Applying activity based costing model on cost accounting of provider of universal postal services in developing countries

One of the effects of the current postal legislation is that a request by the public postal operators must publish accounting data on their operations while respecting a number of criteria. The obligation of the public operator involves keeping separate accounts for reserved and unreserved services. Directive of European Parliament and of the Council from the 1997 includes guide for the issue of mechanism for the allocation of costs, which should be kept in the preparation of these financial statements. According to the provisions of the directive 97/67/EC, such accounts must be verified and made public in accordance with common standards that apply to the commercial activities of certain countries. In this paper, authors have presented the necessity of compliance with mentioned legislation through the application of activity based costing (ABC) method for calculation of costs to the business of the public postal operator. Observed the operator of one of the developing countries, that is his business has applied ABC method for calculation of costs, with some of its modifications, and results were obtained that fully meet the requirements of the directive and significantly simplify the accounting system of the operator.