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Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich)

Basics of Cost Accounting: Product Costing

Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich) via Coursera

Overview

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The core of the first course is to learn how companies record total costs and calculate unit costs for their individual products or services. For example, how can a car manufacturer figure out the costs of an individual car series? During the first weeks, participants learn what costs are and how to distinguish them from expenses or cash flows. Participants will understand how companies record total costs and distinguish important cost types such as material costs, personnel costs, or depreciation. At the core of their cost-accounting system, companies allocate overhead costs to individual products. We show participants how to allocate the costs incurred to the company's products and introduce them to the most important methods and challenges of product costing.

Syllabus

  • Introduction to cost accounting
    • Welcome to Cost Accounting! In this module, we will introduce you to the basic concepts of cost accounting. You will learn what cost accounting is and how cost accounting relates to corporate accounting. Thereafter, you will get familiar with some basic cost terms that are essential for cost accountants. Finally, we will introduce you to a framework that distinguishes three sub-systems of cost accounting. This framework will guide us through the following modules.
  • Cost-type accounting
    • In this module, we will introduce you to cost-type accounting - the first of the three cost accounting sub-systems. Cost-type accounting helps companies to make their cost structure transparent. It gives companies an overview of which costs have been incurred. We will take a closer look at three important cost items namely material costs, personnel costs, and machine costs. You will learn how companies record and calculate them.
  • Cost-center accounting
    • In this module, we will dive into cost-center accounting. Cost-center accounting creates transparency about where, i.e. in which cost center, the overhead costs of a company have been incurred. It connects cost-type accounting with product costing by performing three allocation steps: First, overhead costs from cost-type accounting are assigned to cost centers. However, ultimately cost accountants want to assign the costs to cost objects. Because this is easier for costs of production-related cost centers ("direct cost centers") than for costs of "indirect cost centers" such as the IT or the canteen, companies allocate overhead costs from indirect to direct cost centers first. Finally, they determine overhead rates for the allocation of overhead costs from direct cost centers to cost objects. In this module, we will introduce you to each of these steps.
  • Product and service costing
    • In this module, we introduce you to product and service costing. Product and service costing provides companies with information about the costs of individual products or services. It is the final of the three cost accounting sub-systems. We will sometimes just refer to product and service costing as "product costing", but of course some companies offer physical products while others offer services. We explain how companies design product costing systems and we make you familiar with important methods of product costing. We also discuss how well the costing methods are suited for different production processes and program types. To this end, we will distinguish "job shop production" and "mass and batch production".

Taught by

Peter Schaefer, Marcus Witter and Gunther Friedl

Reviews

4.3 rating, based on 6 Class Central reviews

4.7 rating at Coursera based on 214 ratings

Start your review of Basics of Cost Accounting: Product Costing

  • Anonymous
    This course provide me clear understanding on cost allocation ,cost classification, process costing, cost allocation overheads and product costing methods. It is very easy to understand with videos. This course provides a effective link between the theoretical concepts with practical application in the Manufacturing as well as service industries. Overall its a nice course to enhance my skills in cost accounting.
  • Anonymous
    Saya benar-benar menikmati kelas ini! Materi diuraikan dengan baik, terstruktur, dan mudah dipahami, bahkan bagi orang yang baru memulai. Video pembelajaran bersama tugas-tugasnya sangat membantu saya dalam memahami konsep lebih dalam. Saya juga suka karena pengajar menunjukkan contoh nyata yang membuat teori menjadi lebih konek. Kelas ini sangat berguna untuk memperluas wawasan saya. Sangat dianjurkan!
  • Profile image for Pooja Kaushik
    Pooja Kaushik
    Highly recommendable, It gives basic knowledge of all types of costing, applying different methods to record all cost data related to product costing. And also give references of other resources with good examples.
  • Anonymous
    دورة رائعة توضح اساسيات محاسبة التكاليف ابتداءا من تعريق دقيق لمفهوم التكلفة والفرق بينه وبين التدفقات النقدية الخارجة والمصروفات وتعريف الانظمة الثلاثة للتكاليف ابتداءا من محاسبة نوع التكلفة الذي يبين مقدار التكاليف التي تتحملها المؤسسة ثم محاسبة مراكز التكلفة التي تجيب على اي مركز تكلفة تم تحمل هذه التاكاليف والنوع الثالث الذي يجيب عن مقدار التكاليف لكل منتج معين شكرا جزيلا كورسيرا على منحي هذه الفر صة للتأهيل الفني
  • Anonymous
    Highly Recommended, explanation of all types of costig, machine costing and process costing will change your outlook as to how companies evaluate the cost of their products. The quizzes will allow you to solidify the different costing processes. The teacher is very knowledgable and highly efficient in explanation. Do this course. Recommended for all accountants and decision makers.
  • Anonymous
    Foi um bom curso de Fundamentos da Contabilidade de Custos - Custeio de Produtos. Como primeiro curso na plataforma Coursera, achei o conteúdo bem organizado e os materiais úteis. A experiência contribuiu para minha compreensão dos conceitos e me motivou a continuar os estudos para meu desenvolvimento profissional.

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