Process Costing Module
Process Costing Module
INTRODUCTION
This module was written as a supplement to Chapter 17 in the textbook, this Beginning inventory. Inventory
module has everything you will need to know for the examination. As is on the factory floor the first day
usually the case that students must read a chapter, listen to a lecture, and of the month.
then read a chapter or module again to fully understand the material. Don‘t Conversion costs: The sum of
be discouraged if you don’t get it all the first time. Cost accounting is a direct labor and overhead costs.
difficult course, and this is probably the most difficult module. Ending inventory. Inventory on
the factory floor the last day of
Before we begin discussing process costing, however, I think it’s a good the month.
idea to review the flow of cost through a factory. This material was learned
Finished goods. Goods that are
in Accounting 2020 but I know that a number of you took that course more completed.
than a year ago.
Percent completion. In process
How Costs Flow through Factories costing this refers to the percent
of direct labor or direct materials
Costs enter a production facility through the Raw Material Storeroom. Raw that have been added to work-in-
process.
materials leave the Raw Materials Storeroom and enter the Factory where
they become direct materials. In the storeroom, employees add conversion Transferred in costs. Costs
costs (direct material + overhead). When the product is finished, it is transferred in from a previous
department. These could have
transferred to the Finished Goods Storeroom and then exits the facility as been transferred in the previous
cost of goods sold. In Accounting 2020, I use a diagram entitled month or during the current
McDermott Manufacturing to illustrate this costs flow. I will provide you month.
with this diagram. Work-in-process: product that is
Goods within the Factory are known as work-in-process. Work-in-process represents product that is not
yet been completed. As soon as it is completed, it moves from the factory into the Finish Good Storeroom
where it becomes finished goods. There are no finished goods within the factory.
Within the factory, there is usually a beginning inventory. This is the amount of inventory sitting on the
factory floor at the beginning of the month.
There is a formula we learn in Accounting 2020 to calculate the amount of work-in-process that was
completed and transferred to the Finished Goods Storeroom. The formula was:
BI + TI – EI = TO
Where
BI = beginning inventory work-in-process:
TI = cost transferred in (raw materials and conversion costs)
EI = ending inventory work-in-process
TO = cost transferred out of the factory into the finish good storeroom (finished goods).
Memorize this formula as we will be using it throughout the semester, beginning in this module.
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CLASSIFICATION OF COSTING SYSTEMS – JOB COSTING AND PROCESS COSTING
In Accounting 2020, we were told that there are two types of cost
Cost objective. Anyplace costs are
accounting systems. The first is job costing. assigned for a specific purpose.
Job costing is used for products that are unique one from another. FIFO costing. A cost accounting
Products that might be manufactured under a job costing system would system that separates the equivalent
units and cost of the previous month
include custom homes and battleships. from those of the current month.
You were also told that the cost objective for job costing was the job cost Job costing. A cost accounting
sheet. A cost objective is anyplace that we accumulate costs. system used for products that are
different one from another.
You were not taught much about process accounting in Accounting
2020, but you were told that process costing is used for products that are Process costing. A cost accounting
system used for products that are
homogeneous. Examples of products that would be costed using a homogeneous.
process costing system include gallons of paint, batches of ball bearings,
and so on. Standard costing. A process or job
costing system that uses standard
We should mention here that the cost objective in process costing is the cost instead of actual costs. We will
factory department. Some factories have only one department; some have not study standard costing process
costing systems in this module.
many. For example, in a manufacturing plant for furniture we might have
three departments: cutting, assembly, and painting. Weighted average costing. A process
costing system that combines the
And process costing costs are charged to specific production equivalent units and costs of the
departments. At the end of the month, these costs are divided by the previous month with those of the
number of homogeneous units manufactured during the month in that
department to come up with a cost per unit. For example, if we manufactured 100,000 gallons of paint,
and had $1,000,000 of direct materials and conversion costs that had been charged to the production
department during the month, we would divide the $1,000,000 by 100,000 gallons to get a per unit cost of
$10 per gallon.
Now it would seem that process costing will be a fairly simple process. This would be the case if there
were no beginning or ending inventories. However, this is usually not the case.
