designing compensation policy

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HR.smartSubject - designing compensation policy

ors,

have joined new company, its an electronic company.before i joined they were having there own policy of tion and benifits.now i have been ask to design new hr mannual. i have to desing everything, i am facing too m n designing the compensation policy. beacuse they dont have a proper way of providing the salary.means they and the deduction as per the CTC. HOW CAN I DESING THE COMPENSATION POLICY.CAN ANYBODY HELP ME IN DESIGNING THE POLICY.THE POI WANT TO INCLUDE IN THE POLICY ARE OVIDE SALARY ON 10 OF EVERY MONTH IN SALARY ACCOUNT. IDE HALF YEARLY ALLOWANCE :- MEDICAL ALLOWANCE ALLOWANCE ON ALLOWANCE ALLOWANCE E ENCASHMENT AT THE END OF YEAR.

your reply nani tive.

guruSubject - Re: designing compensation policyHi Swati,

very fresher to the industry, I will list out, even though u take help from you finance person too. HR should be care taker for the employees. when u are u preparing the compensation, u have to very careful

re framing the salary structure, more amount of taxes should not be made. U have to consider employee benifi

d not say medical allowance - its medical reimbursement. when u r saying allowance it is taxable. so u can give ment of medical even fifty, but govt. will givethe exemption upto 15k per year. that also bill should be produce

al allowance also taxable. but exemption for child education that also per norms.

o uniform allowance. if u are giving that also taxable income. so company can provide uniform and this expense er under FBT for the company. then there is no tax for employee.

utory complainces, there should be a earned leave. ie EL, after 20 working days 1 day will work off. if they wor , this days will be calculated at the end of the year totally, b4 u issuing the amount u have to consider whether not? if else then consider which slab is it?....

welfare comes under FBT. like uniform, insurance policy, transports for employee, food, (except sodexo), mob , petrol allowance of employee car etc. some of this called as perks or perquisites . so company have to pay the

st you to biforcate like

receipt provided, tax excemption) Reimbursement. (tax excemption , if bill provided.) nce(9800Rs, dont want bill, but excemption) d periodics(But taxable) allowance(Taxable) ce in four year with bill, tax excemption) that u need to give any allowance as per ur company policy are taxable, but u can biforcate in the same also.

u delete the Employee contribution to PF, PT contribution of employee. to prepare the taxable income. and insu medical premium,FD,PPF by employee upto one lakh under 80C. then u prepare TDS.

es, mail me at

NirmalSubject - Re: designing compensation policy

y good inforamtion you have shared !! infect many of us who work in HR but do not have depth ...

uggest me some books or site who can give us in detail info on compansation .. in terms of Components in Str of structure .. how can we make structure non taxable or taxable income in structure ..Rules for the same ETC

d is

guruSubject - Re: designing compensation policy

efer the book Income Tax Ready Reckener by VG Mehta, and salaries compensation, taxation but both will give le but you have to compare the salary structures of various company and takethe conclusion... state u belonging to....

ek i will send u some data on the same. bcoz its have to type.... this week i m fully packed... st...

NirmalSubject - Re: designing compensation policy

ha

hakha , i belongs to maharashtra ..

i have done that !!! but many companies allows new joinee to designe their componsation structure or its flexib

can designe such structure ..what are fix and Flexible components in salary structure and which are taxable and art of salary sheet

029Subject - Solution

ing that is do nothing about it

Posted by HR.smart

ors,

have joined new company, its an electronic company.before i joined they were having there own policy of compensation ow i have been ask to design new hr mannual. i have to desing everything, i am facing too much problem in designing the tion policy. beacuse they dont have a proper way of providing the salary.means they provide the salary and the deduction

HOW CAN I DESING THE COMPENSATION POLICY.CAN ANYBODY HELP ME IN DESIGNING THE POLICY.THE POINTS WHICH

DE IN THE POLICY ARE OVIDE SALARY ON 10 OF EVERY MONTH IN SALARY ACCOUNT. IDE HALF YEARLY ALLOWANCE :- MEDICAL ALLOWANCE ALLOWANCE ON ALLOWANCE ALLOWANCE E ENCASHMENT AT THE END OF YEAR.

