The article was published in the journal “Economist's Handbook” No. 12 December 2016.
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Consumption standards for raw materials play a key role in organizing the activities of an industrial enterprise and are used for planning, operational control, analysis and adoption management decisions.

An important element of the cost management and control system is standard costs.

Standards (norms)- a quantitative value that is determined in advance and serves to measure the results of activities. Standards are established both in monetary terms (standard costs) and in physical terms (for example, material consumption - in kilograms, work time production personnel - in hours).

The analogue of the first concept (standard costs) in domestic practice is standards, the second is standards.

Standard costs can be set for each type of cost. They are determined during the planning process and included in the resulting profit plan.

There is an opinion that the standard cost accounting method is acceptable only in mass and large-scale production and is of little use in small-scale and single-unit production.

Of course, in mass and large-scale production, when a limited range of goods is produced in significant volumes and standardized technologies are used, it is easier to ration the resources consumed. But even in conditions of single production (production of piece equipment, construction of a unique facility), it is possible to determine standardized components or standardized technological operations.

The normative method is applicable in all industries where the costs of manufacturing products can be compared with the results of labor at certain intervals.

Thanks to these features the normative method is an indispensable tool:

• planning.

Based on the standards, the need for production resources (equipment, materials, personnel) and financial resources for the acquisition of these resources is planned.

Based on cost standards, planned calculations are formed, which, in turn, allows you to plan the production program, selling prices, sales volume, revenue and, ultimately, profit (for an example of planning the need for material resources, see below);

• operational control and management decision making.

During the production process, for various reasons, deviations from the normal flow of the technological process may appear, and with them deviations in the consumption of production resources. This usually requires additional manufacturing costs. By promptly eliminating the causes of violations of production consumption standards, it is possible to restore the normal course of the technological process;

• analysis.

By distributing deviations according to the reasons that caused them, the culprits, and accounting objects, it is possible, even before the end of the reporting period, to predict the results of the enterprise’s activities as a whole and individual places occurrence of costs in particular, develop a cost reduction program.

We prepare standard calculations

On the one hand, the formation of a production cost budget (which includes standard calculations) is a necessary intermediate stage of financial planning: without standard calculations it is impossible to create a profit and loss budget. On the other hand, when forming a production cost budget, it is also necessary to draw up a number of intermediate budgets, for example, a budget for the need for material resources.

One way or another, data on the standard cost of manufactured products is used in planning:

• range of products;
• sales programs;
• needs for production resources;
• needs for financial resources;
• cash flow budget;
• financial results of activities.

For your information

The listed planned indicators in the current period become a control tool: when implementing budgets, planned and actual indicators are constantly compared.

To draw up standard calculations you need:

• regulatory maps with data on the norms (current or planned) of consumption of production resources for the manufacture of a unit of product;
• databases on prices for consumed production resources;
• clearly defined algorithms (methods) for calculating costs and preparing estimates.

To use the normative method, the following prerequisites are required:

1. Availability of standards for consumption of production factors in the following sections:

• raw materials, basic materials, semi-finished products - per part, product, for each place of their consumption;
• norms for the consumption of working time (both in relation to equipment and in relation to human labor) - for individual technological transitions, operations, parts of the product and the product as a whole.

2. Prompt identification and registration of expenses deviating from the norms.

3. Systematic accounting of changes in standards.

Basic requirement for standards- they must reflect the actual production needs for consumed resources at a given technological and organizational level.

Current norms may coincide with planned ones if no change in the norms of consumption of production resources is expected during the period under review.

In order for an enterprise to use the standard accounting method, it is necessary first of all to develop a system of methodological support and create the necessary organizational infrastructure responsible for the development and revision of standards, for making changes to them.

We are developing standards

Standards are developed in the following cases:

• launching a new product into production;
• lack of standards for existing products.

There are two main approaches used:

1. Development of so-called technically sound standards.

Standards for the consumption of production resources are developed by design, production, technical and other departments of the enterprise on the basis of industry reference publications by calculation, expert or experimental means.

2. Development of standards “based on what has been achieved.”

In this case, there is no development as such - the actual consumption values ​​of production resources at the enterprise are accepted as norms.

This approach is quite rightly criticized for the “technical groundlessness” of the norms. But, firstly, the presence of even not completely “technically sound” norms is better than their absence; secondly, the “technically justified” standards themselves can be called so rather arbitrarily: the industry reference publications used for their development are often outdated and do not reflect the current level of technology development. In addition, the directories are of a single, universal nature and do not take into account the production characteristics of a particular enterprise.

It is also difficult to unambiguously determine standards using calculation and expert methods. To obtain reliable indicators experimentally, a sufficient amount of observational data is necessary.

For your information

The development of standards “from what has been achieved” is permissible, provided that these standards are periodically reviewed.

The standards being developed are included in the regulatory maps, which are compiled for each product. The normative (routing and technological) map indicates the consumption rates of production resources for each technological operation production process.

We are revising

Revision of standards allows you to check:

• how correctly the standards were initially established;
• to what extent the established standards correspond to the current technological and organizational level of production at the enterprise, for example, when using different/new equipment.

Basic methods for revising standards:

• checks. The correctness of the calculations carried out during the development of standards is assessed, mechanical errors are eliminated, expert assessments are revised, etc. It is used in cases of significant and fairly stable deviations of actual indicators from the developed standards;
• statistical observations and analysis of deviations of actual data from accepted norms.

We change

There are planned and unplanned changes in norms.

