Advantages and Disadvantages of Variable Lease
In the previous article, we have already seen what a variable lease is and how it is different from traditional leases which are used by retail companies across the world. We are now also aware of the manner in which variable leases are structured. We know that the popularity of variable leases has been rapidly […]
Leadership during Crises is what Distinguishes Great Leaders from Manager Leaders
Leaders, Managers, and Crisis Leaders Often, there is some confusion about what managers do and what leaders do. While the former and the latter perform similarly, the essential difference between them is the vision, the charisma, and the ability to persuade and convince their followers to “walk on water” if need be are the key […]
Repetitive and Process Manufacturing
Conventional shop floor control functionality of an ERP system, for the most part, is suitable for discrete manufacturing. However, during last two decades, interest surged for Just in Time manufacturing technique which is suitable for high volume repetitive manufacturing. New functionalities in the ERP system were developed to support repetitive manufacturing so as to maximize […]
Cyber Risk in Reinsurance
The global business environment has turned increasingly digital in the pasts few years. It is very common for businesses across the world to conduct most of their business online. This includes transacting with customers, employees, suppliers, and even the government. It is for this reason that the role of computers has drastically increased within the […]
Digital Payments: What they are, How they Work, and their Benefits and Problems
In recent months, all of us have heard extensively about the “war on cash”, the move to make India and other countries “cashless economies” and the general trend among policymakers worldwide to move the economies of the world to a digital and information enabled paradigm. In this context, it is worth noting that the emphasis […]
Job order costing systems have a massive paper trail. They function on the basis of this paperwork. This creates a lot of complications. Companies have to employ a lot of clerical staff to sift through this paperwork and that adds to the overheads that job order costing is trying to minimize.
For every job, there are several documents like quotation, invoice, sales order, materials receipt, labour tickets and so on. They need to be classified and maintained. Of late, information technology has helped in this regard. ERP systems have the option of job order costing inbuilt in them. This helps companies manage their paperwork faster.
Job order costing is a very powerful concept in theory. But in practice, it is very complicated to implement. These difficulties are multiplied if the organization works out of multiple locations and conducts a wide variety of jobs.
In practice, it becomes difficult to measure the costs that are associated with a particular job. Information technology has helped in this regard too. With barcodes and RFID chips these difficulties can be negated. But these IT systems are expensive to purchase and maintain and add to overheads.
Job order costing allocates overheads based on an allocation base. This allocation base then leads to an allocation rate which results in overhead costs being allocated to different jobs. Many times companies do not choose the best allocation base. Rather politically powerful managers in the organization choose allocation bases in such a way that it suits their department. Because of the incorrect costing, there is wide-spread conflict and discontent amongst the other departments which end up being charged. Since choosing an allocation base is so subjective, it ends up creating political problems in the organization itself and hampers productivity.
One of the major disadvantages of job order costing is that overheads are based on estimates. At the beginning of a job, overheads are not accurately known. This system, therefore relies on the experience and expertise of certain professionals and on empirical data. Neither of these is a reliable measure.
Past overheads cannot be considered to be a measure of future overheads because prices keep changing. True, that the prices are adjusted to show the effect of inflation and deflation but empirics itself will show that empirical data is far from accurate. Instead, firms can work on more effective ways to find their overhead cost information by studying the current trends in the external marketplace.
Also, job order costing does not provide an effective way of controlling overhead costs. Estimates are usually for quotation purposes only. The management is aware that these quotations are seldom accurate and hence they cannot be used as a base for controlling overheads. There are other costing techniques which provide better control over the costs being incurred.
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