Cost Management for Activities in the Metallurgical Sector of the Zulia Region

The purpose of this article is to analyze cost management for activities in the metallurgical sector in the Zulia region, in order to strengthen success in managerial decision making, due to the capital importance this sector has in developing the principal Venezuelan industry, the Venezuelan Petroleum Company (Petroleos de Venezuela, S. A.) (PDVSA). The study is supported by the works of authors such as: Kaplan and Cooper (1999), Brimson (1997), Lorino (1993), Horngren et al (2007), Hansen and Mowen (2007), among others. The research was of a descriptive type with a non-experimental, trans-sectional, field design, using a questionnaire directed to cost analysts at the metallurgical companies that manufacture capital goods in the municipalities of Maracaibo and San Francisco in the State of Zulia, registered in the Directory of the Venezuelan Petroleum Chamber. Results indicate that very few companies perform activity analyses, and do not go deeply into their properties. Conclusions are that the indirect manufacturing costs or manufacturing load is not managed according to the contemporary context.