Reasons for the planned change in standards:

• carrying out organizational and technical measures (replacement of equipment, switching to another type of raw material, advanced training of personnel, etc.);
• inconsistency of standards with the current organizational and technological level of production, identified during the audit.

As a rule, in the process of planned changes, new standards are established for a relatively long period of time.

Unscheduled change in standards may be caused, for example, by a lack of required type materials and the need to replace it with others, the need to temporarily switch to another type of equipment (when the equipment provided technological map, is inoperative or does not have free production capacity), using workers of a different profession or qualification.

An unscheduled change in standards is made for a certain period of time - until the reasons for the changes are eliminated, the materials, equipment, and personnel required by the technology are prepared and provided.

We formalize a change in consumption rate

Any change in material consumption rates leads to a change in the cost of manufactured products. Therefore, each change must be agreed upon with the services responsible for calculating costs and documented Act on changing the consumption rate of raw materials and supplies.

The act must indicate for which products the standards are changing.

In our case, the changes concern three products: A1, A2 and A3.

For product A1, the main material - metal 1.2 mm thick - is replaced with metal 1.5 mm thick, and the rate of material consumption per unit of product increases from 1.25 kg to 1.5625 kg. Adjustment of consumption rates is associated with an improvement in consumer properties caused by changes in the design of the product.

Also, for product A1, the packaging is replaced: corrugated sheet 1000x2000 is replaced with corrugated box No. 1, and the consumption rate also changes.

For products A2 and A3, the packaging is replaced: corrugated sheet 1000×2000 is replaced with corrugated box No. 2, the consumption rate in pieces does not change.

100 units of product A2 must be painted in a different color at the buyer’s request.

The act is signed by the employee who drew it up; consent signatures are placed by those responsible for checking the data specified in the act (in the case considered - the designer and technologist).

After approval, the document is approved by the head of the enterprise.

We collect and systematize data to plan the need for material and financial resources

The most convenient form of organizing data for recording material consumption rates in production is chess, ormatrix(Table 1).

The rows of the table indicate the names of raw materials and supplies, the columns indicate the name of the product. , at the intersection of rows and columns - the consumption rate.

Add a column with the price of materials and a line with the production program (production plan) to the form - and you can easily calculate the planned need for raw materials both in physical units and by cost.

Column 13 indicates the need for a material resource in natural units, calculated using the formula:

V i= K 1 N i 1 + K 2 N i 2 + ... + K m N im, (1)

Where V i- volume i th material resource in natural units;

K - quantity of product planned for production, pcs.;

N i- consumption rate i th material resource for production j-th product;

m— number of products.

The cost of the necessary material resources (column 14) is determined as follows:

WITH i= C i × V i. (2)

where C i- price i th material resource;

C i— price i th material resource;

V i- volume i th material resource in natural units.

We create a database of resource prices

The price of the material resource requires special attention. The main task is to set as a standard price the price that is expected to prevail during the coming period:

• if, at the time of compiling the standard costing, the corresponding production resources have either already been purchased (i.e., the actual price is known), or have not yet been purchased, but purchase agreements have been signed (i.e., the price is also known), actual prices can be used;
• If components or material are purchased for the first time, a price is often planned, which is expected to be agreed upon during negotiations. In such cases, the forecast price can be used as a standard. If the price ultimately reached during negotiations differs significantly from the estimated price, the standard price is adjusted accordingly;
• if an enterprise purchases materials from several suppliers at different prices, a weighted average price will be a satisfactory price standard;

Example

Materials are supplied to the enterprise from several suppliers at different prices.

To establish the price standard, we will use the data in table. 2.

table 2

Initial data for calculations

Weighted average price = 0.3 × 26 + 0.4 × 23 + 0.3 × 20 = 23 rubles.

______________________

• If the goal is to minimize the cost of a resource, the minimum price should be used as a standard.

In our example C min= 20 rub. Costs for materials purchased at higher prices will be recorded as variances.

You should also consider the possibility of getting a discount when purchasing certain materials in large quantities. But you cannot focus only on low prices when purchasing materials in bulk in large quantities.

Important!

The standard price should be based on the volume of purchases that minimizes the total unit costs, including the cost of storing inventory, purchasing costs and ordering costs.

We approve the methodology for calculating standard calculations

The enterprise must be approved methodology for compiling standard calculations, in which it is necessary to reflect:

1. Algorithm for calculating standard calculations, including:

• list of items in the calculation, their content and calculation procedure, necessary data;
• the composition of overhead costs and the method of their distribution among units of production.

2. Organizational issues (with deadlines):

• frequency of recalculation of standard calculations (for example, once a quarter);
• responsible department for drawing up standard calculations;
• departments providing information for the preparation of calculations;
• the procedure for transferring standard calculations to other departments.

conclusions

1. For planning the need for material resources, the most convenient matrix form of organizing data according to the consumption rates of material resources.

2. One of the necessary elements for the correct operation of an enterprise is the regulation of material consumption and taking into account changes in standards.

3. When calculating the need for financial resources for a production program, special attention should be paid to the standard price of the purchased resource.

4. The enterprise must develop an algorithm (methodology) for calculating standard calculations.

In the activities of any enterprise, making the right management decisions is based on an analysis of its performance indicators. One of the objectives of such analysis is to reduce production costs, and, consequently, increase business profitability.

Fixed and variable costs and their accounting are an integral part of not only calculating product costs, but also analyzing the success of the enterprise as a whole.

