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Cost measurements and reporting procedures are integral components of management information systems, providing financial measurements of economic value and reports useful to many and varied objectives. In a functional organization, where lines of authority are drawn between engineering, production, marketing, finance, and so on, cost accounting information is primarily used by managers for control in guiding departmental units toward the attainment of specific organizational goals. In team-oriented organizations, authority is distributed to multifunctional teams empowered as a group to make decisions.
The focus of cost accounting in this organizational structure is not so much on control, but on supporting decisions through the collection of relevant information for decision making. Cost accounting also provides insight for the attainment of competitive advantage by providing an information set and analytical framework useful for the analysis of product or process design, or service delivery alternatives.
The basic purpose of cost measurements and reporting procedures can be organized into a few fundamental areas. These are: (1) identifying and measuring the economic value to be placed on goods and services for reporting periodic results to external information users (creditors, stockholders, and regulators); (2) providing control frameworks for the implementation of specific organizational objectives; (3) supporting operational and strategic decision making aimed at achieving and sustaining competitive advantage.
MEASURING AND REPORTING COSTS TO STOCKHOLDERS
Accounting in general and cost accounting in particular are most visible to the general public in the role of external reporting. In this role, cost accounting is geared toward measuring and reporting periodic results, typically annual, to users outside of the company such as stockholders, creditors, and regulators. The annual report presents to these users management forecasts for the coming period and results of past years operations as reflected in general-purpose financial statements. (See also Sec. 17.1, ‘‘Industrial Economics and Management.’’) Performance is usually captured through the presentation of three reports: the income statement, the balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows (see Fig. 17.2.1). These statements are audited by independent certified public accountants who attest that the results reported present a fair picture of the financial position of the company and that prescribed rules have been followed in preparing the reports. The accounting principles and procedures that guide the preparation of those reports are governed by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
The underlying principles that guide GAAP financial statements encourage comparability among companies and across time. Therefore, these rules are usually too constraining for reports destined for internal use. External reports such as the balance sheet and income statement are prepared on the accrual basis. Under this basis, revenues are recognized (reported to stockholders) when earned, likewise costs are expensed against (matched with) revenue when incurred. This is to be contrasted with the cash basis, which recognizes revenues and expenses when cash is collected or paid. For example, if a drill press is purchased for use in the factory, a cash outflow occurs when the item is paid for. The cash basis would recognize the purchase price of the drill press as an expense when the payment is made. On the other hand, the accrual basis of accounting would capitalize the price paid, and this amount would be the cost (or basis) of the asset called drill press. In accrual accounting, an asset is something having future economic benefit, and therefore the cost of this asset must be distributed among the periods of time when it is used to generate revenue. The cost of the drill press would be expensed periodically by deducting a small amount of that cost from revenue as the drill press is used over its economic life, which may be several years. This periodic charge is called depreciation. To capture the effects that revenue-generating activities have on cash, GAAP financial statements also include the statement of cash flows. The statement of cash flows is not prepared on an accrual basis; rather, it reflects the amount of cash flowing into a company during a period, as well as the cash outflow. The first section of that statement, ‘‘Cash flows from operating activities,’’ is essentially an income statement prepared on the cash basis.
Another application of cost accounting measurements for external users involves the preparation of reports such as income tax returns for governmental agencies. Federal, state, and local tax authorities prescribe specific accounting procedures to be applied in determining taxable income. These rules are conceptually similar to general-purpose financial reporting but differ mainly in technical aspects of the computations, which are modified to support whatever public finance goals may exist for a particular period.
Whereas GAAP financial statements allow for the analysis of credit and investment opportunities, Internal Revenue Service regulations are designed to raise revenue, stimulate the economy, or both. Regulations in effect at the time of writing were primarily aimed at reducing the burgeoning federal deficit and hence assigned rather long ‘‘useful lives’’ to depreciable assets; at other times in history useful lives were shortened to stimulate investment and economic growth. An example of how the IRS regulations could differ from GAAP can be illustrated in determining the useful life of a drill press. For GAAP, the drill press would be an asset, and may be estimated as depreciable over a wide range of economic lives. The IRS would also view the drill press to be a depreciable asset, but consider the class life to be 9.5 years if used in the manufacture of automobiles, or 8 years in the manufacture of aerospace products. For practicality, many companies will follow the IRS Code when determining useful life for GAAP, though this practice is generally not required.
