Cost the run before you price it
Materials, labour and overhead absorbed onto the run and split across what came out. Price against what making it took.
Build the recipe once
What a product takes to make, saved and reused, so the next run starts from what the last one taught you.
Material leaves the shelf
What the run consumed leaves stock at what it cost, in the same action that puts it onto the job.
Overhead the proper way
A rate against hours, or a percentage of materials, of labour, of both, or of the whole run.
One batch, many outputs
Share the cost by value, by weight, or by your own split, with by-products and waste kept apart.
Start from what it took last time
Every run is costed from scratch by whoever is doing it. Two people cost the same product differently and neither is wrong.
Build the recipe once and start each run from it. Draft it, change it, and give it a real number only when it is real.
See how inventories workSave what a product takes to make
A cost card holds the materials, labour and overhead a product normally needs. Start a run from it and the lines are already there.
See how it is costedKeep it a draft until it is real
A planned run carries a draft number and can be changed freely. It takes a real number only when it becomes an actual run.
See how accounting worksTake material off the shelf and onto the run
Material goes to the floor and nobody records it leaving. At month end the stock is short and the run has no material cost.
Record what the run consumed and the material leaves stock at what it cost you, landing on the run in the same action.
See how inventories workMove stock and job cost together
What the run consumed leaves the location that held it, at what that location paid. The shelf and the run cost move in one moment.
See how inventories workPut the people onto the run
Record who worked it, for how long and at what rate, direct or indirect. Labour reaches unit cost alongside materials.
See how personnel worksAbsorb overhead the way your accountant does
Materials are on the invoice, but power, rent, machine and supervisor are a guess spread evenly over everything.
Charge a rate against actual hours, or a percentage of materials, of labour, of both, or of the whole run.
See how fixed assets workEvery unit knows what it cost.
Set overheads up once and reuse them
Power, rent, depreciation, the supervisor. Configure each once and attach the ones that apply.
See how fixed assets workWhat lands in the unit cost
Everything that made the thing, kept separate so you can see which part hurt.
Share one batch across everything it made
One run makes several things, plus offcuts you can sell and waste you cannot. Dividing evenly makes the main product look expensive.
Share the cost by what each output is worth, by weight, or by your own percentages. By-products and waste stay apart.
See how inventories workSplit by value, weight or your own figures
Where outputs differ in worth, split on value. Where they differ in bulk, split on weight. Where your trade has a convention, set the percentages yourself.
See how it is pricedKeep by-products and waste apart
What comes off the side of a run is not the thing you are making. Handle it separately so the main product carries its own cost honestly.
See how reports workPut finished goods back at what they cost
Finished goods go into stock at a guess, usually last year's figure. Every sale of them reports a margin that was never real.
What came out enters stock at what the run cost. The shelf, the job and the books all say the same thing about the same batch.
See how accounting worksLet the run write its own entries
Material moves out of stock into work in progress, overhead is absorbed, finished goods come back out at cost. Nobody writes a journal.
See how accounting worksCompare what it cost to what it should have
Against the cost card it started from, and against earlier runs. Where a run came in over, you can see whether it was material, labour or overhead.
See how business units workQuestions people ask first
Can I absorb overhead on a basis I choose?
Yes. A rate against actual hours, or a percentage of materials, of labour, of both together, or of the whole run. Your accountant decides which, not the software.
What if one run makes several products?
Share the cost by what each output is worth, by weight, or by percentages you set yourself. By-products and waste are handled separately so they do not distort the main product.
Does the machine's wear reach the unit cost?
Yes. Depreciation is an overhead type, so a machine on the asset register can absorb into the runs it made, alongside material and labour.
Where does labour come from?
Recorded on the run: who worked it, for how long, at what rate, and whether it was direct or indirect. It reaches unit cost with everything else.
Does payroll flow into a run automatically?
No. Payroll cost lands on the location somebody works in. Labour recorded against a run is what puts their work on that run, and it is entered deliberately rather than inferred.
Can I plan a run before it is real?
Yes. A planned run carries a draft number and can be changed freely. It takes a real document number only when it becomes an actual run.
What happens to work in progress?
Material moves out of stock into work in progress, overhead is absorbed into it, and finished goods come back out at what the run cost. Nobody writes the journal and the balance clears itself.
Can I reuse a costing across runs?
Yes. A cost card holds the materials, labour and overhead a product normally needs. Start a run from it and the lines are already there.
How do I know whether a run came in over?
Against the card it started from and against earlier runs, broken by cost component, so you can see whether it was the material, the labour or the overhead.
Do I need Inventories to use Productions?
Yes. Material has to come off a shelf and finished goods have to go back onto one, so the two work together and sit in the same plan.
Controlled the way everything here is controlled
A run reaches into four other places
Follow a batch from material to margin
Issue material to a run, put labour and overhead on it, split the outputs, then see the unit cost and what the finished goods are worth.