Correct analysis of these items allows you to make effective management decisions that have a significant impact on profits. For analysis purposes, in computer programs at enterprises, it is convenient to provide for the automatic breakdown of costs into fixed and variable costs based on primary documents, in accordance with the principle adopted in the organization. This information is very important for determining the “break-even point” of a business, as well as assessing profitability various types products.

Variable costs

To variable costs These include costs that are constant per unit of production, but their total amount is proportional to the volume of output. These include the costs of raw materials, consumables, energy resources involved in the main production, salaries of the main production personnel (together with accruals) and the cost of transport services. These costs are directly included in the cost of production. In monetary terms, variable costs change when the price of goods or services changes. Specific variable costs, for example, for raw materials in physical dimension, can be reduced with an increase in production volumes due, for example, to a reduction in losses or costs for energy resources and transport.

Variable costs can be direct or indirect. If, for example, an enterprise produces bread, then the costs of flour are direct variable costs, which increase in direct proportion to the volume of bread production. Direct variable costs may decrease with the improvement of the technological process and the introduction of new technologies. However, if a plant processes oil and as a result produces, for example, gasoline, ethylene and fuel oil in one technological process, then the cost of oil for the production of ethylene will be variable, but indirect. Indirect variable costs in this case, they are usually taken into account in proportion to the physical volumes of production. So, for example, if when processing 100 tons of oil, 50 tons of gasoline, 20 tons of fuel oil and 20 tons of ethylene are obtained (10 tons are losses or waste), then the cost of producing one ton of ethylene is 1.111 tons of oil (20 tons of ethylene + 2.22 tons of waste /20 t ethylene). This is due to the fact that, when calculated proportionally, 20 tons of ethylene produce 2.22 tons of waste. But sometimes all waste is attributed to one product. Data from technological regulations are used for calculations, and actual results for the previous period are used for analysis.

The division into direct and indirect variable costs is arbitrary and depends on the nature of the business.

Thus, the costs of gasoline for transporting raw materials during oil refining are indirect, but for a transport company they are direct, since they are directly proportional to the volume of transportation. Wages of production personnel with accruals are classified as variable costs for piecework wages. However, with time-based wages, these costs are conditionally variable. When calculating the cost of production, planned costs per unit of production are used, and when analyzing actual costs, which may differ from planned costs, both upward and downward. Depreciation of fixed assets of production per unit of production volume is also a variable cost. But this relative value is used only when calculating the cost of various types of products, since depreciation charges, in themselves, are fixed costs/expenses.

Let's start with a few definitions:

Costs are the costs of living and material labor for the production and sale of products, works, services:

Expenses- consumed resources or money that needs to be paid for goods or services (in domestic economic practice, the term “costs” is often used to characterize all costs of an enterprise for a certain period);

Expenses this is only that part of the costs that was incurred in connection with the receipt of income, and in accordance with International standards In accounting, expenses include losses and expenses that arise in the course of the main activities of the enterprise in connection with the receipt of income, that is, in accounting, income must be correlated with the costs of obtaining them, which in this case will be called expenses.

Let's take a closer look main types of costs:

In accordance with the accounting rules: costs accumulate in the accounts of section 3 of the Chart of Accounts (primarily in account 20 “Main production”) and, as products are produced, are moved to account 43 “Finished products”, and costs are converted into expenses only after the sale of products , that is, when moving from account 43 to account 90 “Sales”.

In simplified form we can say that expenses - this is essentially the full cost of goods sold.

Thus, if the costs incurred correspond to certain income, they can be considered expenses and reflected in the income statement. If income has not yet been received as a result of the costs incurred, the costs should be taken into account as assets and reflected in balance sheet as costs in work in progress or finished goods (unsold).

This means that the concept of expenses is narrower than the concept of costs. And the concepts of “costs” and “expenses” are often used as synonyms, and the term “costs” is more characteristic of economic theory, and “costs” - for accounting and management.

Cost price- these are the costs expressed in monetary form for the production and sale of products, works, and services. It consists of all costs associated with the use of products in the production process (performance of work, provision of services) natural resources, raw materials, materials, fuel, energy, fixed assets, labor resources, as well as other production and sales costs.

Cost accounting and calculation (calculation) of the cost of each type of product (work, service) produced by an enterprise is one of the key problems of management accounting for a number of reasons, including the following:

• knowledge of the cost of production is necessary in order to evaluate the balances of work in progress and finished products in financial accounting, as well as to determine the cost of products sold and, as a consequence, profit from sales;
• the level of unit cost of production is a very important factor in the formation of the pricing and assortment policy of the enterprise;
• Controlling costs and identifying ways to reduce them are one of the main directions for increasing the efficiency of the company.

The system for recording production costs and calculating production costs is organized differently at each enterprise, depending on the choice of cost accounting objects - characteristics according to which production costs are grouped for the purposes of cost management. In order to effectively manage costs, as a rule, it is necessary to have data to control the areas of costs, their places of origin and cost carriers. In this case, the places where costs arise are understood as the structural divisions of the enterprise in which the initial consumption of resources occurs (for example, a workshop, site, team, stage, process, etc.), and cost carriers are the types of products (works, services) produced ( performed, provided) by this organization. In addition, there are different types of costs depending on the purposes of their accounting.

Basic and overhead costs

Based on the economic role in the production process, costs are divided into basic and overhead.

The main costs are those directly related to the production (technological) process of manufacturing products, performing work or providing services. In other words, the main costs include expended resources, the consumption of which is associated with the production of products (works, services), - for example, materials, wages of production workers, depreciation of fixed assets, etc.

