Under Activity-Based Costing, overheads are accurately assigned to different activities and their costs are determined through costing methods. Activities are those events that incur costs whereas overheads are expenditures that cannot be traced to any particular cost unit. A Cost driver refers to tRead more
Under Activity-Based Costing, overheads are accurately assigned to different activities and their costs are determined through costing methods. Activities are those events that incur costs whereas overheads are expenditures that cannot be traced to any particular cost unit.
A Cost driver refers to the factor that causes a change in the cost of an activity. Activity-Based Costing is done to establish a link between the activities and the product. The cost drivers are those links between the activities and the product.
Cost drivers are divided into four categories:
- Resource Cost Driver – It is a measure of the number of resources used by an activity. It assigns the cost of a resource to an activity.
- Activity Cost Driver – It is a measure of the frequency and intensity of demand, placed on activities by cost objects. It assigns activity costs to cost objects.
- Structural Cost Driver – It results from the economic and technological structure of the industry.
- Executional Cost Driver – It reflects the firm’s ability to plan and operate its production operations effectively.
A Cost Centre refers to a department in a business where costs can be allocated. These departments run various processes and incur costs. They can be related to the production of goods or the provision of services. Different centres are allocated different budgets and hence it enables the business to run efficiently by tracking its incomes and expenses easily.
Proper management of cost centres can help the company cut additional costs from each department. It also helps in more accurate forecasts depending on future changes.
Cost centres and Cost Drivers are both important factors while following Activity-Based Costing. Some examples of cost drivers and cost centres are as follows :
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Simply explaining the meaning of the useful life of an asset, it is nothing but the number of years the asset would remain in the business for purpose of revenue generation, making it more simple, the amount of time an asset is expected to be functional and fit for use. It is also called economic lRead more
Simply explaining the meaning of the useful life of an asset, it is nothing but the number of years the asset would remain in the business for purpose of revenue generation, making it more simple, the amount of time an asset is expected to be functional and fit for use. It is also called economic life or service life
It is a useful concept in accounting as it is used to work out depreciation. By knowing this useful life of an asset an entity can easily analyze how to allot the initial cost of an asset across the relevant accounting period rather than doing it unfairly manner.
How do we calculate the useful life of an asset?
The useful life of an asset is not an accounting policy, but an accounting estimate. calculating useful life is not an exact phenomenon but an estimate that is done because it directly impacts how much an asset is to expense every year.
Factors affecting “how long an asset is expected to be useful” depends on some stated points as below:
As per the companies act 2013, some of the useful life of assets are stated below
To know more about the different categories of assets you can follow the given link useful life of assets.
POINT TO BE NOTED:- There lies a huge difference in the useful life v/s the physical life of an asset. It is very important to note that amount of time an asset is used in a business is not always be same as an asset’s entire life span.