Essentials Of Cost Accounting

Essentials of COST ACCOUNTING BY JOHN G. BLOCKER, PH. D. Professor of Accounting and Chairman ofAccounling Department University of Kansas FIRST EDITION FOURTH IMPRESSION McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. NEW YORK AND LONDON 1942 ESSENTIALS OP COST ACCOUNTING COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY THE McGRAW-HiLL BOOK COMPANY, INC. PBINTED IN THE UNITED BTATE8 OP AMERICA All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publishers. THE MAPLE PRESS COMPANY, YORK, PA. PREFACE This text has been prepared in recognition of the apparent need for a comparatively short book presenting the essentials or fundamentals of cost control and accounting to students wh will study cost accounting for one term, comprising a three-hour, two-hour, or one-quarter course. The book is planned to serve students who have a broad interest in the field of cost accounting and who are interested in understanding the rela tionships between financial and cost accounting. The subject is intro duced in an elementary form so that students who have had only one course in financial accounting will encounter no difficulties in making the transition from their first course in accounting to cost accounting. The importance of budgetary control is especially emphasized and the inter relation between budgeting and cost accounting is explained and illus trated. The book, written during defense preparations and actual war conditions, particularly stresses cost control and accounting for industrial enterprises, but does not neglect the important problems of control and accounting for distribution and administrative costs. The text is not a revision of Cost Accounting, which was written by theauthor in 1940, but is an abridged edition containing a condensa tion, reorganization, and simplification of much of the material appearing in the earlier 705-page book. A number of chapters dealing with special ized cost techniques have been omitted, other chapters have been con densed, and new material has been added. The first eight chapters explain the fundamentals of cost control and accounting applicable to all types of concerns and to each of the three divisions of the business enterprise. Chapters IX-XVII deal with the important principles of production and manufacturing costs. Job order costs are explained in four chapters process costs are discussed in two chapters joint cost and by-product accounting are introduced in a short chapter and the section is concluded with two chapters dealing with standard costs in manufacturing enterprises. Chapters XVIII-XX explain methods of controlling and accounting for distribution and administrative costs. Chapter XVIII describes accounting for actual distribution costs Chap. XIX explains the use of standards in controlling distribution costs and Chap. XX deals with actual and standard cost methods employed in controlling administrative costs. Vi PREFACE The book may be used equally well in a three-hour, two-hour, or one quarter course. Instructors teaching a two-hour or a one-quarter course will be able to cover the 20 chapters and assign several problems for each chapter or, in lieu of some of the problems, they may elect to use either the Production Order Job Order Cost Practice Set or the Process Cost Practice Set. Instructors teaching a three-hour course will have ade quate material for their students with the 20 chapters of text, theques tions and problems accompanying each chapter, and one or both of the practice sets. Numerous cost charts, diagrams, forms and schedules to illustrate cost methods and procedures are included. The author gratefully acknowledges the constructive suggestions of L. L. Vance of the University of California and K. Louhi of the University of Kansas and the cooperation of colleagues on the School of Business staff. JOHN G. BLOCKER. LAWRENCE, KANSAS, June, 1942. PRBFACB...