you” for accompaning my career path and advising and I hope that this philosophy will always spread. In this sense, I congratulate you warmly to the anniversary and wish you much success for the future!

After our existing cost accounting software could no longer meet the significantly increased requirements, after longer market studies and some tests, we decided to implement Greko.

Greko is the best way to materialize  our idea of marginal cost accounting, which is REALLY suited to corporate governance. In order to use Greko successfully, however, due to the power of this system, it is necessary to intensively deal with the issue of borderline costing.

After 2 days of intensive cooperation with the consultant and about 7 man-days own work, we implemented the planning 2006 in Greko, that is – 2 locations – 8 sectors, completely (cost types, cost centers, cost objects). Already after this short time, we have obtained for the first time exact knowledge about the success of our locations and divisions and could go into a well-founded planning of measures.