1. 15 Managerial Accounting and Cost Concepts
C H A P T E R
Managerial Accounting and Cost Concepts
Financial and Managerial Accounting
10e
Needles
Powers
Crosson
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2. The Role of Managerial Accounting
The role of managerial accounting is to enable managers and people throughout an organization to:
make informed decisions
be more effective at their jobs
improve the organization’s performance
The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) defines managerial accounting (or management accounting) as a profession that involves partnering in management decision making, devising planning and performance management systems, and providing expertise in financial reporting and control to assist management in the formulation and implementation of an organization’s strategy.
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3. Cost Measurement
Managers measure costs by tracing them to cost objects, such as products or services, sales territories, departments, or operating activities.
In service organizations, costs can be traced to a specific service, such as preparation of tax returns in an accounting firm.
In retail organizations, costs can be traced to a department, such as the produce department in a grocery store.
In manufacturing organizations, costs can be traced to a product, such as the candy produced by a candy company.
Direct costs are costs that can be measured conveniently and economically by tracing them to a cost object.
Indirect costs are costs that cannot be measured conveniently and economically by tracing them to a cost object. They are included in the cost of a product or service by using formulas.
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4. Financial Reporting
Period costs (or noninventoriable costs) are costs of resources that are not assigned to products. They are recognized as operating expenses on the income statement.
Product costs (or inventoriable costs) include direct materials, direct labor, and overhead (indirect costs). They are recognized on the income statement as cost of goods sold and on the balance sheet as inventory.
Product unit cost is the cost of manufacturing a single unit of a product.
Service unit cost is the cost to perform one service.
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5. Financial Reporting The three elements of product or service cost are:
Direct materials costs: the costs of materials that can be conveniently and economically measured when making specific units of the product
Direct labor costs: the costs of the hands-on labor needed to make a product or service that can be measured when making specific units
Overhead costs (or service overhead, factory overhead, factory burden, manufacturing overhead, or indirect production costs): the costs that cannot be practically or conveniently measured directly to an end product or service. These include:
Indirect materials costs, such as the costs of nails, rivets, lubricants, and small tools
Indirect labor costs, such as the costs of labor for maintenance, inspection, engineering design, supervision, and materials handling
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6. Financial Reporting
The three elements of product cost can also be grouped into prime costs and conversion costs.
Prime costs: the primary costs of production. They are the sum of the direct materials costs and direct labor costs.
Conversion costs: the costs of converting or processing direct materials into a finished product. They are the sum of direct labor costs and overhead costs.
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7. Cost Behavior
A variable cost is a cost that changes in direct proportion to a change in productive output.
A fixed cost is a cost that remains constant within a defined range of activity or time period.
Examples of variable and fixed costs:
Service organization: For an airline, the cost of peanuts and beverages is a variable cost, while the depreciation on the planes and the salaries and benefits of the crews are fixed costs.
Retail organization: For a grocery store, variable costs include the cost of groceries sold, while fixed costs include the costs of building rental, depreciation on equipment, and the manager’s salary.
Manufacturing organization: Variable costs include direct materials, direct labor, indirect materials, and indirect labor. Fixed costs include the costs of supervisors’ salaries and depreciation on buildings.
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8. Value-Adding versus Non-Value-Adding Costs
Costs can also be classified as value-adding or non-value-adding.
A value-adding cost is the cost of an activity that increases the market value of a product or service.
A non-value-adding cost is the cost of an activity that adds cost to a product or service but does not increase its market value.
Managers examine the value-adding attributes of their company’s operating activities and, wherever possible, reduce or eliminate activities that do not directly add value to a company’s products or services.
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9. The Manufacturing Cost Flow
Manufacturing cost flow is the flow of direct materials, direct labor, and overhead through the Materials Inventory, Work in Process Inventory, and Finished Goods Inventory accounts into the Cost of Goods Sold account.
The Materials Inventory account shows the balance of the cost of unused materials—in other words, the cost of materials that have been purchased but not used in the production process.
The Work in Process Inventory account shows the manufacturing costs that have been incurred and assigned to partially completed units of product—in other words, the costs involved with manufacturing the unfinished product.
The Finished Goods Inventory account shows the costs assigned to all completed products that have not been sold.
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10. Work in Process Inventory
The Work in Process Inventory account records the balance of partially completed units of the product.
As direct materials and direct labor enter the production process, their costs are added to the Work in Process Inventory account. The cost of overhead for the current period is also added.
The total costs of direct materials, direct labor, and overhead incurred and transferred to the Work in Process Inventory account during a period are called total manufacturing costs (or current manufacturing costs).
