costing
Introduction to Standard Costing
Standard costing is an important subtopic of cost accounting. Standard costs are usually associated with a manufacturing company's costs of direct material, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead.
Rather than assigning the actual costs of direct material, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead to a product, many manufacturers assign the expected or standard cost. This means that a manufacturer's inventories and cost of goods sold will begin with amounts reflecting the standard costs, not the actual costs, of a product. Manufacturers, of course, still have to pay the actual costs. As a result there are almost always differences between the actual costs and the standard costs, and those differences are known as variances.
Standard costing and the related variances is a valuable management tool. If a variance arises, management becomes aware that manufacturing costs have differed from the standard (planned, expected) costs.
If actual costs are greater than standard costs the variance is unfavorable. An unfavorable variance tells management that if everything else stays constant the company's actual profit will be less than planned.
If actual costs are less than standard costs the variance is favorable. A favorable variance tells management that if everything else stays constant the actual profit will likely exceed the planned profit.
The sooner that the accounting system reports a variance, the sooner that management can direct its attention to the difference from the planned amounts.
If we assume that a company uses the perpetual inventory system and that it carries all of its inventory accounts at standard cost (including Direct Materials Inventory or Stores), then the standard cost of a finished product is the sum of the standard costs of the inputs:
1. Direct material
2. Direct labor
3. Manufacturing overhead
1. Variable manufacturing overhead
2. Fixed manufacturing overhead
Usually there will be two variances
Standard costing is an important subtopic of cost accounting. Standard costs are usually associated with a manufacturing company's costs of direct material, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead.
Rather than assigning the actual costs of direct material, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead to a product, many manufacturers assign the expected or standard cost. This means that a manufacturer's inventories and cost of goods sold will begin with amounts reflecting the standard costs, not the actual costs, of a product. Manufacturers, of course, still have to pay the actual costs. As a result there are almost always differences between the actual costs and the standard costs, and those differences are known as variances.
Standard costing and the related variances is a valuable management tool. If a variance arises, management becomes aware that manufacturing costs have differed from the standard (planned, expected) costs.
If actual costs are greater than standard costs the variance is unfavorable. An unfavorable variance tells management that if everything else stays constant the company's actual profit will be less than planned.
If actual costs are less than standard costs the variance is favorable. A favorable variance tells management that if everything else stays constant the actual profit will likely exceed the planned profit.
The sooner that the accounting system reports a variance, the sooner that management can direct its attention to the difference from the planned amounts.
If we assume that a company uses the perpetual inventory system and that it carries all of its inventory accounts at standard cost (including Direct Materials Inventory or Stores), then the standard cost of a finished product is the sum of the standard costs of the inputs:
1. Direct material
2. Direct labor
3. Manufacturing overhead
1. Variable manufacturing overhead
2. Fixed manufacturing overhead
Usually there will be two variances