4 Activity-Based Costing
Learning Objectives
Discuss the difference between traditional costing and
1
activity-based costing.
2 Apply activity-based costing to a manufacturer.
Explain the benefits and limitations of activity-based
3
costing.
4 Apply activity-based costing to service industries.
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LEARNING Discuss the difference between traditional
1
OBJECTIVE costing and activity-based costing.
Traditional Costing Systems
Allocates overhead using a
predetermined rate.
► Job order costing: direct labor
cost may be the relevant activity
base.
► Process costing: machine hours
may be the relevant activity base.
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Illustration of a Traditional Costing System
Atlas Company produces two abdominal fitness products—the Ab
Bench and the Ab Coaster. The direct materials cost per unit is $40 for
the Ab Bench and $30 for the Ab Coaster. The direct labor cost is $12
per unit for each product. Both products require one direct labor hour
per unit, both products are allocated overhead cost of $30 per unit.
Illustration 4-3
Total unit costs—
traditional costing
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The Need for a New Approach
Tremendous change in manufacturing and service
industries.
Decrease in amount of direct labor usage.
Significant increase in total overhead costs.
Inappropriate to use plantwide predetermined overhead
rates when a lack of correlation exists.
Complex manufacturing processes may require
multiple allocation bases; this approach is called
activity-based costing (ABC).
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Activity-Based Costing
An approach for allocating overhead costs.
Allocates overhead to multiple activity cost pools.
Assigns the activity cost pools to products or services by
means of cost drivers.
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Activity-Based Costing (Four Steps)
1. Identify and classify the activities involved in the
manufacture of specific products and assign overhead to
cost pools.
2. Identify the cost driver that has a strong correlation to the
costs accumulated in each cost pool.
3. Compute the activity-based overhead rate for each cost
pool.
4. Allocate overhead costs to products using the overhead
rates determined for each cost pool.
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Activity-Based Costing
ABC allocates overhead in a two-stage process:
Stage 1: Overhead costs are assigned to activity cost
pools (Step 1).
Stage 2: Allocates overhead assigned to the activity cost
pools to products, using cost drivers (Steps 2-4).
The more complex a product’s manufacturing operation, the
more activities and cost drivers are likely to be present.
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Illustration 17-2
Activities and related cost drivers
Illustration 4-5
4-8 Activities and related cost drivers LO 1
1 Costing Systems
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false.
1. A traditional costing system allocates overhead by means of multiple
overhead rates.
2. Activity-based costing allocates overhead costs in a two-stage process.
3. Direct material and direct labor costs are easier to trace to products
than overhead.
4. As manufacturing processes have become more automated, more
companies have chosen to allocate overhead on the basis of direct
labor costs.
5. In activity-based costing, an activity is any event, action, transaction, or
work sequence that incurs cost when producing a product.
Solution: 1. False. 2. True. 3. True. 4. False. 5. True.
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LEARNING Apply activity-based costing to a
2
OBJECTIVE manufacturer.
Activity-Based Costing
Involves the following four steps.
1. Identify and classify the activities involved in the manufacture
of specific products and assign overhead to cost pools.
2. Identify the cost driver that has a strong correlation to the
costs accumulated in each cost pool.
3. Compute the activity-based overhead rate for each cost pool.
4. Allocate overhead costs to products, using the overhead
rates determined for each cost pool.
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Identify and Classify Activities and Allocate
Overhead to Cost Pools (Step 1)
Overhead costs are assigned directly to the appropriate activity
cost pool.
Illustration 4-6
Activity cost pools and
estimated overhead
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Identify Cost Drivers (Step 2)
Cost driver must accurately measure the actual consumption
of the activity by the various products.
Illustration 4-6: Cost drivers that Atlas Company identifies and
their total expected use per activity cost pool.
Illustration 4-7
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Compute Activity-Based Overhead Rates
(Step 3)
Next, the company computes an activity-based overhead rate
per cost driver. Illustration 4-8
Illustration 4-9
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Allocate Overhead Costs to Products (Step 4)
In allocating overhead costs, it is necessary to know the
expected use of cost drivers for each product. Because of its
low volume and higher number of components, the Ab Coaster
requires more setups and purchase orders than the Ab Bench.
Illustration 17-8
Illustration 4-10
Expected use of cost
drivers per product
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Allocate Overhead Costs to Products (Step 4)
To allocate overhead costs, Atlas multiplies the activity-based
overhead rates per cost driver (Ill. 4-9) by the number of cost
drivers expected to be used per product (Ill. 4-10).
Illustration 4-11
Allocation of
activity cost
pools
to products
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Allocate Overhead Costs to Products (Step 4)
To allocate overhead costs, Atlas multiplies the activity-based
overhead rates per cost driver (Ill. 4-9) by the number of cost
drivers expected to be used per product (Ill. 4-10).
Illustration 4-11
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Comparing Unit Costs
Illustration 17-10
Illustration 4-12
Likely consequence of differences in assigning overhead. Comparison of unit
product costs
Overpricing the Ab Bench and possibly losing market
share to competitors.
Sacrificing profitability by underpricing the Ab Coaster.
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2 Apply ABC to Manufacturer
Casey Company has five activity cost pools and two products. It expects to
produce 200,000 units of its automobile scissors jack and 80,000 units of
its truck hydraulic jack. Having identified its activity cost pools and the cost
drivers for each cost pool, Casey Company accumulated the following data
relative to those activity cost pools and cost drivers.
