produced, 10.
Oper-
ative
Actual
Time
Time
Saved
Wages
Pre-
mium
Total
Earnings
Rate
per Hour
Cost per
Piece
No. 1
100 min.
50 cts.
cts.
50.0 cts.
30 cts.
5.00 cts.
2
90
10%
45 "
4.5 "
49.5 "
33 "
4.95 "
3
80
20%
40 '
8.0 "
48.0 "
36 "
4.80 "
4
70
30%
35 '
10.5 "
45.5 "
39 "
4.55 "
5
60
40%
30 '
12.0 "
42.0 "
42 "
4.20 "
6
50
50%
25 '
12.5 "
37.5 "
45 "
3.75 "
7
40
60%
20 '
12.0 "
32.0 "
48 "
3.20 "
8
30
70%
15 '
10.5 "
25.5 "
51 "
2.55 "
11. Summary
From the foregoing description of different wage
systems, it will be seen that in offering a bonus or pre-
mium as an incentive to efficiency it is necessary to estab-
lish two standards a low one which can be attained by
the conscientious workman of average skill, and a high
one which no worker is expected to exceed. The pre-
mium is graduated to correspond with the workman's
approach to the high standard. A flat piece rate or a
premium for completing a given task within a set time
does not offer the same incentive as an increasing hourly
rate of pay for increased production. If the plan of
wage payment results in lowering the cost of labor and
overhead on the product while it increases wages, both
employer and employee are satisfied. Whatever plan is
put into operation, the workmen must be satisfied that
it is fair and that it does not impose too severe a task
upon them.
208 LABOR COSTS
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1 . What is the day-rate system of wage payment?
2 . What is the piece-work system ? What are its advantages and
disadvantages ?
3 . How are piece-work rates fixed ?
4. If an operative receives 30 cents per hour and under the most
favorable conditions can do one piece in four minutes, what
would the proper piece-work rate be? Allow 10% of each
hour for rest. Increase hourly rate one-third.
5. How does the differential piece-work system operate? Illus-
trate. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
6. What are the peculiar features of the Gantt system of paying
wages ?
Part VI
Indirect Expense
CHAPTER XVII
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF
EXPENSE *
1. Problem of Expense Distribution
An indirect expense represents a factory purchase
or expense of some kind which cannot be charged di-
rectly to the cost of manufacture because there is no
direct relation between the cost of the article produced
and the consumption of the thing purchased or the ex-
pense incurred. The difficulty is overcome by charging
the article or each lot of the product with a certain
amount of the factory "overhead" or "burden," this
burden comprising all the indirect expense incurred dur-
ing the period.
The opening and closing of expense accounts and
the mechanism employed in the distribution of expense
form perhaps the most perplexing phase of cost account-
ing. Rarely is the matter handled in exactly the same
way in two- different factories. In some cases an analy-
sis of great refinement is required for the purpose of
controlling expense in all its details; in other cases the
saving of clerical work is a consideration and an exact
allocation is not attempted ; while in still other cases the
nature of the product and the size of the factory deter-
mine the expense accounts to be operated. In all cases,
however, the distribution of expense involves the follow-
ing steps:
See also Chapter VIII.
211
212 INDIRECT EXPENSE
1. Charging actual monthly overhead to produc-
tive, non-productive, and miscellaneous de-
partments by means of distribution sheets,
according to different bases.
2 . Monthly closing of the overhead of non-produc-
tive and miscellaneous departments into pro-
ductive overhead accounts.
3 . Application of predetermined overhead rates
derived from past experience on the cost
basis for each productive department, which
may be direct labor cost, direct labor hours,
or machine hours, etc., at which time the
Work in Process account is charged and the
proper departmental overhead account is
credited.
4 . Any difference between actual overhead charges
during the month and applied overhead
is, if small, closed into the monthly Profit
and Loss account, or held in suspense until
the end of the year. If the balance remaining
in the overhead expense account is relatively
large, it means that the inventory must be
refigured in order that a correct balance sheet
and profit and loss account may be made up.
In order to illustrate the practical application of the
foregoing principles, reference is made to the chart of
expense account classifications for a worsted mill (Form
32). On this chart are listed three operating depart-
ments and several miscellaneous or service departments.
