44 Managerial Accounting for Managers, 4th Edition
Exercise 6A-2 (continued)
2. The table prepared in part (1) above allows two different perspectives
on the overhead cost of the order. The column totals that appear in the
last row of the table tell us the cost of the order in terms of the
activities it required. The row totals that appear in the last column of the
table tell us how much the order cost in terms of the overhead accounts
in the underlying accounting system. Another way of saying this is that
the column totals tell us what the costs were incurred
for
. The row
totals tell us what the costs were incurred
on
. For example, you may
spend money
on
a chocolate bar in order to satisfy your craving
for
chocolate. Both perspectives are important. To control costs, it is
necessary to know both what the costs were incurred for and what
actual costs would have to be adjusted (i.e., what the costs were
incurred on).
The two different perspectives can be explicitly shown as follows:
What the overhead costs were incurred
on
:
Indirect labor …………………………..
Factory depreciation ………………….
Factory utilities …………………………
Factory administration ……………….
General selling & administrative:
Wages and salaries ……………………
Depreciation …………………………….
Taxes and insurance ………………….
Selling expenses ……………………….
Total overhead cost ……………………..
What the overhead costs were incurred
for
:
Order size ………………………………….
Customer orders …………………………
Product testing …………………………..
Total overhead cost ……………………..