Traditional methods of allocating manufacturing overhead
Let's look at several methods used to allocate manufacturing overhead. Keep in mind that if the method does not allocate the true amount of factory overhead, the cost per unit of product will be wrong and could result in management making a flawed decision. As you review these method, ask yourself for each given product, will the allocated amount of overhead reflect the actual amount of overhead used in that item's production? If a cause-and-effect relationship is not evident, is there at least an obvious correlation between manufacturing overhead and the basis for the allocation (such as machine hours)? If there is no correlation, the allocation method is suspect and could result in the improper amount of overhead being assigned to individual products.