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The purposes of cost accounting require classifications of costs so that they are recognized (1) by the nature of the item (a natural classification), (2) in their relation to the product, (3) with respect to the accounting period to which they apply, (4) in their tendency to vary with volume or activity, (5) in their relation to departments, (6) for control and analysis, and (7) for planning and decision making.
Direct material and direct labor may be listed among the items which have a variable nature. Factory overhead, however, must be carefully examined with regard to items of a variable and a fixed nature. It is impossible to budget and control factory-overhead items successfully without regard to their tendency to be fixed or variable; the division is a necessary prerequisite to successful budgeting and intelligent cost planning and analysis.
In general, variable expenses show the following characteristics: (1) variability of total amount in direct proportion to volume, (2) comparatively constant cost per unit or product in the face of changing volume, (3) easy and reasonably accurate assignments to operating departments, and (4) incurrence controllable by the responsible department head.
The characteristics of fixed expenses are (1) fixed amount within a relative output range, (2) decrease of fixed cost per unit with increased output, (3) assignment to departments often made by managerial decisions or cost-allocation methods, and (4) control for incurrence resting with top management rather than departmental supervisors. Whether an expense is classified as fixed or variable may well be the result of managerial decisions.
Some factory overhead items are semi variable in nature; i.e., they vary with production but not in direct proportion to the volume. For practical purposes, it is desirable to resolve each semi variable expense item into its variable and fixed components.
A factory is generally organized along departmental lines for production purposes. This factory departmentalization is the basis for the important classification and subsequent accumulation of costs by departments to achieve (1) cost control and (2) accurate costing. The departments of a company generally fall into two categories: (1) producing, or productive, departments, and (2) nonproducing, or service, departments. A producing department is one in which manual and machine operations are performed directly upon any part of the product manufactured. A service department is one that is not directly engaged in production but renders a particular type of service for the benefit of other departments. The expense incurred in the operation of service departments represents a part of the total factory overhead that must be absorbed in the cost of the product. For product costing, the factory may be divided into departments, and departments may also be subdivided into cost centers. As a product passes through a cost center or department, it is charged with a share of the indirect expenses on the basis of a departmental factory-overhead rate.
For cost-control purposes, budgets are established for departments and cost centers. Actual expenses are compared with budget allowances in order to determine the efficiency of a department and to measure the manager’s success in controlling expenses.
Factory overhead, which is charged to a product or a job on the basis
Examples of the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows based on the published annual report.
of a predetermined overhead rate, is considered indirect with regard to the product or the job to which the expense is charged. Service-department expenses are prorated to other service departments and/or to the producing departments. The proration is accomplished by using some rational basis such as area occupied or number of workers. The prorated costs are termed indirect departmental charges. When all service-department expenses have been prorated to the producing departments, each producing department’s total factory overhead will consist of its own direct departmental expense and the indirect (or prorated, or apportioned) charges. This total cost is charged to the product or the job on the basis of the predetermined factory-overhead rate.
A company’s cost system provides the data required for establishing standard costs and for the preparation and operation of a budget. The budget program enlists all members of management in the task of creating a workable and acceptable plan of action, welds the plan into a homogeneous unit, communicates to the managerial levels differences between planned activity and actual performance, and points out unfavorable conditions which need corrective action. The budget not only will help promote coordination of people, clarification of policy, and crystallization of plans, but with successful use will create greater internal harmony and unanimity of purpose among managers and workers.
The established standard-cost values for material, labor, and factory overhead form the foundation for the budget. Since standard costs are an invaluable aid in the process of setting prices, it is essential to set these standard costs at realistic levels. The measurement of deviations from established standards or norms is accomplished through the use of variance accounts.
Costs as a basis for planning are estimated costs which may be incurred if any one of several alternative courses of action is adopted. Different types of costs involve varying kinds of consideration in managerial planning and decision making.