Overheads are recognized as costs that arise in connection with the organization, maintenance and management of production.

For example, general production and general economic expenses - maintenance of the management apparatus, depreciation and repair of fixed assets for workshop or general plant purposes, taxes, costs of recruiting and training personnel, etc.

Direct and indirect costs

Classification of costs according to the method of their inclusion in the cost of products, works and services into direct and indirect. It is this classification that determines the order in which costs are reflected in certain synthetic accounts, subaccounts and analytical accounts.

Direct costs are those that can be directly, directly and economically attributed to a specific type of product or to a specific batch of products (work performed or services provided). In practice, this category includes:

• direct materials costs (that is, raw materials and basic materials used in the production of products);
• direct labor costs (wages of personnel involved in production specific types products).

However, if an enterprise produces only one type of product or provides only one type of service, all production costs will automatically be direct.

Indirect costs are those that cannot be directly, directly and economically attributed to a specific product, so they should first be collected separately (on a separate account), and then - at the end of the month - distributed by type of product (work performed, services provided) based on the chosen techniques.

Among production costs, indirect costs include auxiliary materials and components, expenses for wages of auxiliary workers, adjusters, repairmen, vacation pay, extra pay for overtime, payment for downtime, costs for maintaining workshop equipment and buildings, property insurance, etc. d.

We emphasize - indirect costs are associated simultaneously with the manufacture of several types of products, and they either cannot be “attributed” to a specific type of product, or in principle this is possible, but impractical due to the insignificance of the amount of this type of costs and the difficulty of accurately determining the part of them that falls on each type of product.

In practice, the separation of direct and indirect costs is very important for organizing the work of accounting in terms of cost accounting. Direct costs should be based on primary documents plus possibly additional calculations, as, for example, if the same type of raw material is used to produce several types of products in one division and it is impossible to provide accurate primary accounting of exactly how much of this raw material is spent on each from types of products, be included directly in the cost price of each type of product, formed by the debit of account 20 “Main production”. But indirect costs are collected on separate accounts - for example, shop expenses during the month are debited to account 25 “General production expenses”.

If we talk about the relationship between the two classifications considered, we can note the following:

• all direct costs are basic (after all, they are necessary for the production of specific types of products);
• overhead costs are always indirect;
• Some types of basic expenses, from the point of view of the order of their inclusion in the cost price, are not direct, but indirect - such as, for example, the amount of depreciation of fixed assets used in the production of several types of products.

Product costs, period costs

This classification is very important from the point of view of management accounting, since it is the only one used in Western countries, where many of the management accounting methods used today were developed, and such a classification is usually required in both management and financial accounting.

Figure 2. Classification of costs in management accounting

Product costs (production costs) are considered only those costs that should be included in the cost of production, at which it should be accounted for in workshops and warehouses, and if it remains unsold, reflected in the balance sheet. These are “inventory-intensive” costs directly related to the manufacture of products and, therefore, subject to accounting as part of its cost.

• raw materials and basic materials;
• remuneration of personnel involved in the production of specific types of products;
• general production costs (production overhead), including: auxiliary materials and components; indirect labor costs (salaries of support workers and repairmen, additional payments for overtime, vacation pay, etc.); other expenses - maintenance of workshop buildings, depreciation and insurance of workshop property, etc.

Period costs (periodic expenses) include those types of costs, the size of which does not depend on production volumes, but rather on the duration of the period. In practice, they are presented in two articles:

• commercial expenses - expenses associated with sales and deliveries of products (goods, works, services);
• general and administrative expenses - expenses for managing the enterprise as a whole (in Russian practice they are called “general business expenses”).

Such costs are not included in the cost of finished products, because they are not directly related to the production process, therefore they are always attributed to the period during which they were produced, and are never attributed to the balances of finished products.

When applying this classification, the full cost of products sold is formed in the following order.

Figure 3. Formation of cost in classical management accounting

If we apply this classification to domestic practice, guided by the Russian Chart of Accounts, it is necessary to organize cost accounting as follows:

1) in terms of product costs:

• direct material and labor costs are collected directly on account 20 “Main production” (according to subaccounts and analytical accounts for each type of product, work, service);
• General production expenses during the reporting period are collected in a separate account (according to the Russian Chart of Accounts, account 25 “General production expenses” is used for these purposes), and at the end of the period they are distributed and written off to account 20 “Main production” (by type of product, work, service );
• as a result, all costs recorded on the debit of account 20 “Main production” for a certain period represent total production costs, which may relate to manufactured products, forming the production cost of finished products (or to work performed, services provided, forming their cost accordingly), or may relate to work in progress balances, if any;

2) in terms of period costs:

• one must proceed from the postulate that periodic expenses are always attributed to the month, quarter or year during which they were incurred, that is, at the end of the period they are completely written off to reduce the financial result (profit), and they are never attributed to the balance of finished products on warehouse and work in progress;
• This means that they must be collected in accounts designated for these purposes (in Russia these are accounts 26 “General business expenses” and 44 “Sales expenses”), and at the end of each month the entire amount of expenses collected for the month must be written off from the credit of these accounts to the debit of the account 90 "Sales".

Please note that this option is permitted by current Russian legislation (in particular, PBU 10/99 “Organizational Expenses” and the Instructions for the Application of the Chart of Accounts). So every manager and accountant can implement this methodology into the practice of their organization.

However, in Russia, unlike IFRS and the accounting requirements of many foreign countries this is not the only permitted option.

Thus, account 44 “Sales expenses” in Russian practice may not be closed completely “month to month”; depending on the accounting policy of the organization, a carryover debit balance may be formed on this account - for example, in terms of costs for packaging and transportation of shipped products, if it has not yet become the property of the buyer, or in terms of transportation costs in trade organizations (if part of the goods remained unsold at the end of the month).

And we can close account 26 “General business expenses” not to account 90 “Sales”, but to account 20 “Main production” (as well as 23 “Auxiliary production” and 29 “Service production and farms”, if their products, work and services are sold externally). It was this option that was used until the early nineties, and it was not canceled or completely replaced by a new option using account 90 “Sales”.

The logic of this application of the 26th account, which involves the inclusion of general business expenses in the cost of specific types of manufactured products, works, services (including for the purpose of estimating the balances of unsold products), is based on the traditional approach, according to which in domestic practice, production costs and Today, in addition to material costs, labor costs and general production expenses, many also include general business expenses (and, accordingly, non-production costs include the costs of selling products, as well as maintaining social facilities).

With this approach, the meaning put into the concept of “production cost” also changes:

• a Western accountant or manager views this type of cost as the sum of “product costs”, and in his view management costs cannot be included in production costs;
• In domestic practice, to this day, there are often not two (production and full), but three types of cost - shop, production and full, while:
• shop cost is considered to be precisely the amount of “product costs” (that is, in our country shop cost is what Western experts call production cost);
• Production cost in Russia is often understood as the sum of shop cost and general business expenses, that is, in addition to “product costs” (direct and general production expenses), it also includes management expenses, which Western experts clearly classify as “period costs”, subject to accounting only in full cost and never included in production costs;
• the concept of the full cost of goods sold is conceptually the same in both systems, although its value, other things being equal, may not coincide (if there are balances of unsold products, because then for a Russian accountant, part of the management costs may “settle” in the balance sheet in the value of the balances of finished products, and For a Western accountant, the entire amount of management expenses will be attributed month to month to the reduction of profits).

Total and specific costs

First of all, we note that costs can be cumulative and specific - depending on the volume they are calculated for (for the entire set of products, for the entire batch of products, or per unit of production).

Total expenses are expenses calculated for the entire output of an enterprise or for a separate batch of products. In other words, these are the total, total costs for a certain amount of products of the same type or even for a certain volume of products of different assortments.

Specific costs are costs calculated per unit of production.

Accordingly, the cost can be calculated per unit of product or for the entire batch, or we can talk about a general cost indicator for all types of products, works, and services for a certain period.

Depending on what kind of management problem needs to be solved, in some cases it is important to know the amount of total costs, and in others it is important to have detailed information on unit costs (for example, when making decisions in the field of pricing and assortment policy).

Variable and fixed costs

Depending on how costs react to changes in the organization’s business activity - to an increase or decrease in production volumes - they can be divided into variable and constant.

Variable costs increase or decrease in proportion to changes in production volume, that is, they depend on the business activity of the organization. They, in turn, can be divided into:

• production variable costs: direct materials, direct labor, as well as part of overhead costs, such as the cost of auxiliary materials;
• non-production variable costs (costs of packaging and transportation of finished products, commissions to intermediaries for the sale of goods, etc.).

Fixed costs in total do not depend on the volume of production and remain unchanged during the reporting period. Examples of fixed costs are rent, depreciation of fixed assets, advertising costs, security costs, etc.

The point is that the total amount of fixed expenses usually does not depend on exactly how much and what kind of products the company produces in a given month. For example, if a company rented premises for a production workshop or outlet, she will have to pay the agreed rent every month, even if in one of the months nothing is produced or sold at all, but, on the other hand, if in this premises they work around the clock, and not eight hours a day, the rent from this it won't get any higher. The situation is similar when advertising is given - of course, the goal is to sell more products, but the amount of advertising costs (for example, the cost of advertising agency services, the cost of advertising on television or in a newspaper, etc.) directly depends on the quantity products sold in the current month will not be affected.

But variable costs clearly respond to changes in production and sales volumes. They didn’t produce products - they didn’t have to purchase materials, pay wages to workers, etc. If the intermediary did not sell the goods, there is no need to pay him a commission (if it is set depending on the number of goods sold, as is usually done). And vice versa, if production volumes increase, it is necessary to purchase more raw materials, attract more workers, etc.

Of course, in practice, especially in the long term, all costs tend to increase (for example, rent may increase, depreciation amount may increase due to the acquisition of additional fixed assets, etc.). Therefore, expenses are sometimes called semi-variable and semi-fixed. But the growth of fixed expenses, as a rule, occurs spasmodically (stepwise), that is, after an increase in the amount of expenses, they remain at the achieved level for some time - and the reason for their growth is either an increase in prices, tariffs, etc., or a change in production volumes and sales above the “relevant level”, leading to an increase or decrease in production space and equipment.

Standard and actual expenses

From the point of view of efficiency of accounting and cost control, a distinction is made between standard and actual expenses.

Actual expenses, as their name suggests, are expenses actually incurred by an enterprise in the production of products (works, services), reflected in primary accounting documents and accounting accounts. It is these that accountants take into account, and based on them the cost of production is formed. And then they are analyzed, compared with planned indicators or indicators of previous periods and conclusions are drawn.

Standard costs are predetermined realistic costs per unit of finished product. In other words, these are costs (most often per unit of production) calculated on the basis of certain norms and standards.

