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The Meaning of Cost Accounting

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Meaning of Cost Accounting
Previously, cost accounting was considered to be a technique for the ascertainment of costs of products or services on the basis of historical data. In time, due to the competitive nature of the market, it was realized that ascertaining of cost is not as important as controlling costs. Cost accounting started to be considered more as a technique for cost control as compared to cost ascertainment. Due to the technological developments in all fields, cost reduction has also come within the ambit of cost accounting. Cost accounting is, thus, concerned with recording, classifying and summarizing costs for determination of costs of products or services, planning, controlling and reducing such costs and furnishing of …show more content…

Thus, an increase in discretionary variable costs is due to the authorization of management whereas an increase in engineered variable costs is due to the volume of output or sales.
Direct and Indirect Costs
The expenses incurred on material and labor which are economically and easily traceable for a product, service or job is considered as direct costs. In the process of manufacturing of production of articles, materials are purchased, laborers are employed and the wages are paid to them. Certain other expenses are also incurred directly. All of these take an active and direct part in the manufacture of a particular commodity and hence are called direct costs.
The expenses incurred on those items which are not directly chargeable to production are known as indirect costs. For example, salaries of timekeepers, storekeepers and foremen. Also certain expenses incurred for running the administration are the indirect costs. All of these cannot be conveniently allocated to production and hence are called indirect costs.
Relevant and Irrelevant Costs
Relevant costs are those which change by managerial decision. Irrelevant costs are those which do not get affected by the decision. For example, if a manufacturer is planning to close down an unprofitable retail sales shop, this will affect the wages payable to the workers of a shop. This is relevant in this connection since they will

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