COURSE OVERVIEW:

Cost accounting is a facet of management accounting that determines the actual cost associated with manufacturing a product or providing a service by looking at all expenses within the supply chain. It is done for the purpose of budget preparation and profitability analysis. The information derived from this process is useful to managers in determining which products, departments or services are most profitable and which ones need improvement.

Cost accounting involves determining fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that recur each month regardless of the level of production. Examples include rent, depreciation, interest on loans and lease expenses. Variable costs are expenses that fluctuate with changes in production level, such as supplies, labour, and maintenance expenses. These costs are related to production in that the more units of a product produced, the more expense there is associated with the materials and labour that went into making the product.

Cost accounting determines both fixed and variable costs associated with a product line to determine the break-even point, and then ultimately the profit. The break-even point represents the point at which expenses are covered by sales. Profit is determined by using the break-even point as the starting point for calculating profit. All sales beyond the break-even point are profit. Determining the number of units that need to be sold to reach the break-even point and then achieve profit is known as cost-volume-profit analysis.

This course provides an overview of cost accounting and illustrate a number of the business situations, to put the topic in perspective. The examples used and the description illustrate how the discipline of cost accounting can make a person a more valuable part of any organisation.

After completing this course, you should be able to:

·       Describe the way managers use accounting information to create value in organisations.

·       Distinguish between the uses and users of cost accounting and financial accounting information.

·       Explain how cost accounting information is used for decision making and performance evaluation in organisations.

·       Identify current trends in cost accounting.

·       Understand ethical issues faced by accountants.

·       Understand the cost accountant role and responsibilities.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

·       What is cost accounting?

·       The cost concepts in decision making

·       Value creation in organisations

·       The value chain components, activities, and costs

·       Supply chain and distribution chain

·       How to use cost information to increase value?

·       Accounting and the value chain

·       The financial accounting information

·       The cost accounting information

·       Financial vs cost accounting

·       Cost accounting in GAAP, and IFRS

·       The customers of cost accounting

·       The framework for assessing cost accounting systems?

·       why managers require information to make decisions?

·       How to find and eliminate activities that don’t add value?

·       How to identify strategic opportunities using cost analysis?

·       How owners use cost information to evaluate managers?

·       Cost data for managerial decisions

·       Cost data for control and evaluation

·       The differential costs, revenues, and profits

·       The responsibility centres, revenues, and costs

·       Budget vs actual data

·       The different types of data for different decisions

·       The trends in cost accounting throughout the value chain

·       Cost accounting in research and development (R&D)

·       Cost accounting in design

·       Activity-based costing (ABC)

·       Cost accounting in purchasing

·       Cost accounting in production

·       Cost accounting in marketing

·       Cost accounting in distribution

·       Cost accounting in customer service

·       Enterprise resource planning

·       How to create value in the organisation?

·       The key financial players in the organisation

·       How cross-functional teams add value to decision making?

·       The ethical issues for accountants

·       What makes ethics so important?

·       Cost accounting and other business disciplines        

The cost accountant role and responsibilities

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.

COURSE DELIVERY:

Purchase and download course content.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.