The accounting focused on determining the cost per unit of a manufacturer in order to value inventory and cost of goods sold. It is also used to determine unit costs of items processed in service businesses, such as a...
The accounting focused on determining the cost per unit of a manufacturer in order to value inventory and cost of goods sold. It is also used to determine unit costs of items processed in service businesses, such as a...
roots in manufacturing businesses. However, today it extends to service businesses. For example, a bank will use cost accounting to determine the cost of processing a customer’s check and/or a deposit,...
What is the traditional method used in cost accounting? Definition of Traditional Method in Cost Accounting The traditional method of cost accounting refers to the allocation of manufacturing overhead costs to the...
How can I get a basic understanding of cost accounting?
What is prime cost? Definition of Prime Cost In cost accounting, the prime cost of a manufactured product is the combination of the following: Direct materials cost Direct labor cost The indirect manufacturing costs...
Part of a company’s administration that is responsible for preparing the financial statements, maintaining the general ledger, paying bills, billing customers, payroll, cost accounting, financial analysis, and...
Are commissions a cost of goods sold account or an expense? Definition of Commissions Commissions are compensation for obtaining sales. Hence, sales commissions are a selling expense and will be recorded in general...
What is a product cost? Definition of a Retailer’s Product Cost In accounting, a retailer’s product cost is the cost paid to a supplier plus any other costs that are necessary to get the product in place and ready...
In accounting, cost is defined as the cash amount (or the cash equivalent) given up for an asset. Cost includes all costs necessary to get an asset in place and ready for use. For example, the cost of an item in...
What is process costing? Definition of Process Costing Process costing is a term used in cost accounting to describe one method for collecting and assigning manufacturing costs to the units produced. A processing cost...
The cost accounting system where costs are recorded by individual job (versus process costing system). The job order system can use standard costs or actual costs.
The cost accounting system where similar units are mass produced. Costs are collected by department and are then assigned to the units produced.
What are production costs? Definition of Production Costs In managerial accounting and cost accounting, production costs are the costs that occur in the manufacturing facilities. Production costs are also referred to as...
for the company’s: Financial statements General ledger Cost accounting Payroll Accounts payable Accounts receivable Budgeting Special analyses as well as other duties At larger companies the controller may be assisted...
What is managerial accounting? Definition of Managerial Accounting Managerial accounting is also known as management accounting and it includes many of the topics that are included in cost accounting. Some of the...
What is cost behavior? Definition of Cost Behavior Cost behavior is an indicator of how a cost will change in total when there is a change in some activity. In cost accounting and managerial accounting, three types of...
In cost accounting this term means to allocate, apply, apportion, or spread manufacturing overhead costs to the production output. In terms of accounts receivable, assign means to pledge accounts receivable to a lender...
What is the cost of goods manufactured? Definition of Cost of Goods Manufactured The cost of goods manufactured is a calculation of the production costs of the goods that were completed during an accounting period. In...
A term used in cost accounting to arrive at the cost per unit. The term is associated with the units that are not completed at the end of an accounting period. For example, if 500 units are completed as far as materials,...
Costs that have been divided up and assigned to periods, departments, products, etc. In depreciation it is the asset’s cost that is assigned to each of the years that the asset is in use. In cost accounting it is...
A factory or manufacturing overhead rate used to allocate, apply, assign, or spread indirect product costs to items manufactured. Under traditional cost accounting, the burden rate might be a percentage of direct labor...
of purchases and payments. The company may also employ a payroll clerk to process its many employees’ pay and fringe benefits. Perhaps an accounts receivable clerk will be employed to focus solely on the company’s...
manufactured during the accounting period minus the cost of finished goods in ending inventory. The cost of sales for a retailer is the cost of merchandise in its beginning inventory plus the net cost of merchandise...
What are conversion costs? Definition of Conversion Costs Conversion costs is a term used in cost accounting that represents the combination of direct labor costs and manufacturing overhead costs. In other words,...
What is an outlier? In cost accounting, an outlier could be a cost or its related level of activity that is out of line with other observations. An outlier can be detected by plotting each observation’s cost and...
financial accounting and reporting cost/managerial accounting accounting systems auditing, attestation and assurance income tax for individuals income tax for corporations financial statement analysis accounting...
of the corporation, they must comply with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP or US GAAP). GAAP includes underlying concepts such as the historical cost principle, matching principle, revenue recognition,...
What is the meaning of pro rata? Pro rata is a Latin term that means in proportion. Pro rata is related to prorate, a term used in cost accounting. To illustrate the term pro rata, let’s assume that a company’s...
What do overabsorbed and underabsorbed mean? Definition of Overabsorbed and Underabsorbed In cost accounting, overabsorbed and underabsorbed pertain to a manufacturer’s manufacturing overhead costs. The manufacturing...
examples of service departments include: Factory maintenance department Production quality control Factory information technology department Factory cafeteria Purchasing department The various methods (direct, step,...
A predetermined dollar amount that one unit of a finished product should cost during an accounting period.
A predetermined dollar amount that a pound of material or an hour of labor should cost during an accounting period.
in determining a manufacturer’s cost of goods sold and the cost of its inventory. In traditional cost accounting, the indirect manufacturing costs are allocated to the products manufactured based on direct labor...
with the accrual basis of accounting Fixed asset accounting Cost accounting Budgeting and profit planning, and more Common titles for accountants include corporate accountant, chief accountant, controller, assistant...
The accounting guideline requiring amounts in the accounts and on the financial statements to be the actual cost rather than the current value. Accountants can show an amount less than cost due to conservatism, but...
What is scrap value? Definition of Scrap Value In cost accounting, scrap value refers to a relatively insignificant amount that a manufacturer receives from the sale of production materials that remain after the...
How can I learn bookkeeping? You can learn bookkeeping at no cost on our website AccountingCoach.com. We recently expanded our Explanation of Bookkeeping, and we have many other topics that are relevant including debits...
Featured Review
"AccountingCoach PRO - a great learning experience at a very low cost. I would like to thank Harold Averkamp and all the staff behind it for preparing course material that contains all the essentials for a successful career in the accounting field and for giving lifetime access to the materials. The materials are very easy to follow. I am particularly impressed with your ability to explain so beautifully the accounting concepts and debits and credits. I feel that even a beginner can understand them easily. All my interactions have been great! I recommend this excellent accounting course to all." - Valsa G.
Join PRO or PRO Plus and Get Lifetime Access to Our Premium Materials
Read all 2,645 reviewsWe now offer 10 Certificates of Achievement for Introductory Accounting and Bookkeeping: