What is the difference in the flow of costs between manufacturing and service organizations?

Answer 1

In a service organisation which uses job-order costing, the cost of inputs brought from outside (subcontracted work) is comparable to the cost of direct materials used in a manufacturing organisation. Similarly, the direct staff costs in a service organisation correspond with the direct labour costs in a manufacturing organisation. The office overhead expenses in a service organisation is similar to the manufacturing overhead in a manufacturing organisation. The cost of any completed work is simlar to the cost of finished goods inventory in a manufacturing organisation. Basically the names of the accounts used in a service organisation are different to those used in a manufacturing organisation. The work-in-process account in a service organisation would therefore have cost of subcontracted work, direct staff cost and office overhead cost on the debit side; the cost of completed work would be on the credit side. Other than the terminology, everything else in the flow of costs remains the same. The pre-determined overhead rate can be calculated by using an overhead allocation base such as direct staff costs and each completed job can be allocated with the appropriate portion of the estimated overhead based on the actual direct staff costs incurred on the project.