Under each departmental heading is given the source
from which the information pertaining to the expense
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF EXPENSE 213
charge is obtained. It will be noticed that in all cases
the pay-roll, purchases, and stores have been allocated
to the various accounts. The miscellaneous accounts,
such as power and general and office expense, are closed
out to the operating department accounts. The total
expense for the current period is now segregated under
the various operating departments. The last step in
handling the expense accounts is, of course, to appor-
tion the departmental expenses to the product and make
an entry charging the Work in Process account and
crediting the operating accounts. This is, of course,
typical of the procedure followed in nearly all factories
where several departments are operated.
2. Classification of Expense
For purposes of discussion the expenditures which
are, or may become, chargeable as expense, may be
divided into those for:
1 . Supplies.
2. Plant machinery and equipment.
3. Outside service such as taxes, insurance, tele-
phone, gas, and the like.
4. Inside services which include all clerical and
factory indirect labor.
The expenditures for items 1 and 3 are recorded in
the purchase journal or voucher register, in which the
classification of the invoices under the head of expense
first begins. The employment of inside services is first
entered on time tickets and from there is recorded on
the pay-roll which, when properly arranged, serves for
the classification of direct and indirect labor.
INDIRECT EXPENSE
SUPPLIES
OPERAT-
ING DE-
PART-
MENTS
EXPENSE
ACCOUNTS
OPERATIKO
DEPT. A
EXPENSE
OPERATING
DEPT. B
EXPENSE
Acct.
No.
Fuel, Dyestuffs, Drugs, etc. 1
CARDING AND COMBING DEPART-
MENT
Current Charges:
Pay-Roil Indirect Labor.... 10
Purchases 11
Stores Supplies 12
Repairs 13
Power 14
Building and Occupancy Exp. 15
General and Office Expense. . . 16
Dyeing 17
Prepaid and Accrued Charges:
Depreciation 18
Insurance 19
Taxes 20
Waste Credits 21
DRAWING AND SPINNING DEPART-
MENT
Current Charges:
Pay-Roll Indirect Labor ... 30
Purchases 31
Stores Supplies 32
Repairs 33
Power 34
Building and Occupancy Exp. 35
General and Office Expense.. 36
Prepaid and Accrued Charges:
Depreciation 37
Insurance 38
Taxes 39
Waste Credits 40
TWISTING DEPARTMENT
Current Charges:
Pay- Roll Indirect Labor ... CO
Purchases 61
Stores Supplies 52
Repairs 53
Power 54
Building and Occupancy Exp. 55
General and Office Expense.. 56
Prepaid and Accrued Charges:
Depreciation 57
Insurance 58
Taxes 59
Waste Credits . . 60
Form 32. (a) Chart showing Classification
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF EXPENSE 215
OPERAT-
ING DE-
PART-
MENTS
EXPENSE
ACCOUNTS
(Continued)
OPERATING
DEFT. C
EXPENSE
Acct
No.
WEAVING DAPARTMENT
Current Charges:
Pay-Roil Indirect Labor
Warp Preparation 70
(Spooling, Warping,
Beaming, Slashing, Draw-
ing-in)
Filling Preparation 71
(Winding)
Weaving Day- Work 72
Purchases 73
Stores Supplies 74
Repairs 75
Power 76
Building and Occupancy Exp. 77
General and Office Expense. . 78
Prepaid and Accrued Charges:
Depreciation 79
Insurance 80
Taxes 81
Waste Credits 82
CLOTH ROOM
Current Charges:
Pay-Roll Indirect Labor ... 90
Purchases 91
Stores Supplies 92
Repairs 93
Power 94
Building and Occupancy Exp. 95
General and Office Expense.. 96
Prepaid and Accrued Charges:
Depreciation 97
Insurance 98
Taxes 99
FINISHING DEPARTMENT
Current Charges:
Pay-Roll Indirect Labor ... 110
Purchases Ill
Stores Supplies 112
Repairs 113
Power 114
Building and Occupancy Exp. 115
General and Office Expense.. 116
Dyeing 117
Prepaid and Accrued Charges:
Depreciation 118
Insurance 119
Taxes . 120
of Expense Accounts Worsted Mill
216
INDIRECT EXPENSE
Acct.
No.
DYEING DEPARTMENT
Pay-Roil 130
Purchases 131
Stores Supplies 132
REPAIR DEPARTMENT
Pay-Roll 140
Purchases 141
Stores Supplies 142
POWER
Pay-Roil 150
Fuel 151
Oils 152
MISCEL- Purchases 153
LANEOUS Stores-Supplies 154
ACCOUNTS Repairs 15
CLOSED Our TO J BUILDING AND OCCUPANCY EXPENSE
OPERATING Rent 160
DEPARTMENTS Light 161
A, B & C Purchases 162
EXPENSE Stores Supplies 163
Repairs 164
GENERAL AND OFFICE EXPENSE
Current Charges:
Pay-Roil 170
Purchases 171
Stores Supplies 172
Repairs 173
Samples 174
Seconds 175
Prepaid and Accrued Charges:
Depreciation 176
Insurance 177
Taxes 178
RESERVE FOR DEPRECIATION 180
AiD
AND
AfTRTTFD l I Jl ** niA3ira l PREPAID 190
^ TAXES ACCRUED 200
PAY-ROLL ..210
Form 32. (b) Chart showing Classification of Expense Accounts
Worsted Mill (Continued)
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF EXPENSE 17
3. Purchase Journal Analysis
The accounting principle has been explained in
Chapter VIII, that, if only part of an expense purchase
is applicable to current operations, the purchase is
charged to a ledger account (prepaid expense) which
at the close of the period is credited with the portion
applicable to that period, the corresponding debit being
to an appropriate expense account. If the whole of
the expenditure is chargeable to the period, it constitutes
a charge to the expense of operation, i.e., to the depart-
ment or departments which benefit from it.
The application of this principle to the analysis of
expense purchase invoices necessitates their classification
into those for the needs of the factory as a whole, and
those for the current needs of particular departments.
Expenditures for such assets as machinery or supplies,
or such deferred asset items as prepaid insurance, are
made for the factory as a whole, and some of the items
or some part of the items may not be consumed in
manufacture and not be applicable to costs until an en-
suing period or periods. Expenditures for current needs
should be departmentalized at their source by classifica-
tion under suitable departmental expense account head-
ings. For example, an advertising department may be
continually ordering electros, printed matter of various
kinds, and frequently inserting advertisements in news-
papers and magazines. Obviously, the only practical
way to classify such items is under the head of "Adver-
tising Expense." The same observations apply to the
classification of other invoices, such as those covering
the cost of operating a power plant, the factory offices,
the stores and receiving rooms, and so on. In short,
218 INDIRECT EXPENSE
whenever numerous expense purchases have to be made
for the needs of special departments, because the nature
of their work does not permit the filling of their require-
ments through stores, separate departmental expense
accounts are opened and a column is allotted in the pur-
chase journal to each department.
Not all invoices, however, can be classified under the
foregoing heads. Some payments will represent ex-
penses incurred for the factory as a whole, such as tele-
grams, legal fees, etc. Invoices of this character are
usually classified and posted to appropriate general ex-
pense accounts on the ledger. These ledger accounts
are ultimately closed out by distribution over depart-
ments.
4. Subsidiary Expense Ledger
One of the first requirements of a cost system is the
analysis of expense as far as it is worth while. As the
grouping of miscellaneous invoices under department
headings in the purchase journal does not always afford
this analysis, it is frequently the practice to supplement
the department journal column with a subsidiary ex-
pense ledger on which payments are analyzed in any de-
sired detail.
This analysis of expense is primarily the function of
the purchase journal or voucher register. This journal
or register has, however, its limitation, which is the num-
ber of columns it can conveniently handle. To supple-
ment the purchase journal analysis, while all stores pur-
chased for the factory are grouped under the heading
"Stores" in the journal, as already explained, the details
of the invoices are shown in the stores ledger; ih the
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF EXPENSE 219
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UJ
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UJ
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220 INDIRECT EXPENSE
same way the details of the plant column total are shown
in the plant ledger. This principle may also be applied
to the analysis of power, advertising, office, or any other
department expense total. In all these cases, instead
of the analysis being shown in a number of accounts on
the general ledger, it is shown on a subsidiary ledger.
Thus while the purchase journal column may show
the total expenditures for advertising, period by period,
and reference to the Advertising Expense account shows
the total amount for the year, reference to the subsidiary
expense ledger will give the details of this total adver-
tising expense so much for newspaper and magazine
advertising, for printing circulars, for postage, salaries,
rent, supplies, etc. month by month and year by year
as the monthly entries accumulate. Kept in this way
the subsidiary expense ledger is a very valuable record
for administrative purposes.