Reasons that process costing is more difficult job costing include:
1. There are inventories on the floor at the beginning of the month (known of course as the
beginning inventory). All inventories in the factory are incomplete. In addition the cost elements
(direct materials and conversion cost) for the inventories may be at different stages of completion.
For example, some of the beginning inventory might be 50% complete for direct materials but
only 20% complete for conversion costs.
This makes it impossible to divide the cost for the month by physical units in the factory, since
some of the units are only partially completed.
2. The cost of direct materials and conversion costs may have been different last month and they are
this month.
3. Materials may enter the production line at different times in the production process. This would
especially be true for a pharmaceutical company where different chemicals are added at different
points in the production process.
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4. By name, there may be more than one production department.
Within process costing, there are three subgroups.
1. Weighted average process costing
2. First-in-first-out costing (FIFO) and
3. Standard cost process costing
In this module we will only study the first two.
The primary teaching objectives in this model is the completion of a Cost of Production Report. This
report has one objective and that is to provide an accurate cost of goods transferred out and ending
inventory.
Preparing the cost of production report involves five steps:
1. Summarize the flow of physical units
2. Compute output (production) in terms of equivalent units
3. Summarize total cost to account for
4. Compute cost per equivalent unit
5. Assign total cost to units completed and to units and ending work-in-
process Physical unit. A unit of
product that may or may not
You should memorize the steps as we will be using them over and over again be complete.
as we go through the process costing module. I don’t expect you understand
fully what he steps mean at this point, but I will illustrate each step and by Equivalent unit. An
the time we finish the example problem, the steps should be perfectly clear. equivalent a unit of material
is the amount of material it
At this point, it makes sense to define several terms. The first is physical would take into complete
unit. A physical unit is simply a unit of product. It may be finished, or may one product. An equivalent
only be in a partial stage of completion. unit of conversion cost is the
amount of conversion costs
The second term is it would've taken to
equivalent unit. An complete one product.
equivalent unit is
basically a relative value
unit (RVU) similar to what we studied in the service
industry cost accounting module. No one in
manufacturing accounting calls if that, but having
had the benefit of service industry cost accounting
you understand what an RVU is.
One equivalent unit of material is the amount of
material it would have taken to complete one unit of
product during the month. To illustrate: if we have
three automobiles on an assembly line at the end of
the month, and each are 1/3rd complete for direct materials, then we have one equivalent unit of direct
materials but three physical units of raw materials in ending inventory. See the diagram above.
Okay, the best way to illustrate the preparation of a cost of production report is to work one.
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When preparing a cost of production report, you will always be given a table with the following
information. Let’s assume that we are dealing with month of April.
Information Given
A B C D E
Physical units Transferred in Direct Conversion
Costs Materials Costs
1 Beginning work in process 600.00 $21,850 0 $10,000
2 Degree of completion beginning work in process 100% 0% 40%
3 Transferred in during April 1,800.00
4 Completed and transferred out during April 2,000.00
5 Ending work in process 400.00
6 Degree of completion ending work in process 100% 0% 60%
7 Total costs added during April $96,000 $17,800 $46,000
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At the end of the month, the company still had unfinished product sitting on the floor which is known as
ending inventory. The table shows us we had 400 physical units of ending inventory partially complete
for direct materials and conversion costs. Specifically ending inventory was 100% complete for
transferred in costs, 0% complete for direct materials and 60% complete for conversion costs).
Column C
Now let’s look at Column C which gives us information about
Transferred in costs. The cost
transferred in costs. Transferred in costs are those cost that came from a
of a product started in the
previous department. There was $21,850 of transferred in costs in the previous department and
beginning inventory. transferred to a subsequent
department. These costs may
Row 2 tells us that transferred in costs were 100% complete. Transferred
include direct labor and
in costs are always 100% complete. Moving down to cell C6, we see that conversion costs, but upon their
the transferred in costs for ending inventory were also 100% complete. transfer are grouped into a
category known as transferred
I should note that transferred in costs are simply another category of
in costs.
direct material. Let me illustrate this, as some students have trouble with
this concept.