Workers' Compensation
Workers Compensation Workers compensation provides compensation benefits to employees for disabilities due to personal injury or disease sustained while in the performance of their duty. The purpose of Alabamas Workers Compensation laws is to ensure proper payment of benefits of employees injuries on the job or who contract a work related illness and encouraged safety in the workplace. These benefits include payment of medical expenses and compensation for wages loss. Dependents are also entitles to payment of benefits of employees who die from work-related injuries or diseases. An employer that has five or more employees is required to have workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation is designed to protect workers and their dependents against the hardships from injury or death arising out of the work environment. The majority of workers compensation claims are legitimate; however employees as well as employers can commit workers compensation fraud. Nevertheless,

Compensation Management
Compensation Management Q1.a. What is the role of compensation and rewards in modern organization? What arethe advantages of a fair compensation system? Ans1a. Role of Compensation and Reward in Organization: Compensation and Reward system plays vital role in a business organization. Since, among four Ms, i.e Men, Material, Machine and Money, Men has been most important factor, it is impossible to imagine a business process without Men. Land, Labor, Capital and Organization are four major factors of production. Every factor contributes to the process of production/business. It expects return from the business process such as Rent is the return expected by the Landlord. similarly Capitalist expects Interest and Organizers i.e Entrepreneur expects profits. The labour expects wages from the process. It is evident that other factors are in-human factors and as such labour plays vital role in bringing about the process of production/business in motion. The other factors being human, has expectations,

Executive Compensation
Executive Compensation at General Electric (GE) With the global economy mired in a recession and the United States financial system in limbo, governments from around the world have taken action to ensure the slump does not deepen by pouring trillions of dollars into bailouts and public spending. As a result of the increased transparency resulting from company bailouts with tax payer dollars, executive compensation has come under scrutiny. It seems unfathomable that executives at entities such as Merrill Lynch and AIG have received any form of compensation, literally bringing two of the United States largest and most respected entities to their knees.

One facet of executive compensation that is scrutinized regularly is the alignment of stock price with compensation. Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, had performance service units (PSUs) which effectively could be turned into GE common stock after a set time frame, given that certain criteria had been met. A major issue

What are the components of a compensation system? Compensation will be perceived by employees as fair if based on systematic components. Various compensation systems have developed to determine the value of positions. These systems utilize many similar components including job descriptions, salary ranges/structures, and written procedures. The components of a compensation system include:

Job Descriptions A critical component of both compensation and selection systems, job descriptions define in writing the responsibilities, requirements, functions, duties, location, environment, conditions, and other aspects of jobs. Descriptions may be developed for jobs individually or for entire job families. Job Analysis The process of analyzing jobs from which job descriptions are developed. Job analysis techniques include the use of interviews, questionnaires, and observation. Job Evaluation A system for comparing jobs for the purpose of determining appropriate compensation levels for individual jobs or job elements. There are four main techniques: Ranking, Classification, Factor Comparison, and Point Method. Pay Structures Useful for standardizing compensation practices. Most pay structures include several grades with each grade containing a minimum salary/wage and either step increments or grade range. Step increments are common with union positions where the pay for each job is pre-determined through collective bargaining. Salary Surveys Collections of salary and market data. May include average salaries, inflation indicators, cost of living indicators, salary budget averages. Companies may purchase results of surveys conducted by survey vendors or may conduct their own salary surveys. When purchasing the results of salary surveys conducted by other vendors, note that surveys may be conducted within a specific industry or across industries as well as within one geographical region or across different geographical regions. Know which industry or geographic location the salary results pertain to before comparing the results to your company.

Policies and Regulations

1(a). Importance of Compensation system in business organization

Compensation and Reward system plays vital role in a business organization. Since, among four Ms, i.e. Men, Material, Machine and Money, Men has been most important factor, it is impossible to imagine a business process without Men. Every factor contributes to the process of production/business. It expects return from the business process such as rent is the return expected by the landlord, capitalist expects interest and organizer i.e. entrepreneur expects profits. Similarly the labour expects wages from the process. Labour plays vital role in bringing about the process of production/business in motion. The other factors being human, has expectations, emotions, ambitions and egos.

Labour therefore expects to have fair share in the business/production process. Therefore a fair compensation system is a must for every business organization. The fair compensation system will help in the following:
o

An ideal compensation system will have positive impact on the efficiency and results produced by employees. It will encourage the employees to perform better and achieve the standards fixed.

It will enhance the process of job evaluation. It will also help in setting up an ideal job evaluation and the set standards would be more realistic and achievable. Such a system should be well defined and uniform. It will be apply to all the levels of the organization as a general system.

