A comparative study of process and job costing will help to understand both systems more effectively. A summary of their differences is given below. Show
Process Costing calculates costs at a particular stage of production whereas job cost accounts for each completed work order. What are the similarities between process costing and job costing?Both methods follow the same convention of charging direct material, direct labour and factory overhead to production accounts (common pool). What is the formula to calculate cost per unit in process costing?Total Standard Costs ÷ Equivalent Units = Equivalent Cost Per Unit How many different kinds of costs are there?There are 5 kinds of costs, namely: product costs, period costs, inventoriable costs, non-inventory holding costs and reported costs. What type of costs is inventoriable?Product or period costs can be inventoriable under Process Costing.
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8 Min. Read December 7, 2021 As an organization, your primary objective is to generate profits; returns for shareholders. However, it’s not just about that. The profits you earn are intrinsically related to sales volumes and revenue. In fact, you may have high sales volumes and revenues but very little or no profit. How’s that possible? Well, it comes down to your costs. A key element of becoming profitable and scaling is effective cost management. It helps in different ways that ultimately translate to a higher profit margin. When it comes to measuring the cost of products, you can either use job costing or process costing. These are types of accounting systems. Companies use them to track all the costs they’ll incur when delivering a service or producing products. The accounting system you should use depends on the nature of your business. Read on to learn about these two cost accounting techniques and how they compare. Here’s What We’ll Cover: What Is Job Costing? What Is Process Costing? Differences Between Job Costing and Process Costing Key Takeaways What Is Job Costing?Job costing is also known as job order costing. It’s ideal for the service industries where institutions work on a project basis, as the total cost varies with each job. Often, such professional services involve the need to provide customers with accurate estimates before the work begins. These include freelancers, movers, mechanics, and plumbers. Some of the features and factors that affect direct costs with job order costing include:
Assume that two people with similar kitchens hire a construction company to perform a similar renovation. The project manager will begin by estimating the cost of individual elements of the project. These include:
They’ll tally the estimates for each factor to get the exact cost for the whole project. However, despite all the similarities between individual projects, the costs will vary. This is because other variances will arise during the project and can only be accounted for at that time. For example, they may find that the entire plumbing system for one house is damaged. This means they may have to replace it, further increasing costs. Given the nature of such projects, job costing systems are ideal. They help the contractor capture the actual cost of each job. In turn, this also allows them to have an accurate expectation of profits. For effective job costing, there are different costs that you should account for. They include:
Along with the direct labour expenses and material costs, job costing also accounts for overhead costs. These include indirect expenses you incur for the job. They include:
Compared to direct labour and material costs, figuring out the overhead costs can be challenging. Pros of Job CostingFor organizations that use job costing, there are several benefits to be enjoyed. They include:
Cons of Job CostingRegardless of how beneficial job costing is, it also has some drawbacks. These include:
What Is Process Costing?When dealing with near identical products and services, process costing is the ideal cost accounting method. It’s especially effective for the large-scale production of homogenous products. As the name suggests, you’ll account for different processes. These are the stages at which raw materials are converted into another identifiable form. As such, you’ll have to divide the plant-based on various processes. They may either be performed parallelly, sequentially or selectively. Therefore, each process will require a process account. With this, the output of an individual process becomes the input of the next one. This goes on until you attain the output of the final process, which will be the total cost of the product. This form of cost accounting is suitable for large-scale production, companies that produce different products, or where there are various levels of production. These include companies that produce soap, paper, steel, paints, and cold drinks. Pros of Process CostingProcess costing offers organizations benefits such as:
Cons of Process CostingAs with job costing, process costing also has some disadvantages. These include:
Differences Between Job Costing and Process CostingAs you now know, job costing and process costing use varying approaches to calculating the cost of individual products and services. Therefore, they have differences such as:
Key TakeawaysWhen it comes to job costing and process costing, it’s not about which is the best. Instead, it is about the one that suits your construction company better. The most important thing is tracking your product costs accurately with either one. While you can do so manually, it’s best to have a solution you can trust. FreshBooks is a software solution that provides a host of accounting solutions. These include cost tracking, invoicing, time tracking, etc. Try it for free today to find out more about how it can help grow your company. If you enjoyed reading this article, check out more articles like this on our Resource Hub! RELATED ARTICLES |