Traditional Costing Vs. Activity-Based Costing
Costing systems helps companies determine the cost of a product related to the revenue it generates. Two common costing systems used in business are traditional costing and activity-based costing. Traditional costing assigns manufacturing overhead based on the volume of a cost driver, such as the amount of direct labor hours needed to produce an item. A cost driver is a factor that causes cost to incur, such as machine hours, direct labor hours and direct material hours. Activity-based costing allocates the costs of manufacturing a product according to the activities needed to produce the item. Managers should understand the advantages and disadvantages of both systems to meet the needs of their business.
Understanding Traditional Costing
Many manufacturing companies use the traditional costing system to assign manufacturing overhead to units produced. Users of the traditional costing method make the assumption that the volume metric is the underlying driver of manufacturing overhead cost. Under traditional costing, accountants assign manufacturing costs only to products. Traditional accounting fails to allocate nonmanufacturing costs that also are associated with the production of an item, such as administrative expenses. Companies commonly use traditional accounting in external financial reports because it provides a value for the cost of goods sold.