The system should be simple and flexible so that every employee would be able to compute his own compensation receivable. It should be easy to implement, should not result in exploitation of workers.

It will raise the morale, efficiency and cooperation among the workers. It, being just and fair would provide satisfaction to the workers. Such system would help management in complying with the various labor acts. Such system should also solve disputes between the employee union and management. The system should follow the management principle of equal pay. It should motivate and encouragement those who perform better and should provide opportunities for those who wish to excel. Sound Compensation/Reward System brings peace in the relationship of employer and employees. It aims at creating a healthy competition among them and encourages employees to work hard and efficiently. The system provides growth and advancement opportunities to the deserving employees. The perfect compensation system provides platform for happy and satisfied workforce. This minimizes the labour turnover. The organization enjoys the stability. The organization is able to retain the best talent by providing them adequate compensation thereby stopping them from switching over to another job. The business organization can think of expansion and growth if it has the support of skillful, talented and happy workforce. The sound compensation system is hallmark of organizations success and prosperity. The success and stability of organization is measured with pay-package it provides to its employees.

o o

Employee Compensation
In exchange for job performance and commitment, an employer offers rewards to employees. Adequate rewards and compensations potentially attract a quality work force, maintain the satisfaction of existing employees, keep quality employees from leaving, and motivate them in the workplace. A proper design of reward and compensation systems requires careful review of the labor market, thorough analysis of jobs, and a systematic study of pay structures. There are a number of ways of classifying rewards. A commonly discussed dichotomy is intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic re wards are satisfactions one gets from the job itself, such as a feeling of achievement, responsibility, or autonomy. Extrinsic rewards include monetary compensation, promotion, and tangible benefits. Compensation frequently refers to extrinsic, monetary rewards that employees receive in exchange for their work. Usually, compensation is composed of the base wage or salary, any incentives or bonuses, and other benefits. Base wage or salary is the hourly, weekly, or monthly pay that employees receive. Incentives or bonuses are re wards offered in addition to the base wage when employees achieve a high level of performance. Benefits are rewards offered for being a member of the company and can include paid vacation, health and life insurance, and retirement pension. A company's compensation system must include policies, procedures, and rules that provide clear and unambiguous determination and ad ministration of employee compensation. Other wise, there can be confusion, diminished employee satisfaction, and potentially costly litigation.

DETERMINANTS OF COMPENSATION
Fair and adequate compensation is critical to motivating employees attracting high-potential employees, and retaining competent employees. Compensation has to be fair and equitable among all workers in the same company (internal equity). Internal equity can be achieved when pay is proportionate to the individual employee's qualifications and contributions to a company. On the other hand, compensation also has to be fair and equitable in comparison to the external market (external equity). If a company pays its employees below the market rate, it may lose competent employees. In determining adequate pay for employees, a manager must consider the three major factors: the labor market, the nature and scope of the job, and characteristics of the individual employee. Potential employees are recruited from a certain geographic areathe labor market. The actual boundary of a labor market varies depending on the type of job, company, and industry. For example, an opening for a systems analyst at IBM may attract candidates from across the country, whereas a secretarial position at an elementary school may attract candidates only from the immediate local area of the school. Pay for a job even within the same labor market may vary widely because of many factors, such as the industry, type of job, cost of living, and location of the job. Compensation managers must be aware of these differences. To help compensation managers understand the market rate of labor, a compensation survey is conducted. A compensation survey obtains data regarding what other firms pay for specific jobs or job classes in a given geographic market. Large companies periodically conduct compensation surveys and review their compensation system to assure external equity.