If I were building automobiles and purchased carburetors from an outside manufacturer, these carburetors
would be classified as direct materials. If I manufactured these carburetors in-house, however, (in
Department One), and then transferred them to Department Two, they would be known as transferred in
costs. In either case they are essentially the same thing – only with different names.
Cell C7 tells us during the month of April, $96,000 of costs were transferred from Department One to
Department Two.
Column D
Now let’s move to column D which deals with direct materials. Cell D1 has a balance of $0. This means
that we had yet to any direct materials to beginning inventory from Department Two. Cell D6 addresses
the amount of direct materials Department Two had in ending inventory. Again, there is none.
Cell D7 tells us that $17,800 of direct materials were added during the month of April.
Column E
Let’s move to Column E which gives us information on conversion costs. At the beginning of the month
there was $10,000 of conversion costs from Department two. Exactly 40% of the total conversion costs
that would be added during the month had been added. Conversion costs were, therefore, 40% complete.
Ending inventory conversion costs were 60% complete. During the month we added $46,000 of
conversion costs.
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The Flow of Production section is shown below.
A B C D E
Flow of Production Equivalent Units
Physical Transferred in Direct Conversion
Units Costs Materials Costs
8 Beginning work in process 600.00
9 Transferred in 1,800.00
10 To account for 2,400.00
11 Completed and transferred out 2,000.00 2,000.00 2,000.00 2,000.00
12 Ending work in process 400.00 400.00 - 240.00
13 Accounted for 2,400.00
14 Equivalent units 2,400.00 2,000.00 2,240.00
Column A
Rows 1 through 13 simply duplicate the formula given above. Beginning inventory + transferred in =
transferred out + ending inventory. If the numbers in
sales B10 and B13 do not equal each other, then we have
units that are unaccounted for. A
Beginning work in process
Transferred in during April BI + TI
Column B Completed and transferred out during April
Ending work in process
In Column B we essentially copy the information given Degree of completion ending work in process
Total costs added during April
TO + EI
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units in ending work-in-process is to multiply 100% by the number of physical units which is 400. That
will give us a figure of 400. There are, therefore, 400 equivalent units of transferred in cost in ending
inventory.
If we go back to the data that was given, and look at cell D6, we see that ending work-in-process was 0%
completed for direct materials. Moving down to Cell D12, we calculate the equivalent units of direct
materials in ending work-in-process by multiplying 0% by 400 physical units which gives us zero
equivalent units.
Now let’s do the same thing for conversion costs. Going back to the data given, we can see in cell E6, that
ending work-in-process was 60% completed for conversion costs. How do we calculate, therefore, the
number of equivalent units in ending work-in-process? We multiply 60% by the physical units which are
400 to get 240 equivalent units.
Now let’s go down to Row 14. Here we are going to calculate the total number of equivalent units of
work done last month for each of our three cost categories (transferred in costs, direct materials costs, and
conversion costs). We do that by totaling rows 11 and 12 for each column.
We had 2,400 equivalent units (relative value units or units of work done) for “transferred in costs,” 2,000
equivalent units for direct material costs, and 2,240 equivalent units for conversion costs.
We have now finished the flow of production section of the production cost report.
Where do we get the numbers for Row 15? This data was given to us! Transferred in costs of $21,850
plus direct material costs of $0 plus conversion costs of $10,000 are equal to $31,850.
Where do we get the numbers for Row 16? Again this data was given at the beginning of the problem.
Totaling the columns in rows 15 and 16 gives us the amounts in the columns of Row 17 four columns C,
D, and the. At this point, we do not calculate a total for column B. That will be done further down the cost
report.
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The next thing we are going to do is to divide the total costs for the three categories (transferred in costs
direct material costs and conversion costs) as found in column C, D and E by the equivalent units we
calculated in the flow production section. This will give us a cost per equivalent unit for transferred in
costs, direct materials costs, and conversion costs.
What are we going to do with these three figures? We are going to use them to distribute costs to the
product that was transferred out and the ending inventory. Let’s expand the flow of cost production report
to illustrate this calculation.
