2.4: Resumen y términos clave

Resúmenes de sección

2.1 Distinguir entre Organizaciones de Merchandising, Manufactura y Servicios

• Las organizaciones de comercialización, manufactura y servicios difieren en lo que brindan a los consumidores; sin embargo, los tres tipos de empresas deben controlar los costos para seguir siendo rentables. El tipo de costos en los que incurren está determinado principalmente por el producto/bien, o servicio que brindan.
• Como el tipo de organización difiere, también lo hace la forma en que contabilizan los costos. Algunas de estas diferencias se reflejan en la cuenta de resultados.

2.2 Identificar y aplicar patrones básicos de comportamiento de costos

• Los costos pueden clasificarse ampliamente como costos fijos o variables. Sin embargo, para que los gerentes puedan administrar de manera efectiva, estas dos clasificaciones de costos a menudo se amplían aún más para incluir costos mixtos, escalonados, prime y de conversión.
• Para las empresas manufactureras, es esencial que diferencien entre materiales directos, mano de obra directa y gastos generales de fabricación para identificar y administrar los costos totales de sus productos.
• Para fines de planeación, los gerentes deben tener cuidado de considerar el rango relevante porque solo dentro de este rango relevante los costos fijos totales permanecen constantes.

2.3 Estimar una ecuación de costo variable y fijo y predecir costos futuros

• Para tomar decisiones comerciales, los gerentes pueden utilizar datos de costos pasados para predecir costos futuros empleando tres métodos: gráficos de dispersión, el método alto-bajo y análisis de regresión de mínimos cuadrados.
• Los gráficos de dispersión se utilizan como herramienta de diagnóstico para determinar si la relación entre actividad y costo es una relación lineal.
• Tanto el método alto-bajo como el método de regresión de mínimos cuadrados separan los costos mixtos en sus componentes fijos y variables para permitir a los gerentes predecir costos futuros a partir de costos históricos.

Términos Clave

average fixed cost (AFC)

total fixed costs divided by the total number of units produced, which results in a per-unit cost

average variable cost (AVC)

total variable costs divided by the total number of units produced, which results in a per-unit cost

conversion costs

total of labor and overhead for a product; the costs that “convert” the direct material into the finished product

cost driver

activity that is the reason for the increase or decrease of another cost; examples include labor hours incurred, labor costs paid, amounts of materials used in production, units produced, or any other activity that has a cause-and-effect relationship with incurred costs

direct labor

labor directly related to the manufacturing of the product or the production of a service

direct materials

materials used in the manufacturing process that can be traced directly to the product

fixed cost

unavoidable operating expense that does not change in total, regardless of the level of activity

high-low method

technique for separating the fixed and variable cost components of mixed costs

indirect labor

labor not directly involved in the active conversion of materials into finished products or the provision of services

indirect materials

materials used in production but not efficiently traceable to a specific unit of production

intangible good

good with financial value but no physical presence; examples include copyrights, patents, goodwill, and trademarks

manufacturing organization

business that uses parts, components, or raw materials to produce finished goods

manufacturing overhead

costs incurred in the production process that are not economically feasible to measure as direct material or direct labor costs; examples include indirect material, indirect labor, utilities, and depreciation

merchandising firm

business that purchases finished products and resells them to consumers

mixed costs

expenses that have a fixed component and a variable component

period costs

typically related to a particular time period instead of attached to the production of an asset; treated as an expense in the period incurred (examples include many sales and administrative expenses)

prime costs

direct material expenses and direct labor costs

product costs

all expenses required to manufacture the product: direct materials, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead

relevant range

quantitative range of units that can be produced based on the company’s current productive assets; for example, if a company has sufficient fixed assets to produce up to 10,000 units of product, the relevant range would be between 0 and 10,000 units

scatter graph

plot of pairs of numerical data that represents actual costs incurred for various levels of activity, with one variable on each axis, used to determine whether there is a relationship between them

service organization

business that earns revenue primarily by providing an intangible product

stepped cost

one that changes with the level of activity but will remain constant within a relevant range

tangible good

physical good that customers can handle and see

total cost

sum of all fixed and all variable costs

total fixed costs

sum of all fixed costs

total variable costs

sum of all variable costs

variable cost

one that varies in direct proportion to the level of activity within the business

Contributors and Attributions

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