Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I: Understanding the Fundamentals of Costs  7

Chapter 1: So You Want to Know about Cost Accounting 9

Chapter 2: Brushing Up on Cost Accounting Basics 19

Chapter 3: Using Cost-Volume-Profi t Analysis to Plan Your Business Results 31

Chapter 4: Estimating Costs with Job Costing 47

Chapter 5: More Activity, More Cost: Activity-Based Costing 65

Part II: Planning and Control  81

Chapter 6: What’s the Plan, Stan? Budgeting for a Better Bottom Line 83

Chapter 7: Constant Change: Variance Analysis 103

Chapter 8: Focusing on Overhead Costs125

Chapter 9: What’s on the Shelf? Inventory Costing 139

Part III: Making Decisions  159

Chapter 10: Cost Drivers and Cost Estimation Methods 161

Chapter 11: Making Smart Business Decisions with Relevant Information 173

Chapter 12: Making Smart Pricing Decisions: Figuring Total Costs 193

Part IV: Allocating Costs and Resources  211

Chapter 13: Analysis Methods to Improve Profitability 213

Chapter 14: Behind the Scenes: Accounting for Support Costs and Common Costs 231

Chapter 15: Joint Costs, Separable Costs, and Using Up the Leftovers 255

Chapter 16: Tracing Similar Products with Process Costing 271

Part V: Considering Quality Issues  293

Chapter 17: What a Waste! Getting the Most from Spoilage, Scrap, and Reworked Products 295

Chapter 18: Making Smart Ordering Decisions 317

Chapter 19: Quality: Building a Better Mousetrap 337

Part VI: The Part of Tens  355

Chapter 20: Ten Common Costing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them 357

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Increase Profits Using Costing 363

Index 367

About the Author

Ken Boyd is a former CPA with over 27 years of experience in accounting, education, and financial services. Ken is the owner of St. Louis Test Preparation (www.stltest.net). He provides online tutoring in accounting and finance to both undergraduate and graduate students.