Chapter 01
Chapter 01
Chapter 01
Accounting
Chapter One
What is Cost Accounting?
• Cost accounting is a process of recording,
analyzing and reporting all of a company’s costs
(both variable and fixed) related to the production
of a product.
• Cost accounting provides the detailed information
that management needs to control current
operations and plan for the future.
What is Cost Accounting?
• Cost accounting is helpful because it can
identify where a company is spending its
money, how much it earns, and where money
is being lost.
• Cost accounting aims to report, analyze, and
lead to the improvement of internal cost
controls and efficiency.
Value Chain
KEY QUESTION:
What adds value to the firm?
Carmen’s Cookies
Should Carmen expand operations?
Are the benefits greater than the
costs?
What are the differential revenues?
What are the differential costs?
What are the cost drivers?
Differential revenue
• Defines differential revenue as the estimated increase
or decrease in revenue that results from one course of
action compared to an alternative plan the business is
considering.
• Differential revenue calculates the total revenue
generated by a project, action or plan and compares
that with the total revenue that another viable project
you could undertake produces. For example, if Project
A generates total revenue of $100,000 and Project B
generates total revenue of $90,000, the differential
revenue is $100,000 less $90,000, or $10,000.
Differential revenue
• As an example, Company XYZ, a small electronics
company, is trying to decide between alternative one,
which is to purchase new machinery that would
increase revenue by $80,000, or alternative two,
which is to purchase two new delivery trucks that
would increase revenue by $60,000. In this situation,
alternative one would result in a $20,000 higher
increase in revenue than alternative two. The
difference of $20,000 is the amount of differential
revenue.
Differential cost
Defines differential cost as the increase or
decrease in costs that the business anticipates
will result from the two alternative courses of
action. The cost of the alternative includes
any initial investment, additional labor,
supplies.
Differential cost is the difference between the
cost of two alternative decisions, or of a
change in output levels.
Differential cost
• Example, Company XYZ anticipates that
alternative one, the new machinery, will increase
costs by $70,000 and that alternative two, the
delivery trucks, will increase costs by $60,000.
Alternative one will result in a $10,000 cost
increase. Therefore, $10,000 is the differential
cost.
Cost Benefit Analysis
Consider both costs & benefits of a proposal.
Labor # of cookies
Ingredients
Differential Costs, Revenues, and Profits
Carmen’s Cookies
Projected Income Statement for One Week
Materials Labor:
Difference
Actual Budget (Variance)
Benchmarking is an ongoing
process resulting in continuous
improvement.
JIT: Just In Time Inventory
JIT is an inventory system
designed to lower the cost of
maintaining excess inventory.