Backflush Costing/Activity Based Costing
Backflush Costing/Activity Based Costing
Backflush Costing/Activity Based Costing
A unique production system such as JIT often leads to its own unique costing system.
Such system is referred to as Backflush costing.
Traditional normal and standard costing system use sequential tracking, which is any
product costing method where recording of the journal entries occurs in the same order
as actual purchases and progress in production. These traditional systems track costs
sequentially as products pass through the following four stages in a cycle going from
purchases of direct materials to sale of finished goods
A sequential tracking costing system has four trigger points, corresponding to separate
journal entries being made at stages. The term trigger point refers to a stage in the
cycle going from purchases of direct materials to sale of finished goods at which journal
entries are made in the accounting system.
Number of
Journal Entry Location in Cycle Where
Trigger Points Journal Entries Made
Example 1 3 1. Purchase of direct materials
2. Completion of good finished units of
product
3. Sale of finished goods
Example 2 2 1. Purchases of direct materials
2. Sale of finished goods
Example 3 2 1. Completion of finished units of product
2. Sale of finished goods
In all three examples, there are no journal entries in the accounting for work in process.
These 3 examples of backflush costing are typically used where the amounts of work in
process are small. With JIT production, sizeable reductions in work in process have
occurred.
Example 1: Trigger points are purchases of direct materials, Completion of good finished
units of product, and sale of finished goods.
This example uses three trigger points to illustrate how backflusing can eliminate the
need for a separate Work in Process account.
Problem 1
Silicon Valley Computer (SVC), which produces keyboards for personal computers. For
April, there were no beginning inventories of raw materials. Moreover, there is zero
beginning and ending work in process.
SVC has only one direct manufacturing cost category ( raw materials) and one indirect
manufacturing cost category (conversion costs). All manufacturing labor costs are
included in conversion costs. From its bill of materials (description of the types and
quantities of materials) and an operations list (description of operations to be
undergone), SVC determine the April standard direct material costs per keyboard unit of
P19 and the standard conversion costs of P12.
Trigger point 1 occurs when materials are purchased. These costs are charged to
Inventory: Raw and In-Process Control. Actual conversion costs are recorded as
incurred under backflush costing, just as in other costing systems, and charged to
Conversion Costs Control. Conversion costs are allocated to products at trigger point 2
– the transfer of units to Finished Goods Control. Trigger point 3 occurs at the time
finished goods are sold. Under-or overallocated conversion costs are written off to cost
of goods sold monthly. 100,000 good keyboard units were manufactured in April and
99,000 were sold in April. Purchases of raw materials in April P1,950,000, Conversion
costs; P1,260,000
Problem 2
Assume the same information in problem 1 except that trigger point are purchases of
direct materials and sale of finished goods. And there is only one account for inventory
Inventory Control Account.
Problem 3
Assume the same information in problem 1 except that trigger points are completion of
good finished units of product and sale of finished gods.
Criticisms of backflush costing focus mainly on the absence of audit trails – the ability of
the accounting system to pinpoint the uses of resources at each step of the production
process. The absence of large amounts of materials and work in process inventory
means that managers can keep track of operations by personal observations, computer
monitoring, and nonfinancial measures.
Problem 4:
The Lee Company seeks to streamline the costing system at its Singapore plant. It will
use a backflush costing system with three trigger points:
Purchases of raw materials
Completion of good finished units or product
Sale of finished goods
There are no beginning inventories. The following data pertain to April 2000.
Raw materials purchased:P880,000, Raw materials used: P850,000, Conversion costs
incurred: P422,000, Conversion costs allocated: P400,000, Costs transferred to finished
goods:P1,250,000, Cost of goods sold: P1,190,000.
Required:
1. Prepare summary journal entries for April (without disposing of under-or
overallocated conversion costs). Assume no direct material variances.
2. Under an ideal JIT production system, how would the amounts in your journal
entries differ from those in requirement 1?
Problem 5
The Action Corporation manufactures electrical meters. For August, there were no
beginning inventories of raw materials and no beginning and ending work in process.