Alternative (imputed) costs

Unlike financial accounting, which operates only with accomplished facts and actual costs incurred, in management accounting great importance is given to alternative options, because when making one management decision, the manager automatically refuses other options for the development of events, and therefore, in addition to the real income and expenses that will be received and incurred during the implementation of the decision, alternative (imputed) costs inevitably arise, including including in the form of lost profits due to the fact that the decision made excluded the possibility of alternative use of resources.

The concept of opportunity costs can also simplify decision making in some situations.

Let's look at a small example. A new potential client approached the bakery - the director of a restaurant that had recently opened nearby. He would like the bakery to supply his restaurant with buns every day that need to be baked according to a specific recipe. Of course, he is interested in the price - how much the bakery would like to receive for fulfilling such an order.

Suppose that at the moment the bakery is already working at the limit of its capacity and cannot simply bake buns for the restaurant in addition to the products that it already produces and sells to current customers, in order to begin cooperation with this restaurant, it will be necessary to reduce the production of some of the current types of products and, accordingly, reduce supplies to current customers or retail sales volumes.

By applying the concept of opportunity cost, one can take advantage of an elegant and in a simple way solutions to this problem:

• of course, the price must cover the actual costs of the bakery - this means that you need to calculate the production cost of the buns that the restaurant director would like to receive; in addition, of course, the goal of the bakery is to make as much profit as possible, but this does not mean that you can set any level of profitability and ask for any price, although some amount of profit must be included in the price that will ultimately be set;
• Since in order to fulfill the restaurant's order, it will be necessary to reduce the current production of other types of products, there are alternative (imputed) costs - in this case, this is the amount of profit that the bakery will lose if it accepts this order and reduces the supply and sales of previous products, that is this is the “lost” profit that the bakery would continue to receive if it refused to cooperate with the restaurant director and worked according to the previous program;
• This means that in order to set the price for buns for a restaurant, you need to add up the sum of the costs of producing these buns (their projected cost) and the “lost” profit from the sale of those products, the production of which will be reduced due to the acceptance of an order from the restaurant.

Let's illustrate with numbers. Let's say that a restaurant wants to receive 1000 buns. To be able to bake them, you will have to reduce the production and sale of French baguettes by 400 units. Let’s assume that the production cost of a baguette is 10 rubles, and its selling price is 19 rubles. In accordance with the calculation based on the recipe for making buns, their production cost should be 4 rubles.

We make the following calculations:

1. profit from the sale of one baguette is: 19 - 10 = 9 rubles;
2. opportunity cost - the profit that could have been received from selling 400 baguettes if the restaurant's order had been rejected - is 9 rubles. x 400 pcs. = 3600 rub.;
3. the minimum price level for buns, at which it generally makes sense to talk about the possibility of accepting this order (replacing part of the baguettes with buns), consists of the sum of the cost of the buns and this lost profit from the baguettes, that is, for a batch of 1000 buns, the restaurant must pay at least : 4 rub. x 1000 pcs. + 3600 rub. = 7600 rub.;
4. the minimum price of one bun must be no lower than: 7600 rubles. / 1000 pcs. = 7.60 rub.

It's minimum. If the restaurant director is not ready to pay that amount (for example, a neighboring bakery will offer him more favorable conditions), it is better to refuse cooperation and continue to produce the products that you are already producing at the moment. After all, if you agree to a lower price, it turns out that in the end the bakery will receive less profit than it received before.

Plus, other factors must be taken into account. For example, weigh whether it makes sense to spoil or break off relations with your current clients, because reducing the production of baguettes by 400 pcs. means that someone to whom the bakery sold them before will no longer receive these baguettes! Therefore, setting the price for buns at exactly 7.60 rubles, in fact, does not make sense - this price only makes up for the same profit that you are already making with the current production program, but for this you should not sacrifice already established relationships with customers.

Sunk costs

Next important view costs that must be taken into account by managers and accountants preparing information for making management decisions are sunk costs. From their name it is clear that this refers to expenses that have already been incurred in the past (as a result of the execution of one or more earlier management decisions) and which now cannot be returned or compensated. You can only come to terms with them.

It is extremely important to learn how to identify such sunk costs and mercilessly “cut off” information about them when making decisions. This approach can also simplify the procedure for analyzing alternatives and make calculations more concise and elegant.

Relevant and irrelevant costs

The concepts of alternative (opportunity) and sunk costs, as well as the behavior of various types of costs, lead us to the need to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant costs and introduce the concept of the relevance of information used to justify decisions.

Relevant information is information that distinguishes one alternative from another and, therefore, is subject to analysis and consideration when making decisions. Accordingly, relevant costs are those costs whose value will change depending on which of the alternatives is chosen as a result of the decision.

In other words, if any income, expenses or other indicators remain unchanged in any of the possible decisions, they are irrelevant and should not be taken into account when considering such a decision.

Of course, a significant part of irrelevant expenses consists of the sunk costs we have already discussed, that is, expenses that were made in the past and which no decision can change (such as, for example, the cost of geological exploration in the event that minerals are never found). have been discovered or the development of the deposit is unpromising).

Fixed costs are also often irrelevant - but here, of course, everything depends on the nature of the problem and the decision being made. For example, if the question is about what is more profitable to sew for the winter season - leather jackets or leather coats - information on the amount of depreciation of equipment, rent for production premises or the cost of electricity consumed to illuminate the workshop and ensure work sewing machines, does not matter, because these amounts will be the same regardless of what you ultimately decide to sew. But if a more global question is being resolved about whether it is worth stopping tailoring and switching to trading fabrics, threads and accessories, information about fixed costs may become relevant - if, for example, a decision may ultimately be made to terminate the lease agreement for industrial premises and sell sewing machines.

The concept of relevance is perhaps the most important, fundamental principle of preparing information for analysis and management decisions.

Controllable and uncontrollable expenses

Well, in conclusion, there is one more important classification related to the implementation of such a management function as control.

In order to effectively control the activities of all departments and managers at all levels, as well as to ensure a properly functioning motivation system for management personnel, recently the principle of management by responsibility centers has been increasingly used, that is, by correlating costs and income with the actions of the persons responsible for them implementation.

Agree, it is stupid to deprive all employees of a bonus because the organization’s profit turned out to be lower than planned. After all, there can be many reasons, and it may even turn out that most of the employees worked hard, and the cause of the problem is a wrong decision made by only one manager. In addition, virtually no employee of an organization, as a rule, can control absolutely all the processes occurring in it. Therefore, it is simply stupid, for example, to punish the head of the sales department with a ruble for not fulfilling the sales plan, if the reason for the situation lies in the fact that the head of the production department committed technology violations and, as a result, low-quality products were produced, but the quality control department did not do this noticed, and customers were unhappy and decided to stop buying your products, made complaints, demanded a replacement product, etc. On the other hand, it is unlikely that the head of a production department will be motivated to work effectively if he is punished for poor product quality, if the main reason for the situation was the poor quality of raw materials and materials purchased externally, the quality of which should have been controlled by the company's supply department.

We will also talk in more detail about the concept of management by responsibility centers and the features of organizing planning, internal reporting and control taking into account this system in future publications. For now, we note that from a control standpoint, costs can be divided into two types:

1. regulated (controlled) expenses are expenses that are subject to the influence of the manager of the responsibility center (division), that is, within his competence and authority (for example, overconsumption of materials due to violation of labor discipline or production technology is a regulated expense for the workshop manager);
2. unregulated (uncontrollable) expenses are expenses that the manager of the responsibility center (division) cannot influence (for example, overconsumption of materials due to their low quality is regulated not for the workshop manager, but for the head of the supply department).

The practical application of this classification of costs makes it possible to increase the motivation of management personnel, since rewards and punishments with this method directly depend on the actual results of their activities.

Bibliography:

1. Bezrukikh P.S. Accounting and calculation of product costs. - M.: Finance, 1974
2. Baryshev S.B. Diagnostics of management accounting methods. // Accounting. - 2007, No. 14
3. Belyaeva N.A. Methods for generating production costs // “Accounting in Questions and Answers”, 2006, No. 1
4. Vakhrushina M.A. Management accounting: a textbook for universities. 2nd ed., add. and lane - M.: Omega-L, 2003
5. Gorelik O.M., Paramonova L.A., Nizamova E.Sh. Management accounting and analysis: tutorial. M.: KNORUS, 2007
6. Gorelova M.Yu. Management Accounting. Costing methods. - M.: Publishing and consulting company “Status Quo 97”, 2006
7. Drury K. Introduction to management and production accounting / Transl. from English M.: Audit, UNITY, 2008
8. Kerimov V.E. Accounting: Textbook. - M,-M.: Eksmo, 2006
9. Platonova N. Costs and their classification // “Financial newspaper”, 2005, No. 35

a) the cost of raw materials and materials for the production of a unit of product;

b) the sum of costs for the entire volume of production of each type of product;

c) the total amount of direct material costs for the enterprise.

These include acquisition costs:

• raw materials
• components,
• semi-finished products,
• tools and devices,
• inventory,
• devices,
• laboratory equipment,
• workwear,
• packaging,
• fuel,
• water,
• energies of all kinds,
• acquisition of production works and services performed by third parties.

Direct costs for raw materials and materials depend on the following factors:

• output volume,
• release structures,
• average price for the material resources used,
• consumption standards per unit of production and excess waste of raw materials and materials.

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Production in the required assortment, quantity and proper quality largely depends on the uniform, rhythmic output of finished products, its quality and the efficiency of the enterprise team. Therefore, the main task of enterprises in organizing and managing material and technical supplies is the timely, uninterrupted and complete supply of production with all the necessary material resources to carry out the production process in strict accordance with the approved plans. At the same time, the supply process itself must be carried out with minimal transport and storage costs and the best use of material resources in production. The latter is of particular importance for the material-intensive chemical industry, in which the costs of raw materials and materials account for an average of 56-70% of the cost of production.  

Depending on changes in production volume, costs are divided into semi-variable and semi-fixed. Conditionally variable costs include costs, the total absolute size of which for the entire output changes in direct proportion to the change in production volume, but remains unchanged in relation to a unit of production or changes slightly with a change in production volume, but not in direct proportion, i.e. the growth of these costs lag behind or exceed production growth. These are the costs of raw materials, materials, fuel, energy for technological purposes, wages of the main production workers - piece workers.  

The main costs are those directly related to the implementation of the technological process. These are the costs of raw materials, reagents, catalysts, initiators, process fuel, energy of all types, wages of production personnel, maintenance of technological installations, including depreciation charges.  

Direct costs are those that are directly related to production. certain type products and can be directly charged to the cost price. These are the costs of raw materials, materials, wages of key production personnel, etc.  

Elemental costs consist of one cost element - raw materials, wages of key production personnel, etc. Grouping by economic elements allows you to determine the enterprise's total need for material resources in value terms, the total amount of depreciation, labor costs and other cash expenses .  

Conditionally variable costs are those that change in proportion to the growth of production volume. These are the costs of raw materials, basic and auxiliary materials, semi-finished products, fuel, and energy.  

