Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CONTENTS
S.no
Topic
Introduction
Meaning of SWOT
Overview Matrix
Simple Rules
How to do a SWOT ?
10
Generating Strategies
11
12
13
Example.1
14
Example.2
Bibliography
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MARGINAL COST
The marginal cost of a product is its variable cost. This is normally taken to be;
direct labour, direct material, direct expenses and the variable part of overheads.
Marginal cost means the cost of the marginal or last unit produced. It is also defined
as the cost of one more or one less unit produced besides existing level of production
The marginal cost varies directly with the volume of production and marginal cost per
unit remains the same. It consists of prime cost, i.e. cost of direct materials, direct
labor and all variable overheads. It does not contain any element of fixed cost which
is kept separate under marginal cost technique.
The term contribution mentioned in the formal definition is the term given to the
difference between Sales and Marginal cost. Thus
MARGINAL COST =VARIABLE COST DIRECT LABOUR
+ DIRECT MATERIAL
+ DIRECT EXPENSE
+ VARIABLE OVERHEADS
Marginal costing technique has given birth to a very useful concept of contribution
where contribution is given by: Sales revenue less variable cost (marginal cost)
Contribution may be defined as the profit before the recovery of fixed costs. Thus,
contribution goes toward the recovery of fixed cost and profit, and is equal to fixed
cost plus profit (C = F + P). In case a firm neither makes profit nor suffers loss,
contribution will be just equal to fixed cost (C = F). this is known as break even point.
The concept of contribution is very useful in marginal costing. It has a fixed relation
with sales. The proportion of contribution to sales is known as P/V ratio which
remains the same under given conditions of production and sales.
b. Similarly, if the volume of sales falls by one item, the profit will fall by the amount
of contribution earned from the item.
c. Profit measurement should therefore be based on an analysis of total contribution.
Since fixed costs relate to a period of time, and do not change with increases or
decreases in sales volume, it is misleading to charge units of sale with a share of fixed
costs.
d. When a unit of product is made, the extra costs incurred in its manufacture are the
variable production costs. Fixed costs are unaffected, and no extra fixed costs are
incurred when output is increased.
Disadvantages
1. The separation of costs into fixed and variable is difficult and sometimes gives
misleading results.
2. Normal costing systems also apply overhead under normal operating volume and
this shows that no advantage is gained by marginal costing.
3. Under marginal costing, stocks and work in progress are understated. The exclusion
of fixed costs from inventories affect profit, and true and fair view of financial affairs
of an organization may not be clearly transparent.
4. Volume variance in standard costing also discloses the effect of fluctuating output
on fixed overhead. Marginal cost data becomes unrealistic in case of highly
fluctuating levels of production, e.g., in case of seasonal factories.
5. Application of fixed overhead depends on estimates and not on the actuals and as
such there may be under or over absorption of the same.
6. Control affected by means of budgetary control is also accepted by many. In order
to know the net profit, we should not be satisfied with contribution and hence, fixed
overhead is also a valuable item. A system which ignores fixed costs is less effective
since a major portion of fixed cost is not taken care of under marginal costing.
7. In practice, sales price, fixed cost and variable cost per unit may vary. Thus, the
assumptions underlying the theory of marginal costing sometimes becomes
unrealistic. For long term profit planning, absorption costing is the only answer.
ABSORPTION COSTING
Absorption costing means that all of the manufacturing costs are absorbed by the
units produced. In other words, the cost of a finished unit in inventory will include
direct materials, direct labor, and both variable and fixed manufacturing overhead. As
a result, absorption costing is also referred to as full costing or the full absorption
method.
According to this method, the cost of a product is determined after considering both
fixed and variable costs. The variable costs, such as those of direct materials, direct
labour, etc. are directly charged to the products, while the fixed costs are apportioned
on a suitable basis over different products manufactured during a period. Thus, in case
of Absorption Costing all costs are identified with the manufactured products.
(h) Absorption costing may encourage over-production since reported profits can be
increased by increasing inventory levels.
too highly developed and too complex, and furthermore are no longer needed in their
current form since other tools are now available. Calls for increased use of cost
management tools, investment analyses, and value-based tool concepts are frequently
associated with criticism of the functionality of current cost accounting approaches as
management tools. This line of criticism sees little relevance in traditional cost
accounting tasks such as monitoring the economic production process or assigning the
costs of internal activities. At their current level of detail, such tasks are neither
necessary nor does their perceived pseudo accuracy further the goals of management.
3. To assess the present-day value of Marginal Costing, the changes occurring in the
business world must be analyzed more closely.
