Basic Cost Management Concepts

CHAPTER 2

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1.   Describe a cost management information system, its objectives and major subsystems, and indicate how it relates to other operating and information systems.

2.   Explain the cost assignment process.

3.   Define tangible and intangible products, and explain why there are different product cost definitions.

4.   Prepare income statements for manufacturing and service organizations.

5.   Explain the differences between traditional and contemporary cost management systems.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

This chapter introduces a systems framework as a logical basis for the study of cost management. The major objective of the cost accounting system is to assign costs to cost objects through direct tracing, driver tracing, and allocation. Allocation is the least accurate and least desirable approach, and thus, a cost accounting system should be designed to minimize allocations. Product and service costs are introduced because they are important for external financial reporting. Given the increasing magnitude of the service sector, you should pay attention to the types of services, how they differ from tangible products, and the format for external income statements for service firms. The chapter explains the differences between functional-based and activity-based cost management systems.

CHAPTER REVIEW

This chapter introduces the fundamental cost concepts and the associated information systems that produce the cost information.

 

I.        A Systems Framework

A system is a set of interrelated parts that performs one or more processes to accomplish specific objectives.

A.     Accounting Information Systems

An accounting information system is a system consisting of interrelated manual and computer parts, using processes such as collecting, recording, summarizing, analyzing, and managing data to provide output information to users.

1.   An accounting information system (AIS) consists of the following:

a.   Objectives, which provide information to users.

b.   Interrelated parts, which include subsystems such as order entry and sales, billing accounts receivable and cash receipts, inventory, general ledger, and cost accounting.

c.   Processes, which include activities of collecting, recording, summarizing, ana­lyzing, and managing data.

d.   Outputs, which include data and reports that provide needed information for users.

2.   An accounting information system has two distinguishing characteristics:

a.   Inputs are usually economic events.

b.   Accounting information system output is critically involved with the users of infor­mation, since the output produces user actions:

n  Serving as the basis for tactical and strategic decisions.

n  Confirming that the actions taken had the intended effects.

n  Providing feedback.

3.   The accounting information system can be divided into two major subsystems: (a) the financial accounting information system and (b) the cost management information system.

a.   Financial Accounting Information System

n  The financial accounting information system is primarily concerned with producing outputs for external users (investors, creditors, government agencies, and other outside users).

n  The financial accounting information system uses well-specified economic events as inputs.

n  The nature of the inputs and the rules and conventions governing processes are defined by the SEC and the FASB.

n  The overall objective is to prepare financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows for external users. These are used for investment decisions, stewardship evaluation, monitoring activity, and regulatory measures.

b.   Cost Management Information System

n  The cost management information system is primarily concerned with pro­ducing outputs for internal users.

n  The cost management information system uses inputs and processes to satisfy management objectives. A cost management information system is not bound by any formal criterion that defines inputs or processes.

n  A cost management information system has three broad objectives:

(1)   To provide information for costing out services, products, and other objects of interest to management.

(2)   To provide information for planning and control.

(3)   To provide information for decision making.

B.     Relationship to Other Operational Systems and Functions

A cost management information system should be integrated with the organization’s operational systems because of the current competitive environment.

Review textbook Exhibit 2-3, which illustrates
an integrated cost management system.

C.      Integrated Information Systems

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are computerized information systems that keep track of data across the company. A well-designed ERP system will:

        1.   Strive to input data once and reduce data errors.

2.    Store the data in a single integrated database and make it available instantaneously to people across the company for whatever purposes it may serve.

3.    Include both financial and nonfinancial data, allowing greater control through the generation of operational measures of achievement.

4.    Generate different reports for different purposes (e.g., financial statements, management reports, and sales forecasts).

D.    Different Systems for Different Purposes

Different systems satisfy different purposes. The cost management information system has two subsystems: the cost accounting information system and the operational control information system.

1.   Cost Accounting Information System

The cost accounting information system is a cost management subsystem designed to assign costs to individual products and services and other objects as specified by management.

a.   For external financial reporting, the cost accounting system must:

n  Assign costs to products in order to value inventories and determine cost of sales.

n  Conform to SEC and FASB rules and conventions.

The rules require that inventory values and cost of sales reported in the aggregate on the financial statements be reasonably accurate. At the individual product level, however, product costs may be distorted because costs assigned to individual products are not causally related to the demands of the product.

b.   For internal decision making, accurate product costs are needed. The cost accounting information system may need to produce two sets of product costs:

n  One that satisfies financial reporting criteria.

n  Another that satisfies management decision-making needs.

2.   Operational Control Information System