Product Cost Definition Formula Examples With Calculation

Product Cost Definition

Examples of Product cost mainly include the following expenses:-

Direct material (DM)Direct labor (DL)Factory overheads (FOH)

The cost of material and labor are the direct costsDirect CostsDirect cost refers to the cost of operating core business activity—production costs, raw material cost, and wages paid to factory staff. Such costs can be determined by identifying the expenditure on cost objects.read more while the factory overheads are the indirect costsIndirect CostsIndirect cost is the cost that cannot be directly attributed to the production. These are the necessary expenditures and can be fixed or variable in nature like the office expenses, administration, sales promotion expense, etc.read more, all of which are required to create a finished good (or service) ready to sell from raw material.

As per GAAP and IFRS, the product costs are required to get capitalized as inventory in the balance sheet and should not be expensed in the profit and loss statements because the expenditures to such costs generate benefits and value for future periods.

Types of Product Costs

#1 – Direct Material

The raw materials that get transformed into a finished good by applying direct labor and factory overheads are direct in cost accountingCost AccountingCost accounting is a defined stream of managerial accounting used for ascertaining the overall cost of production. It measures, records and analyzes both fixed and variable costs for this purpose.read more. Direct materialsDirect MaterialsDirect materials are raw materials that are directly used in the manufacturing process of a company’s goods and/or services and are an essential component of the finished goods manufactured.read more are those raw materials that can be easily identified and measured.

For example, an automobile manufacturing company typically requires plastic and metal to create a car. The amount of these resources can be easily counted or kept as a record. However, manufacturing a car also requires lubricants like oils and grease. Still, it is very difficult or insignificant to trace the low value of grease used in a particular vehicle hence referred to as indirect costs.

#2 – Direct Labor

Direct laborers are the employees or the labor force that gets directly involved in producing or manufacturing finished goods from raw materials. The direct labor costsDirect Labor CostsDirect labor costs refer to the total cost incurred by the company for paying the wages and other benefits to its employees against the task performed by them, which are straight away related to the manufacturing of the products or provision of the services.read more are the salaries, wages, and benefits (like insurance) paid to these labor forces against their services.

For example, the workers in an assembly line of an automobile factory that weld the metal, fix the screw, apply oil and grease, and assemble pieces of metals and plastic into a car are direct laborers. However, for a particular employee to be classified as direct labor, it must be directly associated with a specific job. E.g., a secretary at a large automobile manufacturing company has to perform a variety of roles as and when required. Thus it gets difficult to quantify the number of benefits created by assembling a car. Hence it is not direct labor.

#3 – Factory Overheads

The indirect expense related to manufacturing a finished product that cannot be directly traced is the factory or manufacturing overheadsManufacturing OverheadsManufacturing Overhead is the total of all the indirect costs involved in manufacturing a product like Property Tax on the production premise, Remunerations of maintenance personnel, Rent of the manufacturing building, etc. read more. In other words, overheads are that costOverheads Are That CostOverhead cost are those cost that is not related directly on the production activity and are therefore considered as indirect costs that have to be paid even if there is no production. Examples include rent payable, utilities payable, insurance payable, salaries payable to office staff, office supplies, etc.read more that is neither direct material nor direct labor. That is why overheads are indirect costs that include indirect labor and material costs.

Indirect Material – The materials used in the manufacturing process cannot be traced directly as raw materials are indirect materials. E.g., grease, oil, welding rods, glue, tape, cleaning supplies, etc., are all indirect materials. It is difficult and not cost-effective to determine the exact expense of indirect materials applied to a single unit of a product.Indirect Labor – The workers or employees required for the smooth functioning of the production process but do not get directly involved in creating a finished product are indirect materials. E.g., quality assurance teams, security guards, supervisors, etc., in the manufacturing premise are classified as the indirect laborIndirect LaborEmployees who are not directly involved in the production of finished goods or services are classified as indirect labour. They do, however, contribute to the production and manufacturing ecosystem. Accountants, human resources, sales and marketing teams, are it’s examples.read more force. The associated costs in their salaries, wages and other benefits are considered indirect labor costs.Other Overheads – The factory overheadsThe Factory OverheadsFactory Overhead, also called Factory Burden, is the total of all the indirect expenses related to the production of goods such as Quality Assurance Salaries, Factory Rent, & Factory Building Insurance etc. read more that fall under the above two categories of factory overheads can be classified as other factory overheads. E.g., electricity expenses cannot be classified as material or labor. Similarly, costs like factory and equipment depreciation, insurance costs, property taxes on factory premises, factory rent or leaseLeaseLeasing is an arrangement in which the asset’s right is transferred to another person without transferring the ownership. In simple terms, it means giving the asset on hire or rent. The person who gives the asset is “Lessor,” the person who takes the asset on rent is “Lessee.”read more, the cost to utilities, etc.;

Formula

However, it is always better to calculate this cost per unit as it can help decide the appropriate sales price of the finished product. To determine this cost on a per-unit basis, divide this cost as calculated above by the number of units produced.

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To avoid losses, the sales price must be equal to or greater than the product cost per unit. If the sale price is equal, it is a break-even situation, i.e., no profit or loss, and the sales price covers the cost per unit. On the other hand, a sales price higher than the cost per unit results in gains.

