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Definition and Explanation of Standard Costing:

A standard cost is the predetermined cost of manufacturing a single unit or a number of product units during a specific period in the immediate future. It is the planned cost of a product under current and/or anticipated operating conditions.

A standard cost has two components: a standard and a cost. A standard is like a norm and whatever is considered normal can generally be accepted as standard. For example, if a score of 72 is the standard for a golf course, a golfer's score is judged on the basis of this standard. In industry, the standards for making a desk, assembling a radio, refining crude oil, or manufacturing railway cars are based on carefully determined quantitative and qualitative measurements and engineering methods.

A standard must be though of as a norm in terms of specific items, such as pounds of materials, hours of labor required, and percentage of plant capacity to be used.

In many firms, a standard can be operative for a long time. A change is needed only when production or the products themselves have become obsolete or undesirable.

Relevant Articles:

» Definition and Explanation of Standard Cost
» Purposes and Advantages of Standard Costing System
» Setting Standards
» Materials Price Standard
» Materials Price Variance
» Materials Quantity Standard
» Materials Quantity Variance
» Direct Labor Rate Standard
» Direct Labor Rate Variance
» Direct Labor Efficiency Standard
» Direct Labor Efficiency Variance
» Factory Overhead Cost Standards
» Overall or Net Factory Overhead Variance
» Overhead Controllable Variance
» Overhead Volume Variance
» Overhead Spending Variance
» Overhead Idle Capacity Variance
» Overhead Efficiency Variance
» Variable Overhead Efficiency Variance
»

Fixed Overhead Efficiency Variance

» Mix and Yield Variance
» Variance Analysis Example
» Standard Costing and Variance Analysis Formulas
» Management by Exception and Variance Analysis
» International Uses of Standard Costing System
» Advantages, Disadvantages, and Limitations of Standard Costing




 

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