COSTING TECHNIQUES

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses costing techniques. The result of accounting techniques can only be a paper model and controls by such techniques are sometimes seen as just an attempt to disclose inefficiency or dishonesty on the part of the staff of a company by means of discrepancies in their own paperwork. The following are the objectives of a good control system: (1) nothing should ever happen without the authority of a responsible person; (2) once something has been authorized in this way, it should not be lost sight of; and (3) if anything requiring to be authorized conflicts with existing authorized plans, the conflict should be resolved to the greatest advantage. The basic document from which the payroll is prepared is the time card or piece record on which is set out the extent of the services to be remunerated; the gross wage due for the week is calculated and written on this document, which then forms the media from which the payroll is prepared.