Action uses a JIT production system and backflush costing with three trigger points for
making entries in the accounting system. Purchases of raw materials – debited to
Inventory: Raw and In-process Control, Completion of good finished units of product –
debited to Finished Goods Control. Sale of finished goods. Action’s August standard
cost per meter is direct materials, P25; conversion costs, P20. The following data apply
to August manufacturing: Raw materials and components purchased: P550,000,
Conversion costs incurred: P440,000, Number of finished units manufactured: 21,000,
Number of finished units sold: 20,000.
Required
1. Prepare summary of journal entries for August (without disposing of under-or
over allocated conversion costs). Assume no direct materials variances.
2. Post the entries in requirement 1 to T-accounts for Inventory; Raw and In-
process Control, Conversion Costs Control, Conversion Costs Allocated, and
Cost of goods sold.
Problem 6
The Ronowski Company produces telephones. For June, there were no beginning
inventory of raw materials and no beginning and ending work in process. Ronowski
uses a JIT production system and backflush costing with three trigger points for making
entries in its accounting system: Purchases of direct (raw materials), Completion of good
finished units of product, Sale of finished goods. Ronowski’s standard cost per unit of
telephone in June is direct materials, P26; conversion costs, P15. There are two
inventory accounts: Inventory: Raw and In-Process Control, Finished Goods Control.
The following data apply to June manufacturing: Raw materials and components
purchased: P5,300,000, Conversion costs incurred: P3,080,000, Number of finished
units manufactured: 200,000, Number of finished units sold: 192,000.
Required:
1. Prepare summary journal entries for June (without disposing of under-
oroverallocated conversion costs). Assume no direct materials variances
2. Post the entries in requirement 1 to T – accounts for inventory;
4. ABC has been criticized for a variety of reasons. Discuss these criticisms.
ANSWER: One criticism is that ABC does not promote total quality
management and continuous improvement. Another criticism of ABC is that ABC
does not adhere to generally accepted accounting principles. An ABC system
might allocate nonproduct costs (research and development) to products, while
not allocating some traditional product costs (factory depreciation on machines)
to products. A third criticism of ABC relates to the cost of implementation. An
ABC system takes considerable time to implement, and therefore, it is very
costly.
5. How has the increase in product variety affected the costs of American business?
ANSWER: The increase in product variety has increased the overhead costs
of American firms. These costs include significant setup costs to switch from the
production of one product to another, costs of additional technology, inventory
carrying costs, purchasing costs, and scheduling costs.
6. Discuss the four different levels of costs that are now being identified. How should
these types of costs be treated under ABC?
ANSWER: The four different levels are unit-level costs, batch-level costs,
product- or process-level costs, and organizational or facility costs. Unit-level
costs include direct material, direct labor, and some traceable machine costs.
These are incurred once for each item produced and are considered part of total
product cost. Batch-level costs include machine setup, material handling, and
purchasing or ordering costs. These are incurred once for each batch of items
produced and are allocated over the total number of units in the batch. These are
also considered part of total product cost. Product- or process-level costs include
engineering changes, design, and development costs. These are allocated to the
total number of units produced in the product line and are considered part of total
product cost. Organizational or facility costs include building depreciation,
administrative salaries, and organizational advertising. These costs are not
product-related and should be deducted from net product revenue.
7. Box Co. manufactures hand-made pine storage boxes for a variety of clients. As
production manager, you have developed the following value chart:
ANSWER:
8. TriCo would like to institute an activity-based costing system to price products. The
company’s Purchasing Department incurs costs of P550,000 per year and has
six employees. Purchasing has determined the three major activities that occur
during the year.
Allocation # of Total
Activity Measure People Cost
Issuing purchase orders # of purchase 1 P150,000
orders
Reviewing receiving # of receiving 2 P175,000
reports reports
Making phone calls # of phone calls 3 P225,000
During the year 50,000 phone calls were made in the department; 15,000
purchase orders were issued; and 10,000 shipments were received. Product A
required 200 phone calls, 150 receiving reports, and 50 purchase orders. Product
B required 350 phone calls, 400 receiving reports, and 100 purchase orders.
a. Determine the amount of purchasing department cost that should be assigned
to each of these products.
b. Determine purchasing department cost per unit if 1,500 units of Product A and
3,000 units of Product B were manufactured during the year.
