Process Costing System - Cost Accounting

The course will compare the two major systems used to track inventory costs in a manufacturing company, the job cost system, and the process costs system. We will discuss when a company would use either a job cost system or a process cost system.

We will discuss the flow of inventory costs in a process cost system and track the process of costs related to raw materials, that then flow to work in process and factory overhead, to finished goods, and finally, are expensed in the form of cost of goods sold.

We will explain the concept of overhead and why it is needed, including the concept of actual overhead incurred and estimated overhead we apply to departments. The course will show how to calculate the predetermined overhead rate and how to use this rate to estimate overhead allocated to departments.

The course will record the journal entries related to costs as they flow through the process cost system including journal entries for the transfer of raw materials to work in process and factory overhead, the incurrence of direct and indirect wages, and other overhead costs. We will enter journal entries to allocate overhead to work in process and to transfer costs from department to department and finished goods. We will also enter journal entries to record sales transactions and related costs of goods sold.

We will calculate the cost per equivalent unit and assign costs to ending work in process and to amounts transferred out of departments using both a First In First Out (FIFO) method and a Weighted Average Method.

We will also discuss key terms and definitions related to a job cost system and how they are used in practice.