Additional Costing Features

Current Cost

"Current" costs may be defined for parts stored in the manufacturing warehouse.  They may be used to record the most recent material, labor and overhead costs, then may be "rolled" into standard costs to establish new standards at the beginning of a period.  See the Product Costing User Manual for further details.

Accounting Costs

Accounting activity is actually valued at "frozen" standards, or accounting costs, in the Inventory Accounting module.  This feature provides the ability to revise standards in the current period before the activity from the preceding period is posted.  See the Key Concepts section of the Inventory Accounting User Manual for further details.

Simulated Costs

A Cost Simulation feature is available in the Product Costing module which allows analysis of changes in material, labor and overhead costs.  For further information, see the Product Costing User Manual.

Cost Components

The cost components of manufactured parts are carried separately.  Cost components can increase or decrease the cost of the manufactured part depending on whether they are consumed in, or produced by the manufacturing process.  The following cost components may be reviewed for a manufactured part:

·     Material

·     Labor

·     Overhead

·     Miscellaneous cost elements

Cost Elements

The total unit cost may be defined as a series of detailed cost elements.  The cost elements may be used to break the purchase cost of an item into its significant cost components, such as expensive raw materials used in the purchased item.  The cost elements may also be used to define add-on changes, such as  freight, customs, and material handling expenses.