There are professional organizations that conduct compensation surveys and provide their analysis to smaller companies for a fee. Several factors are generally considered in evaluating the market rate of a job. They include the cost of living of the area, union contracts, and broader economic conditions. Urban or metropolitan areas generally have a higher cost of living than rural areas. Usually, in calculating the real pay, a cost-ofliving allowance (COLA) is added to the base wage or salary. Cost-of-living indexes are published periodically in major business journals. During an economically depressed period, the labor supply usually exceeds the demand in the labor market, resulting in lower labor rates. The characteristics of an individual employee are also important in determining compensation. An individual's job qualifications, abilities and skills, prior experiences, and even willingness to work in hardship conditions are determining factors. Within the reasonable range of a market rate, companies offer additional compensation to attract and retain competent employees. In principle, compensation must be designed around the job, not the person. Person-based pay frequently results in discriminatory practices, which violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and jobbased compensation is the employer's most powerful defense in court. For job-based compensation, management must conduct a systematic job analysis, identifying and describing what is happening on the job. Each job must be carefully examined to list the necessary tasks and actions, identify skills and abilities required, and establish desirable behaviors for successful completion of the job. With complete and comprehensive data about all the jobs, job analysts must conduct systematic comparisons of them and determine their relative worth. Numerous techniques have been developed for the analysis of relative worth, including the simple point method, job classification method, job ranking method, and the factor comparison method. Information resulting from the comprehensive job analysis will be used for establishing pay or wage grades. Assume that twenty-five jobs range from 10 to 50 points in their job scores based on the job point method. All twenty-five of these jobs are reviewed carefully for their relative worth and plotted on Figure 1. The x-axis represents job points and the ordinate (y-axis) represents relative worth or wage rates. Once a manager can identify fair and realistic wages of two or more jobs, desirably top and bottom ones, then all the rest can be prorated along the wage curve in the diagram. In order to simplify the administration of a wage structure, similar jobs in the approximate cluster are grouped together into a class or grade for pay purpose. Figure 2 shows how twenty-five jobs are grouped into five pay grades. Employees move up in their pay within each grade, typically by seniority. Once a person hits the top pay in the grade, he or she can only increase the pay by moving to a higher grade. Under certain unusual circumstances, it is possible for an outstanding performer in a lower grade to be paid more than a person at the bottom of the next-highest level.

INNOVATIONS IN COMPENSATION SYSTEMS

As the market becomes more dynamic and competitive, companies are trying harder to improve performance. Since companies cannot afford to continually increase wages by a certain percentage, they are introducing many innovative compensation plans tied to performance. Several of these plans are discussed in this section.

Incentive Compensation Plan. Incentive compensation pays proportionately to employee performance. Incentives are typically given in addition to the base wage; they can be paid on the basis of individual, group, or plant-wide performance. While individual incentive plans encourage competition among employees, group or plant-wide incentive plans encourage cooperation and direct the efforts of all employees toward achieving overall company performance. Skill-Based or Knowledge-Based Compensation. Skill-based pay is a system that pays employees based on the skills they possess or master, not for the job they hold. Some managers believe that mastery of certain sets of skills leads to higher productivity and therefore want their employees to master a series of skill sets. As employees gain one skill and then another, their wage rate goes up until they have mastered all the skills. Similar to skill-based pay is knowledge-based pay. While skill-based pay evolved in the manufacturing sector, pay-for-knowledge developed in the service sector (Henderson, 1997). For example, public school teachers with a bachelor's degree receive the lowest rate of pay, those with a master's degree receive a higher rate, and those with a doctorate receive the highest. Team-Based Compensation. As many companies introduce team-based management practices such as self-managed work teams, they begin to offer team-based pay. Recognizing the importnace of close cooperation and mutual development in a work group, companies want to encourage employees to work as a team by offering pay based on the overall effectiveness of the team. Performance-Based Compensation. In the traditional sense, pay is considered entitlement that employees deserve in exchange for showing up at work and doing well enough to avoid being fired. While base pay is given to employees regardless of performance, incentives and bonuses are extra rewards given in appreciation of their extra efforts. Pay-for-performance is a new movement away from this entitlement concept (Milkovich and Newman, 1996). A pay-for-performance plan increases even the base payso-called merit increasesto reflect how highly employees are rated on a performance evaluation. Other incentives and bonuses are calculated based on this new merit pay, resulting in substantially more total dollars for highly ranked employee performance. Frequently, employees also receive an end-of-year lump sum bonus that does not build into base pay.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Recently, people have been concerned with the excessively high level of executive compensation. According to Business Week 's annual executive pay survey, in 1997 Sanford Weill, CEO of Travelers Group, collected $7.5 million in salary and bonuses plus $223.2 million for long-term compensation, totaling $230.7 million. In the same year, Roberto Goizueta, CEO of Coca-Cola, earned a total of $111.8 million, including annual salary, bonuses, and long-term compensation. Compensations of the twenty highest-paid executives ranged from $28.4 million to $230 million. Frequently, executive compensation becomes controversial. Are these compensations excessive? What justifies such a large compensation for executives? Justification of such a large sum of compensation is linked to the company's performance. In fact, a significant portion of executive compensation results from exercising stock options, which were quite valuable in the recent "bull" market. And yet ordinary working-class Americans are outraged by the shocking contrast in pay raises: Annual executive pay at large companies rose 54 percent in 1996, whereas the pay raises of most working-class people were in the 3 percent to 5 percent range during the same period.

