ACCOUNTING FOR SPOILED UNITS IN A TRADITIONAL JOB-ORDER COSTING SYSTEM
Throughout this chapter, we have assumed that the units produced are good units. In and flow into cost of uring costs are associa th good un this case, all manu goods sold on occasion, however, mistakes are made: defective units are produced and are either thrown away or reworked and sold. How do we account for those costs
Traditional job order costing makes a distinction between normal and abnormal spoilage. Normal spoilage is expected due to the nature of the typical production pro- cess. This spoilage may require extra work to make the units saleable, or may result in the units being discarded. For example, from time to time maintenance workers oil the a jeans factory. The next pair of jeans to be sewn may pick up som sewing machines drops of the machine oil. The jeans are spoiled and discarded. This is normal spoilage and the cost is included in overhead that is then applied to all good units produced Abnormal spoilage is due to the exacting nature of a particular job. This type of spoilag is charged to the job that caused it, Cornerstone 5.4 tells how to treat spoilage and why the distinction between normal and abnormal spoilage is made.
The treatment of spoilage in a job-order environment is to determine whether the spoilage is normal or abnormal and charge the job if it is abnormal. Normal spoilage is a cost of doing business. It is subsumed in the overhead rate and spread considered across all jobs through applied overhead.
The How and WHY of Accounting for Normal and Abnormal Spoilage in a Job-Order Environment Information: Petris, Inc., manufactures cabinets on a job order basis. Job 98-12 calls for 100 units with direct materials of S2,000 and direct labor of $1,000 ($10 per hour times 100 hours), overhead is applied at the rate of 150 percent of direct labor dollars. At the end of the job, 100 units are produced; however, three of the cabinets required rework due to improper installation of shelving. The rework involved six extra direct labor hours and an additional $50 of material.
WHY : Normal spoilage requires that the additional cost of any rework be charged to overhead Control. The cost of the job is not assigned any rework cost. If the spoilage is abnormal, any additional cost is assigned to the job requiring the rework.
Required
1. Assume that the spoilage was due to assigning new, untrained workers to the job and, therefore, is normal spoilage.
a. Calculate the cost of Job 98.12
b. Make any needed journal entry to the overhead control account
2. Assume that the spoilage is abnormal and is a result of exacting specifications for this job.