Extending the scope of Material Flow Cost Accounting – methodical refinements and use case

Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) is an instrument with a considerable potential for gaining transparency of material (and energy) flows and corresponding costs and, thereby, supporting the systematic striving for a higher degree of resource efficiency. However, a use case from the aluminum industry reveals some restrictions of MFCA due to its focus on material, the input-orientation, and the short-term orientation. Thus, this paper suggests extending the scope of Material Flow Cost Accounting by methodical refinements concerning the modeling of energy flows, divergent flow system outputs, especially revenues, and long-term monetary effects caused by investments. For demonstrating these methodical refinements of Material Flow Cost Accounting, the aforementioned use case is taken up.