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2 Apply ABC to Manufacturer
Casey Company has five activity cost pools and two products. It expects to
produce 200,000 units of its automobile scissors jack and 80,000 units of
its truck hydraulic jack. Having identified its activity cost pools and the cost
drivers for each cost pool, Casey Company accumulated the following data
relative to those activity cost pools and cost drivers.
Using the data provided,
a. Prepare a schedule showing the computations of the activity-based
overhead rates per cost driver.
b. Prepare a schedule assigning each activity’s overhead cost to the
two products.
c. Compute the overhead cost per unit for each product.
d. Comment on the comparative overhead cost per unit.
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2 Apply ABC to Manufacturer
a. Prepare a schedule showing the computations of the activity-based overhead rates per cost driver.
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2 b. Prepare a schedule assigning each activity’s
overhead cost to the two products.
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2 Apply ABC to Manufacturer
c. Compute the overhead cost per unit for each product.
d. Comment on the comparative overhead cost per unit.
These data show that the total overhead assigned to 80,000 hydraulic
jacks exceeds the overhead assigned to 200,000 scissors jacks. The
overhead cost per hydraulic jack is $34.25. It is only $12.80 per
scissors jack.
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LEARNING Explain the benefits and limitations of
3
OBJECTIVE activity-based costing.
ABC has three primary benefits:
1. More cost pools, therefore more accurate product costing.
2. Enhanced control over overhead costs.
3. Better management decisions.
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The Advantage of Multiple Cost Pools
Multiple cost pools
Used instead of one plantwide pool and a single cost driver.
Numerous activity cost pools with more relevant cost drivers.
► Costs allocated on basis of cost drivers used to produce
each product.
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The Advantage of Multiple Cost Pools
Illustration 4-13
A more detailed view of Atlas’s machining activities
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The Advantage of Multiple Cost Pools
CLASSIFICATION OF ACTIVITY LEVELS
Unit- Batch- Product- Facility-
level level level level
Performed for each unit of production.
► Example: Assembly of cell phones
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The Advantage of Multiple Cost Pools
CLASSIFICATION OF ACTIVITY LEVELS
Unit- Batch- Product- Facility-
level level level level
Performed every time a company produces another
batch of a product.
► Example: Batch of ice cream
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The Advantage of Multiple Cost Pools
CLASSIFICATION OF ACTIVITY LEVELS
Unit- Batch- Product- Facility-
level level level level
Performed every time a company produces a new type
of product.
► Example: Time spent testing a new drug by a
pharmaceutical company
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The Advantage of Multiple Cost Pools
CLASSIFICATION OF ACTIVITY LEVELS
Unit- Batch- Product- Facility-
level level level level
Required to support or sustain an entire production
process.
► Example: A hospital
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Illustration 4-14
Hierarchy of
activity levels
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Advantage of Better Management Decisions
Activity-based management (ABM), a management tool that
focuses on reducing costs and improving processes and
decision-making.
Managers use ABC via ABM
for both strategic and operational decisions or perspectives.
to help managers evaluate employees, departments, and
business units.
to establish performance standards, as well as benchmark
against other companies.
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Limitations and Knowing When to use ABC
Limitations
Expensive to use.
Arbitrary allocations remain.
When to Use
1. Product lines differ in volume and manufacturing complexity.
2. Product lines are numerous and diverse.
3. Overhead costs constitute a significant portion of total costs.
4. Manufacturing process or the number of products has
changed significantly.
5. Production or marketing managers are ignoring data.
4-32 LO 3
3 Classify Activity Levels
Morgan Toy Company manufactures six primary product lines in its
Morganville plant. As a result of an activity analysis, the accounting
department has identified eight activity cost pools. Each of the toy
products is produced in large batches, with the whole plant devoted to one
product at a time. Classify each of the following activities as either unit-
level, batch-level, product-level, or facility-level:
a. Engineering design a. Product-level
b. Machine setup b. Batch-level
c. Toy design c. Product-level
d. Interviews of prospective employees d. Facility-level
e. Inspections after each setup e. Batch-level
f. Polishing parts f. Unit-level
g. Assembling parts g. Unit-level
h. Health and safety h. Facility-level
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4 Apply ABC to Service Company
(a) Compute the activity-based overhead rates for each pool.
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4 Apply ABC to Service Company
(b) Determine the overhead allocated to Job A1027 which has 150 pieces, requires
200 miles of driving, and 0.75 hours of logistics.
(150 x $0.70) + (200 x $0.50) + (0.75 x $30) = $227.50
4-35 LO 4
LEARNING APPENDIX 4A: Explain just-in-time (JIT)
5
OBJECTIVE processing.
. JIT manufacturing is dedicated to having the right amount of materials,
parts, or products just as they are needed. Illustration 4A-1
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LEARNING APPENDIX 4A: Explain just-in-time (JIT)
5
OBJECTIVE processing.
Objective of JIT Processing
To eliminate all manufacturing inventories.
Elements of JIT Processing
Dependable suppliers.
Multiskilled work force.
Total quality control system.
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LEARNING APPENDIX 4A: Explain just-in-time (JIT)
5
OBJECTIVE processing.
Benefits of JIT Processing
Significant reduction or elimination of manufacturing
inventories.
Enhanced product quality.
Reduction or elimination of rework costs and inventory
storage costs.
Production cost savings from the improved flow of goods
through the processes.
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