An executive compensation package is typically composed of (1) base salary, (2) annual incentives or bonuses, (3) long-term incentives (e.g., stock options), (4) executive benefits (e.g., health insurance, life insurance, and pension plans), and (5) executive perquisites. Considering the high turnover rate of competent executives, offering a competitive salary is crucial in attracting the top candidates. Frequently, annual bonuses play a more important role than base salary in executive compensations. They are primarily designed to motivate better performance. In order to underscore the importance of financial performance, usually measured by the company's stock price, top executives are offered stock options. Sometimes, exercising stock options yields more cash benefits to executives than do annual salaries. In addition to monetary compensation, executives enjoy many different types of perquisites, commonly called "perks." Such executive perks include the luxurious office with lush carpets, the executive dining room, special parking, use of a company airplane, company-paid membership in high-class country clubs and associations, and executive travel arrangements. Many companies even offer executives tax-free personal perks, including such things as free access to company property, free legal counseling, free home repairs and improvements, and expenses for vacation homes or boats. Another perk that became popular recently is the so-called golden parachutea protection plan for executives in the event that they are forced out of the organization. Such severance frequently results from a merger or hostile take over of the company. The golden parachute provides either a significant one-time sum to the departing executive or a guaranteed executive position in the newly merged company.

2.What is the Concept of Cost Learning Objectives

To understand the meaning of different costing terms To understand different costing methods To have a basic idea of different costing techniques To understand the meaning of cost sheet

In order to determine and take a dispassionate view about what lies beneath the surface of accounting figures, a financial analyst has to make use of different management accounting techniques. Cost techniques have a precedence over the other techniques since accounting treatment of cost is often both complex and financially significant. For example, if a firm proposes to increase its output by 10%, is it reasonable to expect total cost to increase by less than 10%, exactly 10% or more than 10%? Such questions are concerned with the cost behavior, i.e. the way costs change with the levels of activity. The answers to these questions are very much pertinent for

a management accountant or a financial analyst since they are basic for a firms projections and profits which ultimately become the basis of all financial decisions. It is, therefore, necessary for a financial analyst to have a reasonably good working knowledge about the basic cost concepts and patterns of cost behavior. All these come within the ambit of cost accounting. Meaning of Cost Accounting Previously, cost accounting was merely considered to be a technique for the ascertainment of costs of products or services on the basis of historical data. In course of time, due to competitive nature of the market, it was realized that ascertaining of cost is not so important as controlling costs. Hence, 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 information to management for decision making. According to Charles T. Horngren, cost accounting is a quantitative method that accumulates, classifies, summarizes and interprets information for the following three major purposes:

Operational planning and control Special decisions Product decisions

According to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, London, cost accounting is the process of accounting for costs from the point at which its expenditure is incurred or committed to the establishment of the ultimate relationship with cost units. In its widest sense, it embraces the preparation of statistical data, the application of cost control methods and the ascertainment of the profitability of the activities carried out or planned. Cost accounting, thus, provides various information to management for all sorts of decisions. It serves multiple purposes on account of which it is generally indistinguishable from management accounting or so-called internal accounting. Wilmot has summarized the nature of cost accounting as the analyzing, recording, standardizing, forecasting, comparing, reporting and recommending and the role of a cost accountant as a historian, news agent and prophet. As a historian, he should be meticulously accurate and sedulously impartial. As a news agent, he should be up to

date, selective and pithy. As a prophet, he should combine knowledge and experience with foresight and courage. Objectives of Cost Accounting The main objectives of cost accounting can be summarized as follows: 1. Determining Selling Price Business enterprises run on a profit-making basis. It is, thus, necessary that revenue should be greater than expenditure incurred in producing goods and services from which the revenue is to be derived. Cost accounting provides various information regarding the cost to make and sell such products or services. Of course, many other factors such as the condition of market, the area of distribution, the quantity which can be supplied etc. are also given due consideration by management before deciding upon the price but the cost plays a dominating role. 2. Determining and Controlling Efficiency Cost accounting involves a study of various operations used in manufacturing a product or providing a service. The study facilitates measuring the efficiency of an organization as a whole or department-wise as well as devising means of increasing efficiency. Cost accounting also uses a number of methods, e.g., budgetary control, standard costing etc. for controlling costs. Each item viz. materials, labor and expenses is budgeted at the commencement of a period and actual expenses incurred are compared with budget. This greatly increases the operating efficiency of an enterprise. 3. Facilitating Preparation of Financial and Other Statements The third objective of cost accounting is to produce statements whenever is required by management. The financial statements are prepared under financial accounting generally once a year or half-year and are spaced too far with respect to time to meet the needs of management. In order to operate a business at a high level of efficiency, it is essential for management to have a frequent review of production, sales and operating results. Cost accounting provides daily, weekly or monthly volumes of units produced and accumulated costs with appropriate analysis. A developed cost accounting system provides

