Introduction
Australia’s food and beverage industry is anticipating significant growth, with a majority of food and beverage executives expecting increases in revenues (84% of executives) (Thornton, 2013). For the purposes of this report, the focus will be on the product costing systems in place at Voodoo Ltd, concentrating on their applicability and effectiveness. Our aim is to identify the weaknesses in Voodoo Ltd’s current operations which may impede its growth in what is a dynamic and fast paced industry. Currently Voodoo Ltd is in a battle to retain its momentum as a leading firm in the food and beverage industry as it faces strong competition from competitors who are out performing them in production rates and at lower prices for shelf-space. An analysis of the current costing measures and information will allow Voodoo Ltd to reassess its current operation and implement new initiatives to tackle increasing competition to ensure it maintains its velocity moving forward.
Main Recommendations
After analysing Voodoo Ltd’s current costing and production process we have carefully formulated our recommendations that we believe would greatly assist Voodoo Ltd in remaining competitive and ensuring exponential growth can be achieved within the coming financial years.
Below is an outline of our recommendations which will be further discussed later on in the report:
• Voodoo Ltd needs to consider R&D costs when designing product costing system. This is to avoid unwanted failure in its sales and marketing departments.
• Senior management should look to streamline the delivery and transportation across all three production plants.
• Voodoo Ltd should look to appoint a head of innovation to ensure its three production plants can be...
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[1] Noreen, Eric W., Brewer Peter C., et al., Managerial Accounting for Managers, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, NY, 2011.
John Deere Component Works (JDCW), subdivision of John Deere and Co. was in charged specifically of the manufacturing of tractor component parts. The demand for JDCW’s products had problems due to the collapse of farmland value and commodity prices. Numerous and constant failures in JDCW’s competition for bids, alerted top management to start questioning their current costing methods. As an outcome, the analysis has to be guided to research on the current costing methods with the intention of establishing legitimacy and to help the company in adopting a more appropriate costing system.
Ebert Ronald J and Griffin Ricky W. (2011).Business Management.(8th edition). Business essentials, (pp.94-97), Boston [Mass]; London: Pearson.
The costing system is a system that is used throughout businesses that offer a service. “A standard costing system uses standard costs and quantities of all three types of manufacturing costs: direct materials, direct labor, and factory overhead” (Blocher 2016 p. 97). Companies utilize the costing system to monitor the actual product usage compared to prior usage. Contractor use this system when bidding on jobs; once they collect specific instruction for the requested job they factor in the amount of material, labor, and other overhead costs then provide a quote for the assignment. “Strategic cost management is deliberate decision-making aimed at aligning the firm's cost structure” (Anderson & Sedatole 2003). Red Lobster and Kroger are examples
[4] Colin Drury, Management and Costing Accounting, (7th edition), Chapter 3, Cost Assignment, p. 54-59
Costing as defined by Blocher, Stout, Juras, and Cokins (2016) ‘is the process of accumulating, classifying, and assigning direct materials, direct labor, and factory overhead costs to cost objects, which most commonly are products, services, or projects” (p. 96). Further relayed by Blocher et al. (2016), is the type of costing system a company employs depends on the industry, product or service manufactured or provided, and the benefit versus the cost of the particular system chosen. Job and process costing systems are two different avenues by which companies can accumulate their costs as a first step in determining accurate pricing for their product or service. While one method tracks costs that can be specifically attached to a unique product, batch of products, or service, and then also allocates the overhead to the individual units or services, the other method also tracks the direct costs but accumulates the overhead costs for the shared services used to produce indistinguishable products, then assigns them to a functional department, and from there assigns them to products. Job and process costing system characteristics are examined in further detail, and examples of companies that use each are provided.