ANSWER:
a. P150,000/15,000 = P10 per purchase order
P175,000/10,000 = P17.50 per receiving report
P225,000/50,000 = P4.50 per phone call
Product A Product B
50 purchase orders ×P10 P 500
100 purchase orders × P10 P1,000
150 receiving reports × P17.50 2,625
400 receiving reports × P17.50 7,000
200 phone calls × P4.50 900
350 phone calls × P4.50 1,575
Total cost P4,025 P9,575
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. An objective of activity-based management is to
a. eliminate the majority of centralized activities in an organization.
b. reduce or eliminate non-value-added activities incurred to make a product or
provide a service.
c. institute responsibility accounting systems in decentralized organizations.
d. all of the above
4. The sum of the non-value-added time and the value-added time equals
a. inspection time. c. the product life cycle.
b. production time. d. cycle time.
7. When a firm redesigns a product to reduce the number of component parts, the firm is
a. increasing consumer value.
b. increasing the value added to the product.
c. decreasing product variety.
d. decreasing non-value-added costs.
8. Non-value-added activities that are necessary to businesses, but not costs that
customers are willing to pay for are known as
a. business-value-added activities. c. short-term variable activities.
b. long-term variable activities. d. superior business activities.
16. When a company is labor-intensive, the cost driver that is probably least significant
would be
a. direct labor hours. c. machine hours.
b. direct labor peso. d. cost of materials used.
20. Costs that are common to many different activities within an organization are known
as ____________ costs.
a. product- or process-level c. batch-level
b. organizational-level d. unit-level
25. In which of the following areas does attribute-based costing (ABCII) employ detailed
cost-benefit analyses relating to information on customer needs?
Reliability Durability
a. no no
b. yes no
c. yes yes
d. no yes
34. Traditionally, overhead has been assigned based on direct labor hours or machine
hours. What effect does this have on the cost of a high-volume item?
a. over-costs the product
b. under-costs the product
c. has no effect the product cost
d. cost per unit is unaffected by product volume
35. Relative to traditional product costing, activity-based costing differs in the way costs
are
a. processed. b. allocated. c. benchmarked d. incurred.
36. Under activity-based costing, benchmarks for product cost should contain an
allowance for
a. idle time.
b. idle time and scrap materials.
c. spoilage.
d. none of the above.
40. Of the following, which is the best reason for using activity-based costing?
a. to keep better track of overhead costs
b. to more accurately assign overhead costs to cost pools so that these costs are
better controlled
c. to better assign overhead costs to products
d. to assign indirect service overhead costs to direct overhead cost pools
42. The overhead of American manufacturing firms has risen in recent years due to
a. an increase in direct labor.
b. an increase in product variety.
c. the implementation of activity-based costing.
d. the cost of product life cycle planning.
47. Traditional standard costs are inappropriate measures for performance evaluation in
the “new era” of manufacturing because they
a. build in allowances for non-value-adding activities.
b. are based on historical information.
c. don’t reflect current costs.
d. are ideal goals.
48. The amount of time between the development and the production of a product is
a. the product life cycle. b. lead time. c. production time. d. value-added
time.
49. For one product that a firm produces, the manufacturing cycle efficiency is 20
percent. If the total production time is 12 hours, what is the total manufacturing
time?
a. 15.0 hours b. 60.0 hours c. 12.0 hours d. 2.4 hours
53. In the pharmaceutical or food industries, quality control inspections would most
likely be viewed as
a. non-value-added activities. c. value-added-activities.
b. business-value-added activities. d. process-efficiency activities.
54. A just-in-time manufacturing process should have substantially less of which of the
following than a traditional manufacturing process?
Idle time Transfer time Value-added time Cycle time
a. yes yes yes yes
b. yes no no yes
c. yes yes no yes
d. no yes yes no
57. When cost driver analysis is used, organizational profit or loss can be determined by
subtracting
a. organizational costs from total margin provided by products.
b. organizational costs from total product revenue.
c. total product costs from total product revenue.
d. total unit, batch, product/process, and organizational level costs incurred for a
period from total product revenue.
59. The following items are used in tracing costs in an ABC system. In which order are
they used?
(1) cost object
(2) cost driver
(3) activity driver
(4) cost pool
a. 1, 2, 3, 4
b. 2, 3, 4, 1
c. 2, 4, 3, 1
d. 4, 3, 1, 2
60. The “Rule of One” underlies the premise that all costs are
a. variable. b. fixed. c. unit-based. d. short-term.
