ABSTRACT
There must always be a report of the full cost of any programme, project or activity, even when there is no intention to report monetised benefits. For a project or programme leader to fail to understand what a project or a programme cost is unprofessional. For an evaluator to fail to report full costs is simply unforgivable. Managers and project leaders sometimes confuse budgets with forecasts of full costs. The difference between the two gets to the basics of reporting full costs. The full costs, both direct and indirect, of the programme were calculated, including training partner development and delivery costs, programme management and evaluation costs, participants travel costs, as well as the costs for participants time. The theory of activity-based costing (ABC) emerged in the mid-1980s to provide management with more detailed information about the costs of the activities involved in developing a product.
