Traceability
The relationship of costs to cost objects should be exploited to increase
the accuracy of cost assignments. Costs are directly or indirectly associated with cost
objects.
Indirect costs
are costs that cannot be easily and accurately traced to a cost
object.
Direct costs
are those costs that can be easily and accurately traced to a cost
object.
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“Easily traced” means that the costs can be assigned in an economically fea-
sible way, while “accurately traced” means that the costs are assigned using a cause-
and-effect relationship. Thus,
traceability
is simply the ability to assign a cost to a
cost object in an economically feasible way by means of a cause-and-effect relation-
ship. The more costs that can be traced to the object, the greater the accuracy of the
cost assignments. Establishing traceability is fundamental in building accurate cost
assignments.
It is possible for a particular cost item to be classified as both a direct cost and
an indirect cost. Management accounting systems typically deal with many cost
objects. It all depends on which cost object is the point of reference. For example,
if a hospital is the cost object, then the cost of heating and cooling the hospital is
a direct cost. However, if the cost object is a surgical procedure performed in the
hospital, then this utility cost is an indirect cost.