A B C D E
Flow of Cost Total
Production Transferred in Direct Conversion
Costs Costs Materials Costs
15 Beginning work in process $ 31,850.00 $ 21,850.00 $ - $ 10,000.00
16 Cost added in current. 159,800.00 96,000.00 17,800.00 46,000.00
17 Costs incurred to date 117,850.00 17,800.00 56,000.00
18 Divide by equivalent units 2,400.00 2,000.00 2,240.00
19 Cost per equivalent unit 49.10 8.90 25.00
20 Total cost to account for 191,650.00
In row 20, we now calculate the total cost to account for. Put another way, this is the cost for BI + TI.
This is the amount that we will allocate to goods that are transferred out plus ending inventory (TO + EI).
Now we continue to the second portion of the flow of cost statement by adding rows 21 through 24. Here
we are going to allocate the $191,650 to goods transferred out and the ending inventory. We’re going to
do this using the equivalent units for each of these categories times the cost per equivalent unit calculated
above.
A B C D E
Flow of Cost Total
Production Transferred in Direct Conversion
Costs Costs Materials Costs
15 Beginning work in process $ 31,850.00 $ 21,850.00 $ - $ 10,000.00
16 Cost added in current. 159,800.00 96,000.00 17,800.00 46,000.00
17 Costs incurred to date 117,850.00 17,800.00 56,000.00
18 Divide by equivalent units 2,400.00 2,000.00 2,240.00
19 Cost per equivalent unit 49.10 8.90 25.00
20 Total cost to account for 191,650.00
21 Assignment of costs:
22 Completed and transferred out 166,008.33 98,208.33 17,800.00 50,000.00
23 Ending working process 25,641.67 19,641.67 - 6,000.00
24 Total costs accounted for 191,650.00
Let’s start with cell C22 which lists the amount of transferred in costs in goods that were completed and
transferred out... How do we calculate this? We multiply the cost per equivalent unit times the number of
equivalent units for costs that were completed and transferred out (cell D1 × D11). Thus, $49.10 times
sign 2,000 equivalent units = 98,208.33. That’s the dollar amount of “transferred in” costs in the product
that was completed and transferred out during the month.
Do the same thing for direct materials and conversion costs. All of those costs are then totaled in cell B22.
Thus, $166,008.33 is the cost of goods that were transferred out during the month.
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Now the live allocated cost to the goods that were transferred out, all that remains is to allocate costs to
ending inventory.
Let’s go to cell C23 and follow the same procedure. The cost per equivalent unit is $49.10 for transferred
in costs. There are 400 equivalent units in ending inventory for transferred in costs (cell C12).
Multiplying these two figures we get it $19,641.67. We follow the same procedure to get the costs in
ending inventory for direct materials and for conversion costs. Totaling these three figures, we have
$25,641.67 in ending inventory.
The amount thus allocated is $166,008.33 + $25,641.67 = $191,650 which is the same amount that we
had to allocate in column B21. We had been successful!
A B C D E
Physical Transferred in Direct Conversion
Units Costs Materials Costs
25 Beginning work in process 600.00 $ 21,850.00 $ - $ 10,000.00
26 Degree of completion beginning work in process 100% 0% 40%
27 Transferred in during April 1,800.00
28 Completed and transferred out during April 2,000.00
29 Ending work in process 400.00
30 Degree of completion ending work in process 100% 0% 60%
31 Total costs added during April $ 96,000.00 $ 17,800.00 $ 46,000.00
In the flow of production report, the first section (rows 25 through 27) is identical to the weighted-
average report.
A B C D E
Physical Transferred in Direct Conversion
Units Costs Materials Costs
25 Beginning work in process 600.00 $ 21,850.00 $ - $ 10,000.00
26 Degree of completion beginning work in process 100% 0% 40%
27 Transferred in during April 1,800.00
Beginning with row 27, “Completed and Transferred out”, however, the FIFO report begins to change.
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You will remember with weighted-average we had one line in the flow production report “completed and
transferred out.” This is shown below.
11 Completed and transferred out 2,000.00 2,000.00 2,000.00 2,000.00
Since we are now using FIFO, however, we must separate the units of last month from units of this
month. Later we will do the same thing for costs.
Let’s focus on units first.
