Articles , Page 9
Disadvantages of accounting profit
Profit as a basic profitability indicator used by companies has the following drawbacks: profit does not equal net inflow of money, costs do not equal expenditures and incomes do not equal receipts profit includes the results of operations that are ad-hoc and will not be repeated in the future various methodologies particularly in the ar...
Liquidity indicators
Liquidity is the entity´s ability to convert its assets into cash for the purpose to settle its obligations, ideally with the lowest possible transaction costs. (14) Indicators of liquidity Liquidity indicators show the extent to which the current assets of the company in various forms cover its short-term obligations. Thus, the num...
Standard costing
Standard costing is a cost accounting measurement basis that predicts unit costs and production quantities based on predetermined standards before the production even begins and as such it is an alternative method to historical cost accounting. It is suitable for production, which is standardized and mass or repetitive. Standard costing serves as...
Negotiated budgeting
Negotiated budgeting is a budgeting style which combines top-down and bottom-up budgeting approaches. Negotiated budgeting can start by setting the general figures by top management. But compared to top-down budgeting, operational managers are given an opportunity to negotiate these figures. But it
Budget committee
Budget committee is a group of people that are responsible for budget preparation, review and approval. It is usually formed by senior managers including finance director. (26)
Master budget
Master budget is the overall budget that summarizes lower-level operational budgets. It usually includes: summary of the most important points from strategy summary of planning assumptions used a set of financial statements – i.e. profit and loss statement, balance sheet and cash-flow sta
Variance analysis
The purpose of variance analysis is to ascertain the quantitative deviation between budgeted, forecasted or otherwise estimated figures and accounting actuals and analyze this deviation into bigger detail. It is a valuable control mechanism. Factors to consider when deciding whether it is w
Direct material cost variance
Direct material cost variance can be split into: Direct material price variance Calculation: actual total material costs - (actual quantity of total material used x budgeted price per unit of material used) Interpretation: calculates the portion of variance driven by the ch
Fixed production overheads variance
In absorption costing, the total variance in fixed production overheads is equal to the amount of unabsorbed overheads, i.e. total actual overheads – overheads absorbed to products = total actual overheads – (budgeted overheads per unit of production quantity * actual production
Zero-based budgeting
Zero-based budgeting is the opposite approach to incremental budgeting as it begins the budgeting process from zero. Therefore, no past results are considered and budgets “are built” from item to item from the very beginning. It is very lengthy process and therefore, zero-based budgets a
Principal budget factor
it is the key and limiting factor within the entity. Because it limits other operations, budgets containing principal factor shall be prepared first. It is usually sales, but others may be possible (e.g. raw materials if they are rare).
Sensitivity analysis / What-if analysis
Sensitivity analysis (also called what-if analysis) is a technique which is used to calculate the output variable (e.g. profit, revenues or costs, NPV) under different assumptions (often different sales quantity, selling price, unit variable costs, etc.). It is used during budgeting process an
Direct labor cost variance
Direct labor cost variance can be split into: Direct labor rate variance Calculation: actual total direct labor costs - (total actual labor hours worked x budgeted labor hour rate) Interpretation: calculates the portion of labor costs variance driven by the changed la
Variable production overheads variance
Variable production overheads variance is calculated similarly as direct labor cost variance. Only variable production overhead per labor hour must be calculated instead of labor rate. Example Budget: 10 labor hours per €10/hour are necessary to produce a unit; produced output is 1 00
Budgeting and forecasting techniques
Techniques used for forecasting/budgeting can be differentiated into: subjective / qualitative – e.g. consensus of a working group, brainstorming meetings, customer surveys etc. objective / quantitative - mathematical or statistical approach applied to past results from which future trend