immediate information regarding stock of raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods. This helps in speedy preparation of financial statements. 4. Providing Basis for Operating Policy Cost accounting helps management to formulate operating policies. These policies may relate to any of the following matters:
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Determination of a cost-volume-profit relationship Shutting down or operating at a loss Making for or buying from outside suppliers Continuing with the existing plant and machinery or replacing them by improved and economic ones

Concept of Cost Cost accounting is concerned with cost and therefore is necessary to understand the meaning of term cost in a proper perspective. In general, cost means the amount of expenditure (actual or notional) incurred on, or attributable to a given thing. However, the term cost cannot be exactly defined. Its interpretation depends upon the following factors:

The nature of business or industry The context in which it is used

In a business where selling and distribution expenses are quite nominal the cost of an article may be calculated without considering the selling and distribution overheads. At the same time, in a business where the nature of a product requires heavy selling and distribution expenses, the calculation of cost without taking into account the selling and distribution expenses may prove very costly to a business. The cost may be factory cost, office cost, cost of sales and even an item of expense. For example, prime cost includes expenditure on direct materials, direct labor and direct expenses. Money spent on materials is termed as cost of materials just like money spent on labor is called cost of labor and so on. Thus, the use of term cost without understanding the circumstances can be misleading. Different costs are found for different purposes. The work-in-progress is valued at factory cost while stock of finished goods is valued at office cost. Numerous other examples can be given to show that the term cost does not mean the same thing

under all circumstances and for all purposes. Many items of cost of production are handled in an optional manner which may give different costs for the same product or job without going against the accepted principles of cost accounting. Depreciation is one of such items. Its amount varies in accordance with the method of depreciation being used. However, endeavor should be, as far as possible, to obtain an accurate cost of a product or service. 2(b).Elements of Cost Following are the three broad elements of cost: 1. Material The substance from which a product is made is known as material. It may be in a raw or a manufactured state. It can be direct as well as indirect. a. Direct Material The material which becomes an integral part of a finished product and which can be conveniently assigned to specific physical unit is termed as direct material. Following are some of the examples of direct material:

All material or components specifically purchased, produced or requisitioned from stores Primary packing material (e.g., carton, wrapping, cardboard, boxes etc.) Purchased or partly produced components

Direct material is also described as process material, prime cost material, production material, stores material, constructional material etc. b. Indirect Material The material which is used for purposes ancillary to the business and which cannot be conveniently assigned to specific physical units is termed as indirect material. Consumable stores, oil and waste, printing and stationery material etc. are some of the examples of indirect material. Indirect material may be used in the factory, office or the selling and distribution divisions.

2. Labor For conversion of materials into finished goods, human effort is needed and such human effort is called labor. Labor can be direct as well as indirect. a. Direct Labor The labor which actively and directly takes part in the production of a particular commodity is called direct labor. Direct labor costs are, therefore, specifically and conveniently traceable to specific products. Direct labor can also be described as process labor, productive labor, operating labor, etc. b. Indirect Labor The labor employed for the purpose of carrying out tasks incidental to goods produced or services provided, is indirect labor. Such labor does not alter the construction, composition or condition of the product. It cannot be practically traced to specific units of output. Wages of storekeepers, foremen, timekeepers, directors fees, salaries of salesmen etc, are examples of indirect labor costs. Indirect labor may relate to the factory, the office or the selling and distribution divisions. 3. Expenses Expenses may be direct or indirect. a. Direct Expenses These are the expenses that can be directly, conveniently and wholly allocated to specific cost centers or cost units. Examples of such expenses are as follows:

Hire of some special machinery required for a particular contract Cost of defective work incurred in connection with a particular job or contract etc.

Direct expenses are sometimes also described as chargeable expenses. b. Indirect Expenses

These are the expenses that cannot be directly, conveniently and wholly allocated to cost centers or cost units. Examples of such expenses are rent, lighting, insurance charges etc. 4. Overhead The term overhead includes indirect material, indirect labor and indirect expenses. Thus, all indirect costs are overheads. A manufacturing organization can broadly be divided into the following three divisions:
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Factory or works, where production is done Office and administration, where routine as well as policy matters are decided Selling and distribution, where products are sold and finally dispatched to customers

Overheads may be incurred in a factory or office or selling and distribution divisions. Thus, overheads may be of three types: d. Factory Overheads They include the following things: Indirect material used in a factory such as lubricants, oil, consumable stores etc. Indirect labor such as gatekeeper, timekeeper, works managers salary etc. Indirect expenses such as factory rent, factory insurance, factory lighting etc. e. Office and Administration Overheads

They include the following things: Indirect materials used in an office such as printing and stationery material, brooms and dusters etc. Indirect labor such as salaries payable to office manager, office accountant, clerks, etc. Indirect expenses such as rent, insurance, lighting of the office f. Selling and Distribution Overheads

They include the following things:

Indirect materials used such as packing material, printing and stationery material etc. Indirect labor such as salaries of salesmen and sales manager etc. Indirect expenses such as rent, insurance, advertising expenses etc.

Elements of Cost
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Direct material Direct labor Direct expenses Overheads Factory overheads Selling and distribution overheads Office and administration overheads Indirect material Indirect labor Indirect expenses Indirect material Indirect labor Indirect expenses Indirect material Indirect labor Indirect expenses

Components of Total Cost 1. Prime Cost Prime cost consists of costs of direct materials, direct labors and direct expenses. It is also known as basic, first or flat cost. 2. Factory Cost Factory cost comprises prime cost and, in addition, works or factory overheads that include costs of indirect materials, indirect labors and indirect expenses incurred in a factory. It is also known as works cost, production or manufacturing cost. 3. Office Cost

Office cost is the sum of office and administration overheads and factory cost. This is also termed as administration cost or the total cost of production. 4. Total Cost Selling and distribution overheads are added to the total cost of production to get total cost or the cost of sales. Various components of total cost can be depicted with the help of the table below:
Components of total cost Direct material Direct labor Direct expenses Prime cost plus works overheads Works cost plus office and administration overheads Office cost plus selling and distribution overheads Prime cost or direct cost or first cost Works or factory cost or production cost or manufacturing cost Office cost or total cost of production Cost of sales or total cost

Cost Sheet Cost sheet is a document that provides for the assembly of an estimated detailed cost in respect of cost centers and cost units. It analyzes and classifies in a tabular form the expenses on different items for a particular period. Additional columns may also be provided to show the cost of a particular unit pertaining to each item of expenditure and the total per unit cost. Cost sheet may be prepared on the basis of actual data (historical cost sheet) or on the basis of estimated data (estimated cost sheet), depending on the technique employed and the purpose to be achieved. The techniques of preparing a cost sheet can be understood with the help of the following examples. Example 1 Following information has been obtained from the records of left center corporation for the period from June 1 to June 30, 1998.

Cost of raw materials on June 1,1998 Purchase of raw materials during the month Wages paid Factory overheads Cost of work in progress on June 1, 1998 Cost of raw materials on June 30, 1998 Cost of stock of finished goods on June 1, 1998

30,000 4,50,000 2,30,000 92,000 12,000 15,000 60,000

Cost of stock of finished goods on June 30, 1998 55,000 Selling and distribution overheads Sales Administration overheads 20,000 9,00,000 30,000

Prepare a statement of cost. Solution Statement of cost of production of goods manufactured for the period ending on June 30, 1998.
30,000 4,50,000 -----------4,80,000 15,000 4,65,000 2,30,000 6,59,000 92,000 7,87,000 12,000 7,99,000 --7,99,000 30,000 8,29,000 60,000 8,89,000

Opening stock of raw materials Add-- purchase

Less-- closing stock of raw material Value of raw materials consumed Wages Prime cost Factory overheads Add-- opening stock of work in progress Less-- closing stock of work in progress Factory cost Add-- Administration overhead Cost of production of goods manufactured Add--opening stock of finished goods

Less-- closing stock of finished goods Cost of production of goods sold Add-- selling and distribution overheads Cost of sales Profit Sales

55,000 8,34,000 20,000 8,54,000 46,000 9,00,000