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11. Statement of Cost of Goods Manufactured
The cost of goods manufactured is calculated in the statement of cost of goods manufactured, which summarizes the flow of all manufacturing costs incurred during the period.
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12. Cost of Goods Sold and a Manufacturer’s Income Statement
The total amount of the cost of goods manufactured is carried over to the income statement, where it is used to compute the cost of goods sold.
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13. Computing Product Unit Cost
Product unit cost is the cost of manufacturing a single unit of a product.
It is made up of the cost of goods manufactured costs of direct materials, direct labor, and overhead.
These three cost elements are accumulated as a batch of products is being produced.
When the batch has been completed, the product unit cost is computed.
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14. Product Cost Measurement Methods
How products flow physically and how costs are incurred does not always match.
Managers may need to use estimates or predetermined standards to compute product costs during the period.
At the end of the period, these estimates are reconciled with the actual product costs.
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15. Actual Costing Method
The actual costing method uses the actual costs of direct materials, direct labor, and overhead to calculate the product unit cost. (These costs, however, may not be known until the end of the period.)
Suppose Choice Candy produced 3,000 candy bars for a customer. The company accountant calculated the actual costs for the order as follows: direct materials, $540; direct labor, $420; overhead, $240. The actual product unit cost for the order was $0.40, calculated as follows.
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16. Normal Costing Method
The normal costing method combines the easy-to-track actual direct costs of materials and labor with estimated overhead costs to determine product unit cost.
For Choice Candy, suppose that the company accountant used normal costing to price the order for 3,000 candy bars and that overhead was applied to the product’s cost using an estimated rate of 50 percent of direct labor costs. The costs for the order would include the actual direct materials cost of $540, the actual direct labor cost of $420, and an estimated overhead cost of $210 ($420 X 50%). The product unit cost would be $0.39:
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17. Standard Costing Method
The standard costing method uses estimated or standard costs of direct materials, direct labor, and overhead to calculate the product unit cost.
This method is useful when product cost information is needed before the accounting period begins.
Suppose that Choice Candy is placing a bid to manufacture 2,000 candy bars for a new customer. From standard cost information, the accountant estimates the following costs: $0.20 per unit for direct materials, $0.15 per unit for direct labor, and $0.09 per unit for overhead. The standard cost per unit would be $0.44.
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18. Computing Service Unit Cost
Services are labor-intensive processes supported by indirect materials or supplies, indirect labor, and other overhead costs.
The most important cost in a service organization is the direct cost of labor that can be traceable to the service rendered.
The indirect costs incurred in performing a service are similar to those incurred in manufacturing a product. They are classified as overhead.
These service costs appear on service organizations’ income statements as cost of sales.
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19. Planning (slide 1 of 2)
The overriding goal/vision of a business is to increase the value of the stakeholders’ interest in the business.
The fundamental way in which the company will achieve this goal/vision is described in its mission statement.
The planning process must consider how to add value through strategic, tactical, and operating objectives.
Strategic objectives—broad, long-term goals that determine the fundamental nature and direction of a business and that serve as a guide for decision making
Tactical objectives—mid-term goals that position an organization to achieve its long-term strategies
Operating objectives—short-term goals that outline expectations for the performance of day-to-day operations
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20. Planning (slide 2 of 2)
A business plan is a comprehensive statement of how a company will achieve its strategic, tactical, and operating objectives.
It provides a full description of the business, including a complete operating budget for the first two years of operations.
The budget must include a forecasted income statement, a forecasted statement of cash flows, and a forecasted balance sheet.
The business plan often includes performance goals for individuals, teams, products, or services.
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21. Performing
Critical to managing any retail business is a thorough understanding of the supply chain (or supply network)—the path that leads from the suppliers to the final customers.
Knowledge of the supply chain allows managers to coordinate deliveries from growers and suppliers so that they can meet customers’ demands without having too much or too little inventory on hand.
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22. Evaluating and Communicating
Managers evaluate operating results by comparing the organization’s actual performance with the performance levels established in the planning stage.
They earmark any significant variations for further analysis so that they can correct the problems.
If the problems are the result of a change in the organization’s operating environment, the managers may revise their original estimates and/or objectives.
Whether accounting reports are prepared for internal or external use, they must provide accurate information and clearly communicate this information.
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23. Standards of Ethical Conduct
Managers consider the interests of external parties (customers, owners, suppliers, governmental agencies, and the local community) when they make decisions. When ethical conflicts arise, management accountants have a responsibility to help managers balance those interests.
To provide guidance, the Institute of Management Accountants has issued standards of ethical conduct for practitioners of managerial accounting and financial management.
Those standards emphasize that management accountants have responsibilities in the areas of competence, confidentiality, integrity, and credibility.
©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.