A B C D E
Flow of Production Equivalent Units
Physical Transferred in Direct Conversion
Units Costs Materials Costs
28 Beginning work in process 600.00
29 Transferred in during the current. 1,800.00
30 To account for 2,400.00
31 Completed and transferred out during the current.
32 From beginning work in process 600.00 - 600.00 360.00
33 Started and completed 1,400.00 1,400.00 1,400.00 1,400.00
Go to Row 31st. Notice that completed and transferred out during is divided into two categories: “from
beginning work-in-process” and “started and completed.”
How do we calculate the physical units (600 units) from beginning work-in-process? That figure is given
to us (cell B25). How do we calculate the 1,400 units that were started and completed? We take the total
number transferred out (Cell B28) and subtract the number that was completed from the beginning
inventory.
How do we calculate equivalent units? In the same way we were taught under the weighted average
method. We multiply the physical units by the percent completion given above.
Let’s use cell E33 as an example. In cell E 26 we see that the beginning work-in-process was 40%
complete. That means that during this month we had to add 60% to complete the product (40% +60% =
100%).
Multiplying 60% work done this month by 600 physical units in beginning inventory gives us 360 (Cell
E32) equivalent units of work done in this month.
Once again we must emphasize that equivalent units in FIFO are calculated only on the work done this
month. In the same way, costs in FIFO only include those costs incurred this month.
Later, when we calculate the cost per equivalent unit in FIFO, we will divide only the costs incurred this
month, by the equivalent units of work done this month.
The completed Flow of Production Section is shown below. Notice that the equivalent units for FIFO are
different than the equivalent units for weighted-average. This is because the FIFO figures do not include
work done in the previous accounting month.
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A B C D E
Flow of Production Equivalent Units
Physical Transferred in Direct Conversion
Units Costs Materials Costs
28 Beginning work in process 600.00
29 Transferred in during the current. 1,800.00
30 To account for 2,400.00
31 Completed and transferred out during the current.
32 From beginning work in process 600.00 - 600.00 360.00
33 Started and completed 1,400.00 1,400.00 1,400.00 1,400.00
34 Ending work in process 400.00 400.00 - 240.00
35 Accounted for 2,400.00
36 Equivalent units 1,800.00 2,000.00 2,000.00
Now let’s turn to the Flow of Costs Report. Let’s begin by considering only the first row of that report
(row 37) since an important difference between weighted-average and five full appears here.
A B C D E
Flow of Costs Total
Production Transferred in Direct Conversion
Costs Costs Materials Costs
37 Beginning work in process $ 31,850.00 Costs done in prior period!!!
Unlike weighted-average, we put no dollar figures in column C, D, and E. These costs were incurred in
the previous month and should not be included when calculating cost per equivalent unit.
Let’s continue down the report.
A B C D E
Flow of Costs Total
Production Transferred in Direct Conversion
Costs Costs Materials Costs
37 Beginning work in process $ 31,850.00 Costs done in prior period!!!
38 Costs added during the current period $ 159,800.00 $ 96,000.00 $ 17,800.00 $ 46,000.00
39 Divide by equivalent units 1,800.00 2,000.00 2,000.00
40 Cost per equivalent unit $ 53.33 $ 8.90 $ 23.00
41 Total cost to account for $ 191,650.00
On row 38 we do show costs for Columns C, D, and E. These costs were incurred in the present month.
Remember we are only going to divide costs incurred in the present month by equivalent units of work
done in the present month. Thus we divide row 38 by the figures in row 39 to calculate cost per
equivalent unit shown in row 40.
Okay, now we have the Total Cost to Account for. It is $191,650. Now we are going to allocate these
costs to (1) goods that were transferred out and (2) ending inventory, just as we did in weighted-average,
but with one modification. When we calculate the cost of goods transferred out we’re going to have to
break them into cost from the previous month and cost from the present month.
Let’s focus first on allocating costs to the goods transferred out during the current month nth. Remember
that under weighted-average, the allocation looked like this.
22 Completed and transferred out 166,008.33 98,208.33 17,800.00 50,000.00
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Pretty simple. Only one line. The costs completed and transferred out include both the cost from last
month and from this month combined.
With FIFO we are going separate last month’s cost from this month’s cost.