Examples of Product Cost

Example #1 – Direct Material Purchase Budget

A direct Material Purchase Budget is required to create a product. The budget is required to calculate the amount of raw material that needs to be purchased for the production process and estimate the related costs.

Let’s say Raymond’s Pvt. Ltd, a small shirt manufacturing company, requires fabric, thread, and buttons. Consider the direct raw material to be just fabric, while the requirements of the other two materials cannot be directly tracked and are hence considered indirect.

The company targets to produce the following number of shirts in each quarter of the year. Data collected from the production budget:-

Raymond management collects the following details to create its direct raw material budget:

The cost of fabric is $80 per kilo. The production department requires 500 grams (or 0.5 kg) of fabric to manufacture a single shirt.Management decides to store at least 10% of fabric for the following-quarter production requirements.At the beginning of the year (January-1), the opening value of the stock of fabric was 210 kilos.Assume the desired value of ending inventoryEnding InventoryThe ending inventory formula computes the total value of finished products remaining in stock at the end of an accounting period for sale. It is evaluated by deducting the cost of goods sold from the total of beginning inventory and purchases.read more is 250 kilos at the end of the year (quarter 4)

Use the following two accounting equationsAccounting EquationsAccounting Equation is the primary accounting principle stating that a business’s total assets are equivalent to the sum of its liabilities & owner’s capital. This is also known as the Balance Sheet Equation & it forms the basis of the double-entry accounting system. read more will help to create the budget:-

Raw material to be Purchased = Total Raw Material Required – Beginning Raw Material Inventory.

Ending Note: The product cost related to direct materials can be determined through a budget that estimates the desired quantity of direct material required for a period and its related costs.

Example #2 – Direct Labor Budget

A direct Labor Budget is required to estimate the labor force requirements to produce the required units of goods per the production budgetThe Production BudgetProduction Budget is a type of financial planning that relates to the units of product that management believes the company should produce in the coming period to match the estimated sales quantity, which is based on the management’s assessment of market competition, economic conditions, production capacity, consumer prevailing market demands, and historical trends.read more. Therefore, it calculates the cost based on labor hours and units produced per labor.

Assume that in Raymond’s Pvt. Ltd:

The time required by a sewing machine operator to stitch a single piece of shirt is 0.5 hours—also, other laborers need 0.2 hrs per shirt for buttoning and finishing work.The company costs $50 per hour for a machine operator and $15 per hour for other laborers.

Ending Note: The Direct labor budget calculates the cost related to the labor force engaged in the production process and estimates the required labor force in numbers. Thus management can anticipate hiring needs and budget its costs.

Example #3 – Factory Overhead Budget

The budget includes every cost related to the production process other than costs related to direct materialDirect MaterialDirect materials are raw materials that are directly used in the manufacturing process of a company’s goods and/or services and are an essential component of the finished goods manufactured.read more and direct labor. The final costs determined as per the overhead budget are not capitalized under the balance sheetBalance SheetA balance sheet is one of the financial statements of a company that presents the shareholders’ equity, liabilities, and assets of the company at a specific point in time. It is based on the accounting equation that states that the sum of the total liabilities and the owner’s capital equals the total assets of the company.read more but expensed in the income statement as cost of goods soldCost Of Goods SoldThe Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is the cumulative total of direct costs incurred for the goods or services sold, including direct expenses like raw material, direct labour cost and other direct costs. However, it excludes all the indirect expenses incurred by the company. read more.

Also, the overall cost determined under the overhead budgetOverhead BudgetOverhead Budget is prepared to forecast and present all the expected costs concerning manufacturing the goods that the company expects to incur in the next year. It excludes the direct material and the direct labor cost and the information of which becomes part of the cost of the goods sold in the master budget.read more is converted into per unit terms to determine the cost of ending inventory. The ending inventory becomes a part of the balance sheet.

The budget for factory overheadFactory OverheadFactory Overhead, also called Factory Burden, is the total of all the indirect expenses related to the production of goods such as Quality Assurance Salaries, Factory Rent, & Factory Building Insurance etc. read more costs of “Raymond’s Pvt Ltd” is presented in the following table:-

Ending Note: The factory overhead budget helped the company’s management estimate the variable and fixed factory overheads separately and helped determine the required amount of cash to be disbursed to meet overhead expenses.

Example #4 – Budget

The management of Raymond’s has estimated its costs to direct material, direct labor, and factory overhead costs.

The most crucial step of the whole budgeting process is determining the overall and expected product cost per unit (shirt).

The management of the company adds all the components of cost together to reach the total product cost as presented below:-

Ending Note: The Product cost budget determines the overall expenses incurred by an entity to create a product on a periodical basis. The management can further calculate the cost per unit by dividing the estimated units produced as per the production budget.

Under-pricing means the entity is charging less than the product cost -> Losses.Overpricing leads customers to look for substitutes ->, less demand, -> Losses.

In our example, quarterly, Raymond’s management determines all product cost components, including direct material, direct labor, and factory overhead costs. With the help of this data, an overall cost is determined on both a quarterly and annual basis.

An average product cost per shirt of $103 is then determined by dividing the total annual product cost of $2.23 million by the annual production of 21720 shirts. The company should charge an amount higher than $103 per piece of its shirts.