Cost management of IT beyond cost of ownership models:a state of the art overview of the Dutch financial services industry

Controlling costs is an essential part of a value driven information technology (IT) management. This paper gives a state of the art overview of IT cost management practice. Both theoretical and an empirical approach are taken. The theoretical approach is based on both general accounting literature and a study of comprehensive and total cost of ownership models as propagated by various consultants. IT cost management in practice is studied through case studies at IT departments in 10 major financial services companies in the Netherlands. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.