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Activity-Based Costing The method of assigning overhead to products based on labor hours or machine hours is referred to as volume-based overhead absorption because the amount assigned will vary strictly with the volume of either labor or machine time consumed. In applications where production costs may not be strictly driven by volume of labor hours, activity-based or transaction costing is appropriate. This situation typically occurs when there are many options or alternatives available to the customer. Typically, these products are produced in low volumes and have a high degree of complexity. An example would be the option of a premium radio in an automobile. Though the actual purchase cost of that radio would not be overlooked in pricing the automobile, the indirect costs would be overlooked in a volume-based system because the indirect costs associated with the premium radio, such as holding an additional item of inventory, documenting and producing separate receiving orders, added clerical and assembly coordination effort, increased engineering complexity, and so on would be grouped under the general category of overhead. On the other hand, in an activity-based system, indirect costs would be assigned to a unique cost pool, such as shown in Fig. 17.2.3 and 17.2.4, which compare the procedures of volume and
activity-based costing. The striking difference is that the overhead cost pool used in volume systems is not present. In activity-based systems, many more cost pools are used and are closely related to some causal aspect of the process such as machine setup, receiving orders, or material movement. The costs are assigned to products based on the relative amounts of each cost driver consumed by that product. Therefore, lowvolume options such as the premium radio receive a larger share of indirect costs relative to the actual volume of labor used to insert the component. The amount of each cost pool attributed to a product can then be spread over the number of units produced and a more accurate assignment of costs obtained.
Departmental Classification As mentioned above, the establishment of departmental lines is important not only for costing purposes but also for budgetary control purposes. Departmental lines are set up in order to (1) segregate basically different processes of production, (2) secure the smoothest possible flow of production, and (3) establish lines of responsibility for control over production and costs. When the costing methods are designed to fit in with the departmentalization of factory and office, costs can be accumulated within a department with production being on either the job-order or process cost method.