In a small organization, a single columnar sheet, as
shown in Form 33, may be employed for the purpose of
classifying expenses, instead of a separate sheet for each
department.
5. Expenditures Inside Expense Service
The services within the factory which are to be
treated as overhead comprise all those factory activities
which have no direct relation to the making of the prod-
uct. The pay-roll shows the payments made in each de-
partment for both direct and indirect labor. This clas-
sification, however, does not go far enough for cost
purposes. While it informs the management as to the
total amount of the payments for indirect labor, it does
not give the details of these payments.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF EXPENSE
Thus, in every factory, floors must be swept, win-
dows cleaned, walls and ceilings painted and kalsomined,
machines and fixtures repaired, boys employed to run on
errands, clerks employed to make up the pay-roll, take
care of stores, receive and ship goods, and so on. Un-
less the cost of such activities is ascertained from period
to period, they cannot be properly controlled and serious
leakage may result. Moreover, these activities involve
expenditures in addition to the wages entered on the
pay-roll. Materials are consumed in repairs and paint-
ing, clerks use stationery, desks, desk-room, and so on.
Therefore, when it is desired to ascertain the cost of such
activities separately, functional expense accounts are
opened, such as "Window-Cleaning," "Repairs to Ma-
chinery," "Messenger Service," etc., and each account
is charged with all expenditures made for the purpose
of carrying on its particular activity. The method of
obtaining the charges to these accounts is explained in
the following chapter.
It will be readily seen that the more detailed the
analysis of the expenditures for services inside the fac-
tory, the more readily can such expenses be controlled.
It is equally evident, however, that this analysis makes
for complexity in that every expense account opened
must also be closed out by distributing the current total
over the departments which benefit from the activity
represented by the account.
6. Supplies Chargeable to Expense
As explained in Chapter X, items of raw material
which can be readily handled and thus delivered to de-
partments as required are taken into stores to be issued
222 INDIRECT EXPENSE
against requisitions; also, as stores represent an asset,
their total value is controlled in a general ledger account
the detail of which is recorded in the stores ledger. The
same treatment is applied to stores which will be charge-
able to expense and to which the term "supplies" is ap-
plied to distinguish them from raw material items. The
supplies used plus the labor employed in using them rep-
resent the expenditures for the non-productive activities
of window-cleaning, repairs, and so on referred to above.
Sometimes material which is directly applied to the
product is treated as a supplies expense. The screws,
nails, and glue, for example, used in making furniture
and the pigments and coloring materials used in the pot-
tery trade are cases in point. Here practicability rather
than theory governs. It is a common practice to treat
such materials as a supplies expense, because it is diffi-
cult to compute the precise cost of the small amount con-
sumed in a given case. However, manufacturers some-
times make tests to ascertain the quantity of certain
materials such as glue, paint, and varnish required
to cover a given surface. Then in making a cost calcu-
lation, the estimated quantity is used as a basis for
charging such items direct to the cost of the job.
7. Plant, Machinery, and Equipment
Theoretically an item of plant, whether it be a build-
ing, a power engine, or a piece of office furniture-, repre-
sents a purchase for the needs of the factory, which is
gradually consumed in production or in work which is
an aid to production. The precise amount of wear and
tear of a building, of the power plant, or of an office
desk has no direct relation to the thing produced, yet
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF EXPENSE 223
it steadily continues from period to period and is a
proper charge to production. Supplies can be readily
counted, weighed, or measured and their value thus de-
termined. The wear and tear of plant and equipment
can only be estimated and at best is an approximation.
The methods of figuring depreciation and its ac-
counting are discussed in Volume IV of "Business Ac-
counting." The principles of depreciation are briefly
presented in Chapter XX of the present volume. Here
it may be noted that the total depreciation for the cost
period is charged to an expense account, with an offset-
ting credit to Depreciation Reserve ; and that the differ-
ence between the asset account and the offsetting De-
preciation Reserve represents the value of the asset.
The details of expenditures for plant are entered in
a subsidiary plant ledger controlled by one or more ac-
counts on the general ledger, the number of these ac-
counts depending upon the subdivisions of the plant and
equipment. The depreciation of each plant item is
charged to production, period by period, each depart-
ment receiving its proper proportion.