For example, the enterprise produced products worth 320 million rubles, costs for raw materials amounted to 250 million rubles, energy of all types - 10 million rubles, depreciation charges - 24 million rubles, auxiliary materials - 1 million rubles. Hence the cost of net production is equal to 320-250-10-24- - 1 =35 million rubles.  

When preparing oil in electric desalting plants, the cost of raw materials is more than 98.5%. In the processes of primary oil refining, these costs in the cost of production of target products are somewhat lower, but still occupy a fairly high share - 83.3%. In secondary processes, which ensure an increase in the yield of the target product and an increase in its quality, the proportion of raw materials compared to other processes is noticeably reduced. At the same time, the proportion of reagents, catalysts, and energy costs increases significantly.  

Operating costs include the costs of raw materials, energy, reagents, wages, etc. This also includes the costs of reconfiguring equipment and remodeling workshops, if they are not included in the capital investment estimate.  

When preparing oil in electric desalting plants, the cost of raw materials is 98.5%. In the process of primary oil refining, the cost of raw materials in the cost of production of the target product is somewhat lower, but still their share is quite high (94.2%), in secondary processes the share of the cost of raw materials decreases. At the same time, the share of the cost of reagents, catalysts and energy costs increases significantly.  

From the data presented it is clear that for most costing items costs have decreased. The most significant reductions occurred in the costs of raw materials (including catalysts and reagents), purchased products and semi-finished products, fuel and energy for technological needs, and depreciation.  

The cost of processing includes all costs, except for the costs of raw materials, basic and auxiliary materials. In this way, the contribution of a given enterprise to production is determined. By comparing actual processing costs with planned ones, one can assess the degree of efficiency of a given enterprise, and by comparing with the cost of processing at related enterprises, one can identify what works better.  

Conditionally variable in most cases include the costs of raw materials, basic materials, costs of transporting raw materials and transporting finished products from workshops, wages of piece workers, etc. Conditionally fixed costs include depreciation, equipment maintenance, lighting, administrative wages - management personnel (no bonuses), heating, security, etc.  

There are semi-variable and semi-fixed costs. Conditionally variable (proportional) costs include costs, the absolute value of which varies depending on the volume of production. This includes the costs of raw materials and materials, purchased products and semi-finished products, the basic wages of production workers, etc. At the same time, their value per unit of production does not change unless the norms of material consumption and labor standards change.  

Use of raw materials. In improving the technical and economic indicators of production, reducing the cost of raw materials is very important.  

Proportional costs include those that change in proportion to the volume of production, i.e., those that remain unchanged per unit of production, for example, the costs of raw materials and reagents.  

Zs - costs of raw materials minus losses and waste  

Coefficients for unknowns with a plus sign mean wholesale prices of the enterprise, with a minus sign - variable costs for the production of a unit of target products at each installation. Maximum profit plus fixed costs is used as an optimality criterion. To avoid repeated calculations, raw material costs are taken into account only at the input of the model, i.e. at primary processing plants. If some kind of additive is introduced into the finished product (ethyl liquid, additive, etc.), then its cost is excluded from the price.  

Direct costs are those that are directly related to the production of a certain type of product and can be directly attributed to its cost. In oil production using the deep-well pumping method, such costs include the cost of electricity and other types of energy consumed by the drive motors of pumping units or well pumps. Direct are for the collection and transportation of gas and for the pumping and storage of oil (the former are directly related to the cost of oil gas, the latter - to the cost of oil). Direct costs in drilling are the standardized costs of materials and spare parts consumed when drilling wells (turbo drill rental, cement consumption, pipes, etc.). In oil refining, these are the costs of raw materials, materials, wages  

On some technological installations two or more types of products are produced, but each of them uses its own raw materials. Thus, a selective purification installation can be used for processing distillate. then residual raw materials. In this case, costs (except for raw materials and reagents) are distributed between products in proportion to the operating time of the installation (in hours) on one or another type of raw material. The costs of raw materials and reagents are attributed directly to the product for which they are intended. At a bitumen plant, where different grades of bitumen are produced from the same raw material, the costs of raw materials are distributed among these bitumens in proportion to their mass, other costs are proportional to the operating time of the plant (in hours) for the production of each type of bitumen.  

If an enterprise produces several types of products or performs several types of work, then not all costs are equally attributed to the product. Part of the costs, such as the cost of raw materials, supplies,  

Variable (proportional) costs are those that are in direct (proportional) dependence on the volume of products produced. Fixed costs are those that are independent of changes in production volume. However, the division of costs into variable and constant should not be understood in the literal sense of the word. All or almost all expenses depend on the volume of production, but the degree of this dependence varies. Therefore, it would be more correct to call them conditionally variable and conditionally constant. Conditionally variable costs include the costs of raw materials, materials, wages of production workers (fuel, electricity, steam, water for energy and technological purposes, etc. Conditionally fixed costs include the cost of depreciation of fixed production assets, energy for heating and lighting , administrative and management expenses, etc.  

The fifth group includes industries with mixed production. In the cost structure of these industries, a significant share falls on raw materials, materials and wages. These include mechanical engineering, ferrous metallurgy, etc. Thus, the share of costs for raw materials and supplies of such industries is over 65%, and wages with deductions are over 15%.  

The initial data for drawing up cost estimates are, firstly, the calculation of the costs of raw materials, materials, fuel and energy for the entire main production (in the main workshops); secondly, the calculation of the fund of basic and additional wages of production workers and deductions for