61. Tessia Company makes ten different styles of inexpensive feather masks. Which of
the following is this company most likely to have?
a. Product complexity c. Product variety
b. Process complexity d. Process customization
62. Attribute-based costing (ABC II) employs which of the following in its cost-benefit
analyses?
a. Past costs c. Reengineered costs
b. Long-term variable costs d. Planned costs
68. A cost accumulation system should most likely be reevaluated when a company has
a. automated one or more production processes.
b. introduced new products to its customers.
c. had its industry deregulated.
d. all of the above.
69. Engaging in which of the following will result in radical changes being made to an
organization’s processes?
a. Continuous improvement c. Reengineering
b. Benchmarking d. Mass customization
71. Which of the following is most likely to make the implementation of ABC/ABM slow
and difficult?
a. The inability of all employees to understand the computations involved in ABC.
b. A lack of involvement by or support from upper management.
c. The need for dual costing systems.
d. An inability to eliminate all business-value-added activities.
74. Kan Co. produces two products (A and B). Direct material and labor costs for
Product A total P35 (which reflects 4 direct labor hours); direct material and labor
costs for Product B total P22 (which reflects 1.5 direct labor hours). Three
overhead functions are needed for each product. Product A uses 2 hours of
Function 1 at P10 per hour, 1 hour of Function 2 at P7 per hour, and 6 hours of
Function 3 at P18 per hour. Product B uses 1, 8, and 1 hours of Functions 1, 2,
and 3, respectively. Kan produces 800 units of A and 8,000 units of B each
period. If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis of units produced,
Product A will have an overhead cost per unit of
a. P 88.64. b. P123.64. c. P135.00. d. 105.00
75. Use the information from #74. If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis
of units produced, Product B will have an overhead cost per unit of
a. P84.00. b. P88.64. c. P110.64. d. P120.00
76. Use the information from #74. If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis
of direct labor hours, Product A will have an overhead cost per unit of
a. P51.32. b. P205.28. c. P461.88. d. P425.55
77. Use the information from #74. If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis
of direct labor hours, Product B will have an overhead cost per unit of
a. P51.32. b. P76.98. c. P510.32. d. P85.60
78. Use the information from #74. If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis
of overhead activity hours used, the total product cost per unit assigned to
Product A will be
a. P86.32. b. P95.00. c. P115.50. d. P125.00.
79. Use the information from #74. If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis
of overhead activity hours used, the total product cost per unit assigned to
Product B will be
a. P115.50. b. P73.32. c. P34.60. d. P125.60
80. JJ Corp. produces 50,000 units of Product Q and 6,000 units of Product Z during a
period. In that period, four set-ups were required for color changes. All units of
Product Q are black, which is the color in the process at the beginning of the
period. A set-up was made for 1,000 blue units of Product Z; a set-up was made
for 4,500 red units of Product Z; a set-up was made for 500 green units of
Product Z. A set-up was then made to return the process to its standard black
coloration and the units of Product Q were run. Each set-up costs P500. If set-up
cost is assigned on a volume basis for the department, what is the approximate
per-unit set-up cost for Product Z?
a. P.010. b. P.036. c. P.040. d. P.055
81. JJ Corp. produces 50,000 units of Product Q and 6,000 units of Product Z during a
period. In that period, four set-ups were required for color changes. All units of
Product Q are black, which is the color in the process at the beginning of the
period. A set-up was made for 1,000 blue units of Product Z; a set-up was made
for 4,500 red units of Product Z; a set-up was made for 500 green units of
Product Z. A set-up was then made to return the process to its standard black
coloration and the units of Product Q were run. Each set-up costs P500. If set-up
cost is assigned on a volume for the department, what is the approximate per-
unit set-up cost for the red units of Product Z?
a. P.036. b. P.111. c. P.250. d. P.350.
82. Use the information from #80. Assume that JJ Corp. has decided to allocate
overhead costs using levels of cost drivers. What would be the approximate per-
unit set-up cost for the blue units of Product Z?
a. P.04. b. P.25. c. P.50. d. P.60.
83. Use the information from #80. Assume that JJ Corp. has decided to allocate
overhead costs using levels of cost drivers. What would be the approximate per-
unit set-up cost for the green units of Product Z?
a. P1.00.
b. P0.25.
c. P0.04.
d. P0.45