8. Summary of Expense Analysis
The discussion thus far has covered the first phase of
all systems of expense distribution, i.e., the setting up
of expense accounts the debits to which include all the
overhead of the current period. These charges com-
prise :
1. Current purchases for particular departments
or for the factory as a whole, credited usually
to Cash or Accounts Payable.
22-1 INDIRECT EXPENSE
2 . The portion of the prepaid and accrued expense
items for the current period credited to the
respective ledger accounts.
3. Depreciation charges credited to Depreciation
Reserve accounts.
4 . Indirect labor credited to Pay-Roll account.
5. Stores-room supplies credited to stores ledger
accounts.
The books or forms, i.e., the original factory docu-
ments, whereon the totals indicated by the numbers above
are collected, are as follows :
1 . The purchase journal or voucher register.
2. Schedule of fixed charges.
3. Schedule of depreciation charges.
4. Standing expense orders'! tribution sheets.
5. Supplies requisitions J Summarized on dis-
The purchase journal totals are charged direct to the
department to which they belong, or any general ex-
penditure to suitably designated expense accounts, from
which they are distributed over departments. The
schedules of fixed charges and depreciation furnish the
journal totals for charging the departments with their
proportion of insurance, taxes, depreciation, and any
other expense of a fixed character.
The distribution sheets for standing expense orders
and supplies referred to above, furnish the journal totals
for charging each department with its indirect labor and
supplies expense. After these and the foregoing entries
ire posted, all the expense for the period has been depart-
mentalized. It should be noted that the posting of the
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF EXPENSE 225
totals collected on the above schedules and distribution
sheet constitutes the internal distribution of the expen-
ditures recorded in the purchase journal and pay-roll.
The aim of this distribution, as heretofore stated, is:
1. To ascertain the expense of conducting every
important factory activity.
2. To charge each productive department with a
fair proportion of every non-productive ex-
penditure until all such expenditures have
been merged in those of the productive or
operating departments.
3. To distribute the overhead expense totals of
the productive departments (which together
form the total factory burden) over the prod-
uct, either by proportionate charges to work
in process under the job order method, or by
equal charges to the total output of a process
department under the process method of cost-
finding.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1 . What are the main sources from which expense charges come ?
2. What items can be charged to expense when the purchase is
made ?
3. What items have to be held in abeyance and not charged to ex-
pense until an ensuing period?
4 . What items have to be anticipated and charged tc expense before
the time comes for meeting the liability?
5. What is the best form to use for analyzing expense?
6. What is meant by the departmentalization of expense?
,7. What purpose is served by a schedule of fixed charges?
CHAPTER XVIII
INDIRECT LABOR AND SUPPLIES
1. Indirect Factory Activities
Certain items of service requiring outside payments,
such as rent if the buildings be leased, taxes, insurance
for fire and accident protection, water, gas, and the like,
are so clearly expense charges that as soon as the
amounts chargeable to the fiscal period are ascertained,
no mistake is likely to be made in allocating them equi-
tably to departments when once a just basis of alloca-
tion is determined.
Other items of service paid for within the factory
are not always so clearly an expense charge, nor can
they always be so readily allocated to departments.
A proper analysis of the pay-roll and stores requisitions
is required as a means for determining which items are a
part of the prime cost and which are a charge to over-
head expense for supervision, inspection, light, heat and
power, cleaning, repairs, etc. Yet none of these latter
activities can be charged direct to goods or orders. Their
cost, therefore, as part of the overhead expense must be
clearly distinguished from the cost of material and labor
which are a direct charge to orders. To this end some
system must be adopted which will separate the two and
will show to which class a particular kind of service
activity is to be charged.
226
INDIRECT LABOR AND SUPPLIES 227
2. Standing Expense Orders
The segregation of indirect labor is conveniently and
readily accomplished by the use of a simple system of
"standing orders." Though neither the term nor the
mechanism it designates is in general use in all factories,
the simplicity and advantages of this method of record-
ing the expense of the "floating" factory labor and the
supplies used by this labor are such as to recommend its
use in all cases where the accurate classification of ex-
pense is desired.
As the name implies, a "standing order" is a form
of instruction or order to carry out certain routine work,