Question

Topic: Job order costing in the food industry

How exactly would the costs accumulate for each job? In other words, how would you track direct labor, materials, etc?

Answer 1

SELLING PRICE G 9.3 COLLECTION OF COSTS FOR A JOB 9.3.1 Collection of Materials Cost An essential requirement of job cost accounting is that direct materials and their cost must be traced to and identified with specific job or work order. This segregation of materials cost by jobs or work order is brought by the use of separate stores requisitions

for each job or work order. Where a bill of material is prepared, it provides the basis for the preparation of these stores requisitions. But when the entire quantity of materials specified in the bill of materials is drawn in one lot or in installments, the bill itself could be made to serve as a substitute for the stores requisition. After the materials have been issued and the stores requisitions have been priced, it is usual to enter the value of the stores requisition in a material abstract or analysis book. It serves to analyse and collect the cost of all direct materials according to job or work orders and departmental standing orders or expense code numbers. From the abstract book, the summary of materials cost of each job is posted to individual job cost sheets or cards in the Work-in-Progress ledger. The postings are usually made weekly or monthly. Similarly, at periodical intervals, from the material abstract books, summary cost of indirect material is posted to different standing orders or expense code numbers in the Overhead Expenses ledger. If any special material has been purchased for a particular job, it is generally the practice to charge such special material direct to the job concerned without passing it through the Stores Ledger, as soon as it is purchased. If any surplus material is left over in the case of any job, unless it can be immediately and economically used on some other job, the same is returned to the stores with a proper sup-porting document/stores Debit Note or Shop Credit, and the relevant job account is credited with the value of excess material returned to the stores.If the surplus material is utilised on some other job, instead of being returned to the stores first, a material transfer note is prepared. The transfer note would show the number of the transfer to job as well as transferee job (or jobs) so that, on that basis, the cost thereof can be adjusted in the Work-in-Progress Ledger 9.3.2 Collection of Labour Cost All direct labour cost must be analysed according to individual jobs or work orders. Similarly, different types of indirect labour cost also must be collected and accumulated under appropriate standing order or expenses code number. The analysis of labour according to jobs or work orders is, usually, made by means of job time cards or sheets. All direct labour is booked against specific jobs in the job time cards or sheets. All the idle time also is booked against appropriate standing order expense code number either in the job time card for each job or on a separate idle time card for each worker (where the job time card is issued job-wise). The time booked or recorded in the job time and idle time cards is valued at appropriate rates and entered in the labour abstract or analysis book. All direct employee cost is accumulated under relevant job or work order numbers, and the total or the periodical total of each job or work order is then posted to the appropriate job cost card or sheet in Work-in-Progress ledger. The postings are usually made at the end of each week or month. The abstraction of idle time costs under suitable standing order or expenses code numbers is likewise done and the amounts are posted to the relevant departmental

standing order or expense code number in the Overhead Expenses Ledger at periodical intervals. As regards other items of indirect labour cost these are collected from the payrolls books for the purpose of posting against standing order or expenses code numbers in the Overhead Expenses ledger. 9.3.3 Collection of Overheads Manufacturing overheads are collected under suitable standing order numbers and selling and distribution overheads against cost accounts numbers. Total overhead expenses so collected are apportioned to service and production departments on some suitable basis. The expenses of service departments are finally transferred to production departments. The total overhead of production departments is then applied to products on some realistic basis, e.g. machine hour; labour hour; percentage of direct wages; percentage of direct materials; etc. It should be remembered that the use of different methods will lead to a different amount being computed for the works overhead charged to a job hence to different total cost.The problem of accurately absorbing, in each individual job or work order, the overhead cost of different cost centres or departments involved in the manufacture is difficult under the job costing method. It is because the cost or the expenses thereof cannot be traced to or identified with any particular job or work order.In such circumstances, the best that can be done is to apply a suitable overhead rate to each individual article manufactured or to each production order. This is essentially an arbitrary method.

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