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Cost accounting
118 topics across 6 chapters
Chapter 1
Foundations & cost behavior
1
Role of cost accounting in organizations
3 subtopics
2
Managerial vs financial accounting (purpose, users, outputs)
3
Cost objects, cost drivers, and traceability
4
Cost-benefit and “different costs for different purposes”
5
Core cost terminology & classification
4 subtopics
6
Product vs period costs; inventoriable costs
7
Direct vs indirect costs; prime vs conversion costs
8
Variable, fixed, mixed costs; step costs; relevant range
9
Committed vs discretionary fixed costs; sunk vs opportunity costs
10
Cost behavior & estimation
4 subtopics
11
High-low method and scatterplots
12
Least-squares regression (concepts + interpreting output)
13
Learning curves and productivity effects
14
Evaluating estimation error and practical pitfalls
15
Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis
3 subtopics
16
Contribution margin, breakeven, target profit
17
Margin of safety and operating leverage
18
Multi-product CVP and sales mix sensitivity
19
Cost flows & inventory basics
3 subtopics
20
Materials, WIP, finished goods flow; COGM and COGS schedules
21
Overhead concepts and the need for allocation
22
Job vs process environments (how costs accumulate)
Chapter 2
Costing systems & overhead allocation
23
Job order costing
3 subtopics
24
Job cost sheet mechanics (DM, DL, MOH applied)
25
Predetermined overhead rate and normal costing
1 subtopics
26
Over/underapplied overhead: disposition methods
27
Journal entries for job costing (end-to-end example)
28
Process costing
4 subtopics
29
Equivalent units (weighted-average vs FIFO)
30
Cost of production report (units, costs, reconciliation)
31
Transferred-in costs and interdepartmental flows
32
Spoilage, rework, scrap in process settings
33
Activity-based costing (ABC) & activity-based management (ABM)
3 subtopics
34
Identifying activities, cost pools, and cost drivers
35
Two-stage allocation and computing activity rates
36
Using ABC for product/customer profitability insights
37
Departmental and service-department cost allocation
3 subtopics
38
Direct, step-down, and reciprocal methods (comparisons)
39
Plantwide vs departmental overhead rates (tradeoffs)
40
Choosing allocation bases and avoiding cross-subsidization
Chapter 3
Planning & budgeting
41
Master budget architecture
3 subtopics
42
Operating budgets (sales, production, DM, DL, MOH, S&A)
43
Financial budgets (cash budget, budgeted IS and BS)
44
Linking budgets to capacity and constraints
45
Flexible budgets
2 subtopics
46
Static vs flexible budgets (how to build each)
47
Activity measures and “what should costs have been?”
48
Standard costing & variance analysis
4 subtopics
49
Setting standards (ideal vs practical; who sets them)
50
Direct materials and direct labor variances (rate/price + efficiency/usage)
51
Variable overhead variances and spending/efficiency concepts
52
Fixed overhead variances (budget vs volume; denominator level)
53
Responsibility accounting & performance measurement
4 subtopics
54
Responsibility centers: cost, revenue, profit, investment
55
Controllability and designing fair performance reports
56
ROI vs residual income (RI) and goal congruence
57
Behavioral impacts: budgeting games and incentives
58
Forecasting & rolling budgets
1 subtopics
59
Rolling forecasts (process + cadence)
Chapter 4
Decision-making & relevant costing
60
Relevant costs and incremental analysis framework
3 subtopics
61
Identifying avoidable vs unavoidable costs (quick drills)
62
Sunk costs, opportunity costs, and constraints (mini-cases)
63
Common pitfalls: allocated fixed costs in decisions
64
Short-term decisions
5 subtopics
65
Special orders and pricing floors (capacity-based)
66
Make-or-buy (outsourcing) analysis
67
Keep-or-drop (segment profitability) decisions
68
Constrained resources and product mix optimization
69
Sell as-is vs process further decisions
70
Costing for service and nonprofit organizations
2 subtopics
71
Time-driven approaches and labor-centric cost drivers
72
Client/project profitability in professional services (template)
73
Pricing, profitability, and customer economics
3 subtopics
74
Cost-plus, target costing, and value-based considerations
75
Customer profitability and channel/segment analysis
↗ Using ABC for product/customer profitability insights (see Chapter 2)
76
Capital budgeting basics for managers
3 subtopics
77
Cash flow estimation and working capital effects
78
NPV vs IRR (interpretation and decision rules)
79
Payback, profitability index, and qualitative factors
80
Ethics, governance, and decision quality
2 subtopics
81
Ethical issues in costing, budgeting, and transfer pricing
82
Documentation, audit trails, and management review
Chapter 5
Cost management & operational improvement
83
Lean accounting & value stream costing
2 subtopics
84
Value stream mapping for cost visibility (practice)
85
Lean performance measures (capacity, lead time, throughput)
86
Quality costs and continuous improvement
2 subtopics
87
Cost of quality categories (prevention, appraisal, internal/external failure)
88
Using PDCA/DMAIC with cost metrics (case drills)
89
Throughput and constraint-based thinking
2 subtopics
90
Throughput contribution vs gross margin (concept + example)
91
Theory of Constraints (TOC): bottleneck identification and decisions
92
Strategic cost management
3 subtopics
93
Value chain and cost driver analysis (strategic view)
94
Benchmarking and competitor cost analysis (safe/ethical use)
95
Life-cycle costing and sustainability cost considerations
Chapter 6
Advanced topics & integration
96
Transfer pricing
2 subtopics
97
Market-based, cost-based, and negotiated transfer prices
98
International/tax considerations (overview, non-technical)
99
Joint and by-product costing
2 subtopics
100
Split-off point and joint cost allocation methods (NRV, physical units, sales value)
101
Accounting for by-products (other income vs reduction of main cost)
102
Allocation, fairness, and behavioral considerations
3 subtopics
103
Negotiation, politics, and “gaming” around allocations (case prompts)
104
Designing cost systems: accuracy vs simplicity vs influence
↗ Behavioral impacts: budgeting games and incentives (see Chapter 3)
105
Integrated cases & reporting toolkit
1 subtopics
106
Presenting insights: charts, bridges, and executive summaries
107
Systems & data for cost accounting
3 subtopics
108
Chart of accounts, cost centers, and master data design
109
ERP and manufacturing data (BOMs, routings, labor tickets)
110
Internal controls for cost data quality (access, approvals, reconciliations)

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