Post on 18-Dec-2015
Chapter 15
Financial Management
Cost AccountingTraditions and Innovations
Barfield, Raiborn, Kinney
Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
• Explain why cost consciousness is important to all members of the organization
• Define committed costs and discretionary costs
• Describe how the benefits of discretionary cost expenditures are measured
• Identify when standards are applicable to discretionary costs
• Explain how a budget helps control discretionary costs
Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
• Describe how an activity-based budget differs from traditional budgets
• List the objectives of cash management
• (Appendix) Explain how program budgeting is used in not-for-profit entities
• (Appendix) Describe how zero-base budgeting is useful in cost control
Cost Control Systems
Provide information for planning and for determining the efficiency of activities
while they are being planned and after they are performed
Planning and Control ModelPLAN
EXECUTE
EVALUATE
RESPOND
PLANNING
CONTROL
Budgeting,Standard setting
Monitoring,Correcting
Providingfeedback
Costunderstanding
Cost containment,Cost avoidance
Costreduction
Before During After
ACTIVITY
COST CONSCIOUSNESS ATTITUDE
Why Costs Change• Cost Behavior
– Reaction of variable and mixed costs to changes in activity level
• Inflation/Deflation• Supply/Supplier Cost Adjustments
– Supply/demand adjustments
• Taxes• Regulatory Requirements• Quantity Purchased
Cost ContainmentCannot contain• inflation• tax• regulatory changes• supply and demand
adjustments
Use cost containment for • reduced competition• seasonality• quantities purchased
Interorganizational arrangements
Long-term or single-source contracts
Cost Avoidance and Reduction
• Avoidance - finding acceptable alternatives
• Reduction - lowering current costs– Benchmarks – Outsourcing– Consultants– Redesign operations
Implement Cost Control System
Investigate/understand types of costs
Communicate need for cost containment
Motivate employees (education/incentives)
Review results and consider improvements
View as long-run process
Fixed Costs
• Committed Costs plant assets and personnel structure– depreciation
– lease rentals
– property taxes
Cannot be reduced easily
• Discretionary Costs important but optional activities– employee travel– repairs and maintenance– advertising– research and development– employee training and
development
Controlling Committed Costs
• Compare expected benefits to expected costs
• Analyze operating leverage
• Perform postinvestment audit; compare actual to expected results
Discretionary Costs
• Vary in type and magnitude
• Vary in quality of performance
• Not easy to measure benefits in terms of money
Budgeting Discretionary Costs
• Perceived significance to the achievement of objectives and goals
• Expected level of operations
• Managerial negotiations
• Spend all of the appropriation, or
• Spend less than the appropriation
Measuring Benefits from Discretionary Costs
• Use surrogate measures– Reduction in unplanned downtime– Number of coupons clipped from ads– Reduction in number of customer complaints
• Compare discretionary costs to benefits to measure efficiency and effectiveness
Actual Result
Compared to
DesiredResult
Efficiency =Actual Output
Actual InputPlanned Output
Planned Input
Efficiency =Actual Input
Actual OutputPlanned Input
Planned Output
Effectiveness = Actual OutputPlanned Output
PreestablishedStandard
Discretionary Cost Measures
OR
Controlling Discretionary Costs
• To determine variances, compare actual to standards or budgeted amounts
• Use engineered costs – Costs that bear observable and known
relationship to a quantifiable activity base– Compute fixed or variable variances
Activity-Based Budgeting
Apply activity drivers to estimate the levels and costs of activities necessary to provide
the budgeted quantity and quality of production
Activity-Based Budgeting Steps
SelectFunction
IdentifyActivities
IdentifyActivityDrivers
EstimateDriver
Volume
IdentifyResources
EstimateCosts
Cash Management Issues
• Cash level– sufficient to cover all needs– low enough to allow for alternative uses of cash
• What variables influence the optimal level of cash?
• What are the sources of cash?
• What variables influence the cost of carrying cash?
Cash Management Issues
What variables influence the optimal level of cash?
• Uncertainty of timing of cash inflows and outflows
• Variability in cash requirements throughout the year
• Ability to arrange short-term financing
• Bond and loan covenants
Cash Management Issues
What are the sources of cash?
• Sale of equity or debt instruments
• Sale of unneeded or unproductive assets
• Normal operations– Reduce inventory – Increase A/R turnover– Decelerate payments
Cash Collection Cycle
Cash
Materials Inventory
Work in Process Inventory
Finished Goods Inventory
Accounts Receivable
Balance SheetCurrent Assets
Outflow
Inflow
Cash Management Issues
What variables influence the cost of carrying cash?
• Cost of borrowing and cost of issuing equity capital
• Opportunity costs of holding cash
Program Budgeting
• Use in government, not-for-profits, and service activities in for-profits
• Relates resource inputs to service outputs
• Define objectives in terms of output results, not quantity of input activities
• Analyze alternative activities that may achieve the objectives
• Use surrogate measures of output
?• When should results be measured?
• What results should be used as output measures? – Are all results equally important?
• What program actually caused the result?
• Did the program actually affect the target population?
Program Budgeting Questions
Zero-Base Budgeting
• Considers the priorities and alternatives for current and proposed activities in relation to organizational objectives
• Reevaluates activities– continue– eliminate– adjust funding
Questions
• What are committed costs and discretionary costs?
• How does a budget help to control discretionary costs?
• How does an activity-based budget differ from traditional budgets?