BAR: Managerial and Cost Accounting Flashcards
Cost characteristics
a primary purpose of cost measurement is to allocate the costs of production (direct materials, direct manufacturing labor, and manufacturing overhead) to the units produced.
y = A +Bx
y -total costs and is referred to as the dependent variable since its amount is dependent on the other factors
x - volume and is referred to as the independent variable since it can be increased or decreased at the company’s discretion. Often referred to as the cost driver as the amount of costs incurred will be largely dependent on the volume of this variable
A - fixed costs; remains constant at any volume as long as the company is operating within a given range of volume
B - variable cost per unit
Relevant range
the normal range of operations
Mixed costs
a combination of fixed and variable costs (example: an electric bill has a set monthly charge, regardless of usage, and then an additional charge, based on usage)
Variable cost per unit formula
(Highest activity cost - Lowest activity cost) / (Highest activity unit- Lowest activity unit)
Fixed cost
Highest activity cost - (variable cost per unit * Highest activity units)
Cost accounting
refers to the calculation of the cost of manufactured inventory
3 types of product costs
Direct material, direct labor, manufacturing overhead (indirect)
Direct material
total cost of materials physically included in final product, including freight
Direct labor
all wage/tax costs for employees working directly with production
Manufacturing overhead (indirect)
all other costs to manufacturing. Includes indirect material (eg, sandpaper, nuts and bolts), indirect labor (eg, supervisor salary), and other factory costs (eg, depreciation on factory assets, factory utilities)
Prime costs
direct materials and labor
Conversion costs
direct labor and manufacturing overhead
What product cost is in both prime and conversion costs?
Direct labor
Nonmanufacturing costs
period costs (SGA costs, marketing costs, freight out, rehandling costs, abnormal spoilage, an expense in the period)
Relevant costs
an anticipated future cost that differs among alternative plans
Avoidable costs
costs that will not be incurred if a planned activity is changed or discontinued
Marginal costs
additional costs incurred owing to one more output unit
Normal spoilage
occurs under normal operating conditions, inherent to the production process, charged to product cost
Abnormal spoilage
should not occur under normal operating conditions, avoidable and controllable, expense as period cost to separate loss account
Applied overhead
(Estimated overhead costs)/ estimated DL $/hr = Predetermined overhead rate * actual production = applied overhead