Top 11 Most Common Costing issues: Issue #11
Have FAITH in the system! This misstep is one of, if not THE most common that we encounter in our cost forums, with potential new costing jobs, and even our own client base. Although it is primarily...
View ArticleBreaking the Costing Accounting System Mold
A short while ago I had a meeting with a new client to discuss how we might most effectively implement a costing system for their operation. We talked about several cost methods and how they might...
View ArticleHow Can You Play Without Rules?
In the last week I have seen several articles addressing an issue that we here at William Vaughan have addressed REPEATEDLY: Management Accountants have very little, if any direction on how to do...
View ArticleWVCO Cost Forum: We Are Nearly Full
We scheduled our next Cost Forum for March 27, 2013 at the William Vaughan Company Conference Center. We have had several sold out forums over the last few years and registration for this forum is...
View ArticleThe Road To Costing: What is Next?
One of the inevitable outcomes of our cost forums are those questions related to the likelihood of doing future seminars on various cost accounting subjects. It seems there is little continuing...
View ArticleHow to handle the “I am right and you are wrong”
What do you do when you know you are right and the owner of the business you work for is wrong? At our cost forum yesterday we had a participant ask this very question. He is the controller for a...
View ArticleCommon Costing Themes: Questions Anyone?
I recently heard a speaker say that he believes the whole point of management accounting is to generate questions. I could not agree more! We held another forum last week and pretty much similar to...
View ArticleDo you know what to do?
I was watching tv the other day and a commercial for IBM came on and the tagline of the commercial was something like: Looking at data and knowing what to do with it-now that’s a different thing....
View ArticleHow much is that paint line in the window
One of the attendees at our recent cost forum brought a problem to the forum that I had not previously heard from forum participants. In this case the attendee had a process in his plant that was...
View ArticleBeware Of Sunken Costs
A sunk cost can be loosely defined as a cost that has already been incurred and CANNOT be recovered. In my world, a sunk cost can be defined as a particular insurance company’s decision to repair a car...
View ArticleTeach Me How To Fall and How to Walk… In Cost Accounting
I have recently started to do Judo at the Bushido Kai America Judo Club. If you are not aware Judo is the second most popular sport in the world just behind Soccer. My husband is a black belt in Judo...
View ArticleShould We Take On This Job?
Bill and I recently did a presentation for some cost accounting students at one of our local universities. We always enjoy the fresh perspective students offer and the opportunity to promote cost...
View ArticleIt’s Better to be Approximately Right Than Precisely Wrong
This is a topic that we’ve written about several times in the past and it really is directed at cost managers who attempt to use an unreliable system to compute their product costs, and then compute...
View ArticleThe Second Worst Cost Accounting System I Ever Saw
A year or so ago I wrote an article about the worst cost accounting system I ever saw. I came across this system years ago when I was first beginning my career in public accounting. It was related to a...
View ArticleBreakeven Point Calculations
Recently a client called with concerns about the possibility of dramatic changes in his sales volume. This was a manufacturing client that is relatively small and highly dependent on a very few number...
View ArticleThe BIG Picture: Break-even Analysis
Break-even analysis can be and certainly is used characteristically to do just that, determine the break-even point for a business. This is usually looked at in a total fashion, something like I need...
View ArticleLeast Squared Method: A Guide to Break-Even Points
Are you familiar with the Least Squared Method, or as some may call it, the Method of Least Squares. If so, it was probably in a statics class in college, or maybe it is a tool you frequently use. If...
View ArticleAudit Proof
I recently was talking to a CFO who seemed much more concerned about his financial statements being audit proof and way less concerned about them aiding in management decisions. I see this as a major...
View ArticleCost Accounting as a Profession
I am constantly amazed by the broad diversity of costing systems that are in use in American businesses today. Different industries, different products, different regions of the country all give rise...
View ArticleIs a Central Body a Must for Cost Accounting Professional Growth?
When you think of cost accounting as a profession, you quickly realize it is not really recognized like you would a lawyer, nurse, teacher, etc. I believe one of the items of importance related to the...
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