Job Cost

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Job Cost System

New jobs are identified to the system by entry of the estimated costs for each operation within a job. Costs are then collected from A/P, I/V, P/R, and even from direct G/L entry and accumulated into a transaction file that is posted periodically, usually daily, to the job cost files.

The J/C System is made up of several elements. A Job Identification File contains static information about a job such as its code, address, superintendent, total estimated cost, expected date of completion, etc. When using the system in a "job shop" mode, some of the fields in the Job Identification File take on a different meaning. For example, the superintendent can be a field used to identify the customer name. The Operation Identification File contains the codes and descriptions of all operations that make up a job.

When job estimates are entered, a record is added to the Job Identification File and then as operations are identified, they are verified as legal operations by checking the Operation Identification File. This provides consistency of operation coding for all jobs and allow statistics to be gathered by operation code. The Job Estimate File shows the current position or status of a job and is used by G/L, A/P, and P/R entry programs to verify both job id and operations. The operator cannot send costs to an operation that has not been associated with a job in the Job Estimate File, even if the operation is defined in the Operation Identification File.

A Job Cost Ledger File keeps track of costs by G/L code, while the Job Cost Master File keeps track of the costs by operation codes. This unique split allows the superintendent or job shop manager to have a totally different breakout of costs than the accounting department, thus satisfying two needs at the same time.

Reports from the J/C System list costs by job, operation, or even type (such as labor, equipment, materials, subcontractor, other). The operator can select any date range, as well as a range of jobs and/or operations. If the operator has defined the percentage complete for an operation, the report can produce highly accurate forecasts of over/under estimate.

Closing a job automatically sends entries to the G/L to subtract the accumulated costs from the various accounts. The entries are then put into the proper accounts, usually the work-in-process inventory account for the income statement, to record the costs.