Cost Management : Cost Behavior

The total cost of production of Sony’s new product is the addition of both fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are assets within a business that are not used up or sold during the typical production course e.g. buildings and machinery. Variable costs are costs that fluctuate in time with the production output or sales revenue of a company such as Sony e.g. raw material and labour costs. Figure 1.1 shows how the total cost is composed of both fixed and variable costs.

Variable costs are expenses directly associated with the product or service e.g. raw materials, components, packaging.

One of the most important parts of a business is the financial management. Each and every other company always strives to have the best management when it comes to its finances. Most organizations have come up with plans and marketing strategies. This is due to the fact tat when companies finances are poorly managed then definitely the whole company is likely to be in trouble or even come down. The financial techniques and principles in most cases comprise of quite a number of aspect for instance those that we intend to look at in this paper-the financial reporting. This will basically comprise of the quality of data and information that the company produced to some of the various stakeholders. Other than that, the paper will also analyze the financial position and performance of the organization using accounting ratios. Another important aspect of financial principles is costing. This basically entails the cost of producing goods and services in the company and how it generally affects the overall performance of the company. The paper will also delve into how important costs in the pricing strategy of the business are. It will further come up with a costing and pricing system that can help the company improve. Last but not least, we focus on the company's budgets and budgetary control. Here there are very important areas that have to be looked into, for

According to, Skills for Business Decisions, “Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis examines changes in profits in response to changes in sales volumes, costs, and prices.” (Kimmel P.D. 2009) A company’s profit is the CVP profit equation of Profit = Revenue – Expenses. A Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis consists of five basic components that include:

|M |2/07 | |Read Ch. 3, Analysis of Cost, Volume, and Pricing to Increase Profitability, pp. 106-125. (Skip the material on Multiple-Product |

Hi Conster, cost behaviors impact businesses in the way that if the raw material increases, the finished goods will also increase. For instance, every year the price of the steel goes up; therefore, any product build with steel will have an impact on their prices to cover up the increase in paid for the raw material (Edmonds,

Overall Theme We will explore fundamental assumptions of cost functions and discuss the relationships between cost behaviour, cost estimation and cost prediction. The concept of cost driver analysis and its application to cost estimation and cost management will also be discussed. We will also describe how to estimate cost behaviour using managerial judgment, engineering methods and other quantitative techniques.

The author was able to provide a detailed aspect of variable costing with clear emphasis on the importance of variable costing. According to the author, differentiating between fixed and variable costs is the first step in controlling costs. The article is helpful in understanding cost relationship and its correlation to cost absorption in manufacturing

A variable cost is a corporate expense that varies with production output. Variable costs are those costs that vary depending on a company's production volume; they rise as production increases and fall as production decreases (Variable Cost, n.d.); in the case study for all cost per event such

Variable Costing: Only those costs of production that vary directly with activity (variable costs) are treated as product costs. Under variable costing, only the variable manufacturing costs are included as a part of the cost of the product manufactured. The fixed manufacturing costs are treated as an expense of the period in which they are incurred. Selling and administrative costs

Variable costs are costs that vary with output. Variable cost changes according to the quantity of a good or service being produced. Generally variable costs increase at a constant rate relative to labor and capital. Variable costs may include wages, utilities, materials used in production, etc. The inputs of Listerine start with Raw Materials (generally composed of diluents, antibacterial agents, soaps, flavorings,

Based on the real world functioning of businesses, every organization that deals with the process of manufacturing of certain products operates in accordance with the main principle of maximizing its profits. During the performance of daily activities, many business managers face a series of questions related to planning, control and decision making. In order to give answers to all these questions, an additional analysis needs to be considered. It is very important for managers to plan carefully how they are going to generate sufficient money to pay down costs and, in this way to result with a profit. As managers are interested in having the adequate information about the influence that certain actions might have on the profitability of the business, "Cost Volume and Profit" analysis plays a significant role by being a potential tool in facilitating the process of making the right decisions regarding planning and control in order to add value to the company. (Trifan and Anton, 2011). To further illustrate the essential impact that CVP analysis has on management authorities in making better decisions, I will refer to and analyze the case of the Hampshire Company which follows as below.

The essential relationship between fixed and variable costs is the same whether the budget is static or flexible. The key is that in the flexible budget, both fixed and variable costs are subject to change. In most cases,

In other words, variable cost per unit is equal to the slope of the cost volume line (i.e. change in total cost ÷ change in number of units produced).

There are different costs that respond to the different activities like variable costs are directly associated with the products sold. The cost behavior patterns of selling, general, administrative, and other operating expenses are determined, and these expenses are budgeted accordingly. For example, sales commissions will be a function of the forecast of either sales dollars or units. The historical pattern of some expenses will be affected by changes in strategy that management may plan for the budget period. In a participative budgeting system, the manager of each department or cost responsibility center will submit the anticipated cost of the department 's planned activities, along with descriptions of the activities and explanations of significant differences from past experience. After review by higher levels of management, and perhaps negotiation, a final budget will be established. Because of the necessity to recognize cost behavior patterns for planning and control purposes, overhead costs will be classified as variable or fixed.