First, cost planning takes precedence over cost control. The effort involved in
planning and monitoring costs is increasingly being seen as excessive.
Second, cost accounting must be employed as a tool for cost control at an early stage.
The relative significance of traditional cost accounting as a management accounting
tool will decline as it is applied mainly to fields where costs cannot be heavily
influenced. More significant than influencing the current costs of production with cost
center controlling and authorized-actual comparisons of the cost of goods
manufactured is timely and market-based authorized cost management. The greatest
scope for influencing costs is at the early product development phase and when
setting up the production processes.
4. The shift in the purposes of cost accounting is being accompanied by a shift in the
main applications of standard costing. Costing solutions for market-oriented
profitability management and life-cycle-based planning and monitoring should be
developed further. They should be implemented both in indirect areas and at the
corporate level. In addition, cost accounting must be integrated into performance
measurement.
Long-term cost planning based on the idea of lifecycle costing is gaining in
prominence compared with short-term standard costing. Product decisions are
increasingly based on more than just the cost of goods manufactured and sales costs
and now tend to include pre-production costs (such as development costs) and
phasing-out costs (such as disposal costs). Product decisions are viewed strategically.
Whether or not a product is successful is determined by the amortization of its overall
cost. Furthermore, the cost and revenue trend forecasts should be more dynamic to
support the lifecycle pricing policy. This shift in cost and revenue planning is moving
cost and revenue accounting in the direction of investment-related calculations.
Industrial production and marketing are increasingly being handled by groups of
affiliated companies. To plan and monitor the costs of these activities calls for the
establishment of independent group cost accounting. This necessity results mainly
from the requirements of inventory valuation, the costing basis of transfer prices, and
to further the consistency of corporate cost accounting. Group cost accounting leads
to the definition of independent group cost categories. Marginal Costing and its tools
have been developed for individual companies and are the suitable platform for this
expansion.
While top management benefits most from financial success indicators that it
examines in monthly or longer intervals and that can consist of multidimensional
aggregate figures, lower management must necessarily be concerned mainly with
nonfinancial, operational, and very short-term data at the day or shift level. In
concrete terms, measures in the categories of time, quantity, and quality--such as
equipment downtime, lead time, response time, degree of utilization (ratio of actual
output quantity to planned output quantity), sales orders, and error rate--are becoming
increasingly significant for controlling business processes.
MARGIN OF SAFETY
Significance of PV Ratio
Improvement of PV Ratio
Use of PV Ratio
also a profit-planning tool for calculating the point at which sales will equal
total costs.
The Break Even Point is the point or a business situation at which there is
neither a profit nor a loss to the firm. In other words, at this point, the total
contribution equals fixed costs. The break-even point is the intersection of the
total sales and the total cost lines. This point determines the number of units
produced to achieve breakeven.
Analysis that deals with how profits and costs change with a change in
volume. More specifically, it looks at the effects on profits of changes in such
factors as variable costs, fixed costs, selling prices, volume, and mix of
products sold.
CVP analysis involves the analysis of how total costs, total revenues and total
profits are related to sales volume, and is therefore concerned with predicting
the effects of changes in costs and sales volume on profit. It is also known as
'breakeven analysis'.
(5) How would a change in the mix of products sold affect the break-even and
target volume and profit potential?
4. Margin of Safety
Margin of Safety (MOS) represents the difference between the actual total sales and
sales at break-even point. It can be expressed as a percentage of total sales, or in
value, or in terms of quantity.
SIGNIFICANCE
Upto Break even point the contribution earned is sufficient only to recover
fixed costs. However beyond the Break even point. The contribution is called
profit (since fixed costs are fully recovered by then)
Profit is nothing but contribution carried out of Margin of Safety Sales.
The size of the margin of safety shows the strength of the business.
If the margin of safety is small, it may indicate that the firm has large fixed
expenses and is more vulnerable to changes in sales.
If the margin of safety is large, a slight fall in sales may not affect the business
very much but if it is small even a slight fall in sales may adversely affect the
business.
Shut Down Point indicates the level of operations (sales), below which it is not
justifiable to pursue production. For this purpose fixed costs of a business are
classified into
(a) Avoidable or Discretionary Fixed Costs and
(b) Unavoidable or Committed Fixed Costs.
A firm has to close down if its contribution is insufficient to recover the avoidable
fixed costs.The focus of shutdown point is to recover the avoidable fixed costs in the
first place. By suspending the operations, the firm may save as also incur some
additional expenditure. The decision is based on whether contribution is more than the
difference between the fixed expenses incurred in normal operation and the fixed
expenses incurred when plant is shut down.
KEY FACTOR: