What are different inventory valuation methods?
There are numerous valuation techniques to value the inventory or stock. However, here is the short list of those which are known. To learn more about each method, click the name! Specific identification method FIFO - First in, First out method LIFO - Last in, First out method HIFO - Highest in, First out NIFO […]
Is ‘Cost of goods sold’ a Product cost or a Period cost?
Before we discuss under what heading should we classify cost of goods sold, let’s first of all clear out our minds for the terms inventoriable costs and period costs with a quick review. You can the answer on difference between period costs and product costs in good detail here. Inventoriable costs (Product cost) or Product […]
Does Standard costing means costing based on cost accounting standards like financial accounting standards?
Standard costing does not mean cost accounting using uniform cost accounting standards similar to financial accounting standards. The main purpose of financial accounting standards is to have such set of financial statements for every entity that is comparable with other entity’s financial statements and also to have uniform basis of accounting for different transactions that […]
Can direct costs be fixed and indirect costs be variable costs?
Classifying costs as direct or indirect cost is one way of cost classification whereas classifying costs on the basis of their behaviour as fixed or variable costs is just another way of classification of costs. Both classifications are separate and must not be confused together. The cost that can be traced back to a product […]
What is a non-linear variable cost?
Variable costs are such costs that change with the change in business activity level. For example if production level changes then some costs of production will change as well. This change can either be in the same direction (direct relationship) i.e. if activity increases then cost increases as well OR it can be in the […]
What is Opportunity cost and why is it a Relevant cost as well?
Opportunity costs are defined to be the economic value of the benefit sacrificed under one alternative to avail the benefit under another alternative course of action. For example, company have the option of manufacturing either alpha or beta. As company does not have enough resources to manufacture both of them so it will have to […]
What is the difference between Notional cost and Opportunity cost?
Notional costs and Opportunity costs are two important concepts in cost and management accounting as they have far reaching effects on decisions making process. But both are distinct and understanding the features of each type of cost is vital as it has important implications from decision making perspective. All opportunity costs included in the cost […]
What is Notional cost?
Notional means imaginary, speculative or conceptual i.e. something that has no actual existence and is mere imagination. Same way a notional cost is an imaginary cost which is sometimes included in the cost units and cost centers to make costing estimates more realistic or simply more challenging especially when the performance of cost unit and […]
What is meant by Apportionment of overheads?
Most of the time overheads are not caused by a single product or a cost center and are jointly incurred on one or more product or by one or more departments. Therefore, we cannot charge such overheads specifically to each department or simply they cannot be allocated. Even though we cannot charge some kinds overheads […]
What is meant by direct overheads? Does allocated overheads mean direct overheads?
First of all we need to understand the definitions of overheads, direct expenses, allocation and apportionment itself in order to explain the answer of this question. Overheads mean such costs and expenses that were incurred during the production process but it is impossible to identify or trace such costs back to a particular product or […]