In the 1970s due to limitations in traditional costing systems, Greater competition and further inaccuracies in costing products effectively encouraged businesses to seek out alternative methods to enabling them accurate and causal cost allocation , at the same time Activity-Based Costing (ABC) method came about, being quickly adopted by enterprises of many and various types
However, each product type is produced in large numbers and the production processes are repetitive with direct materials, direct labour, and also variable manufacturing overhead. In short, each product uses the same amount of direct costs as other products in the same product type. Process costing is most suited for Fancy Chocolate’s direct costs. However, since this new order from the national supplier is a special order, F.C will need to make new chocolate bars with different flavours and ingredient additives. When special custom orders are made, job order costing is suitable. With the combination of process costing and job order costing, the hybrid costing system should be used to cost direct
People who believe absorption costing is the better method to use argue that the results gives useful understanding of the total cost of inventories. Opposers of direct costing speculate the method understates the cost of inventories. Absorption costing can be used for external purposes...
Activity-based costing (ABC) is a costing method that is designed to provide managers with cost information for strategic and other decisions that potentially affect capacity and therefore “fixed” as well as variable costs. Activity-based costing is mostly used for internal decision making and managing activities while traditional costing method is used to provide data for external financial reports. Most organization uses activity-based costing as an addition system for using traditional absorption costing as sometimes the traditional cost system misleads the product’s profitability. In a company, there are many products on sale, if one product is sold at a high price with low product margin and a product with high product margin at a low price, it may result in a loss. In addition, due to the reason that cost drivers and enterprises business may change, activity-based costing analysis also needs to be revised periodically. This amendment should be prompted to change pricing, product, customer focus and market share strategy to improve corporate profitability.
UPS measure the product costs precisely in their G/L system. By using ABC Costing system, a more systematic and accurate product costs can be obtained. Cost insight can be improved with the precise work measurement standard and thus promote business improvement. The combination of costing and work measurement in ABC costing enables UPS to evaluate the financial performance of their organization and good decision-making can be made in product improvement, costing control and pricing.
Many companies, particularly those in the manufacturing industry mostly produce products following a forecasting on demand. Though from time to time it can make them on receiving orders from its clients. The items that are made and the work which is completed in accordance with the order of a customers is called job. Hence, the costing process intended to establish the cost of a job is extremely important. Job order costing therefore is the costing system which establishes the cost of the jobs obtained from a client (Walther, n.d.). In this way, job order costing approximations the costs of producing products in line with clients' instructions.
"College Accounting Coach." Process Costing-Definitions And Features(Part1) « Process Costing « Cost Accounting «. Feb. 2007. Web
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice The main purpose of searching for a new method to estimate cost if due to the erroneous practices of accounting. There is a wide recognition of this problem but most companies still have not gone to a different approach. The GAAP principles do not provide the kind of cost detail and information focus required in today’s capital intensive, automated, and complex manufacturing and distribution. It generates an erroneous and inverse relationship between computed product cost and current production volume. This is the major problem- the inverse relationship between production volume and inventory value because these indirect expenses are all fully charges to the current product. In periods of declining sales, the apparent cost of the product rises, bringing suggestions of price increases in the face of weak sales performance. In good sales periods, apparent cost of product declines, suggesting either a lowering of prices or higher profits. Neither inventory valuation reflects the true cost of manufacturing the product. The typical distribution an accrual accounting practice often distorts operating cost information and performance criteria to accommodate financial policy, management practice, and current tax law requirements. Some manufacturers even overproduce to absorb overhead in the false assumption that this reduces their product cost. Many different methods have been tried to fix this inaccuracy, such as activity bases costing, machine labor costing, process costing, productive hour rate costing, life cycle costing, and technology accounting. All of these methods have common weaknesses. None of these methods isolate the definition of the cost of the product form the definition of the overall performance of the business. All of these techniques cause the apparent cost of the product to vary with volume yet manufacturing has done nothing different when volume increase or decrease. Paradigm Shift One of the major philosophical changes is the conversion of the costing base from the variables of materials, labor, and volume to the constant of time and time use of capital facilities in each operation. By allocating all indirect expenses to time use of facilities, indirect and general and administrative expense can be fully absorbed and the correct share of these costs can be precisely assigned t...
It is recognised that appropriate cost accounting information is important for successful management of an industry whether it is large or small (European Commission-Enterp...