Question

Why do overhead costs often shift from high-volume products to low-volume products when a company switches from a conventional costing method to activity-based costing

Answer 1

When a company is using conventional costing methods, the costs are allocated based on volume so those products with a high volume will get a higher share of the costs.

When Activity-based costing is used however, costs are assigned more accurately which will lead to the actual products that are causing the costs incurring them instead of those high-volume products so it will appear as though overhead costs have shifted from high-volume products to low-volume products.