Let’s see what that schedule looks like. Again we are only dealing with one section of the flow of cost
report. We will show the entire section later.
43 Completed and transferred out
44 From beginning work in process $ 31,850.00
45 Costs added to beginning work in process 13,620.00 0 5,340.00 8,280.00
46 Total from beginning inventory $ 45,470.00
47 Started and completed 119,326.67 74,666.67 12,460.00 32,200.00
48 Total costs of goods completed and transferred out $ 164,796.67
Now instead of one row for “completed and transferred out” we have six. Let’s examine each
individually.
Row 44 gives us the cost incurred in beginning work-in-process last month.
Row 45 gives us the cost to complete this beginning work in process.
Row 46 adds the costs in the beginning inventory to the costs to complete the beginning inventory. Now
we know the cost of the completed inventory when it was shipped.
However, that was not all we shipped. To meet demand, we had to start and complete additional units of
product. That is shown on Row 47. All of those costs were incurred in this month.
Now we can calculate the total cost of all goods transferred out of Department two during the month. This
consists of the total of beginning inventory goods transferred out, plus goods that were started and
completed. This total is shown on Row 48.
There is now one more allocation we must make. We must allocate costs to inventory.
The completed flow of cost report is therefore shown below.
A B C D E
Flow of Costs Total
Production Transferred in Direct Conversion
Costs Costs Materials Costs
37 Beginning work in process $ 31,850.00 Costs done in prior period!!!
38 Costs added during the current period $ 159,800.00 $ 96,000.00 $ 17,800.00 $ 46,000.00
39 Divide by equivalent units 1,800.00 2,000.00 2,000.00
40 Cost per equivalent unit $ 53.33 $ 8.90 $ 23.00
41 Total cost to account for $ 191,650.00
42 Assignment of costs:
43 Completed and transferred out
44 From beginning work in process $ 31,850.00
45 Costs added to beginning work in process 13,620.00 0 5,340.00 8,280.00
46 Total from beginning inventory $ 45,470.00
47 Started and completed 119,326.67 74,666.67 12,460.00 32,200.00
48 Total costs of goods completed and transferred out $ 164,796.67
49 Ending work in process 26,853.33 21,333.33 - 5,520.00
50 Total costs accounted for $ 191,650.00
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Note that the total goods shipped of $164,796.67 plus the cost of ending work-in-process of $26,853.33
equals “costs accounted for” of $191,650.
How did we calculate the equivalent units for Rows 45 through 49 (columns C, D and E)?
In the same way we did for weighted-average. We multiply the cost per equivalent by the number of
equivalent units.
Total report is shown below.
Cost of Production Report
A B C D E
Flow of Production Equivalent Units
Physical Transferred in Direct Conversion
Units Costs Materials Costs
28 Beginning work in process 600.00
29 Transferred in during the current. 1,800.00
30 To account for 2,400.00
31 Completed and transferred out during the current.
32 From beginning work in process 600.00 - 600.00 360.00
33 Started and completed 1,400.00 1,400.00 1,400.00 1,400.00
34 Ending work in process 400.00 400.00 - 240.00
35 Accounted for 2,400.00
36 Equivalent units 1,800.00 2,000.00 2,000.00
A B C D E
Flow of Costs Total
Production Transferred in Direct Conversion
Costs Costs Materials Costs
37 Beginning work in process $ 31,850.00 Costs done in prior period!!!
38 Costs added during the current period $ 159,800.00 $ 96,000.00 $ 17,800.00 $ 46,000.00
39 Divide by equivalent units 1,800.00 2,000.00 2,000.00
40 Cost per equivalent unit $ 53.33 $ 8.90 $ 23.00
41 Total cost to account for $ 191,650.00
42 Assignment of costs:
43 Completed and transferred out
44 From beginning work in process $ 31,850.00
45 Costs added to beginning work in process 13,620.00 0 5,340.00 8,280.00
46 Total from beginning inventory $ 45,470.00
47 Started and completed 119,326.67 74,666.67 12,460.00 32,200.00
48 Total costs of goods completed and transferred out $ 164,796.67
49 Ending work in process 26,853.33 21,333.33 - 5,520.00
50 Total costs accounted for $ 191,650.00
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