Definition of Production overhead

Production overhead

A general term referring to indirect costs.

Non-production overhead

A general term referring to period costs, such as selling, administration and financial expenses.

Overhead allocation

The process of spreading production overhead equitably over the volume of production of goods or services.

Overhead rate

The rate (often expressed per hour) applied to the time taken to produce a product/service, used to allocate production overheads to particular products/services based on the time taken. May be calculated on a business-wide or cost centre basis.

Production payment financing

A method of nonrecourse asset-based financing in which a specified
percentage of revenue realized from the sale of the project's output is used to pay debt service.

Production-flow commitment

An agreement by the loan purchaser to allow the monthly loan quota to be
delivered in batches.

UNITS OF PRODUCTION

A depreciation method that relates a machine’s depreciation to the number of units it makes each
accounting period. The method requires that someone record the machine’s output each year.

Overhead

Any cost other than a direct cost – may refer to an indirect production cost and/or to a non-production expense.

overhead costs

overhead generally refers to indirect, in contrast to direct,
costs. Indirect means that a cost cannot be matched or coupled in any
obvious or objective manner with particular products, specific revenue
sources, or a particular organizational unit. Manufacturing overhead
costs are the indirect costs in making products, which are in addition to
the direct costs of raw materials and labor. Manufacturing overhead
costs include both variable costs (electricity, gas, water, etc.), which vary
with total production output, and fixed costs, which do not vary with
increases or decreases in actual production output.

applied overhead

the amount of overhead that has been assigned to Work in Process Inventory as a result of productive activity; credits for this amount are to an overhead account

cost of production report

a process costing document that
details all operating and cost information, shows the computation
of cost per equivalent unit, and indicates cost assignment
to goods produced during the period

economic production run (EPR)

an estimate of the number
of units to produce at one time that minimizes the total
costs of setting up production runs and carrying inventory

equivalent units of production (EUP)

an approximation of the number of whole units of output that could have been
produced during a period from the actual effort expended
during that period; used in process costing systems to assign
costs to production

fixed overhead spending variance

the difference between the total actual fixed overhead and budgeted fixed overhead;
it is computed as part of the four-variance overhead analysis

fixed overhead volume variance

see volume variance

overapplied overhead

a credit balance in the overhead account
at the end of a period; when the applied overhead
amount is greater than the actual overhead that was incurred

overhead

any factory or production cost that is indirect to
the product or service; it does not include direct material
or direct labor; any production cost that cannot be directly
traced to the product

overhead application rate

see predetermined overhead rate

overhead efficiency variance

the difference between total budgeted overhead at actual hours and total budgeted
overhead at standard hours allowed for the production
achieved; it is computed as part of a three-variance analysis;
it is the same as variable overhead efficiency variance

overhead spending variance

the difference between total actual overhead and total budgeted overhead at actual
hours; it is computed as part of three-variance analysis; it
is equal to the sum of the variable and fixed overhead
spending variances

predetermined overhead rate

an estimated constant charge per unit of activity used to assign overhead cost to production or services of the period; it is calculated by dividing total budgeted annual overhead at a selected level of volume or activity by that selected measure of volume or activity; it is also the standard overhead application rate

standard overhead application rate

a predetermined overhead rate used in a standard cost system; it can be a separate variable or fixed rate or a combined overhead rate

total overhead variance

the difference between total actual overhead and total applied overhead; it is the amount of underapplied or overapplied overhead

underapplied overhead

a debit balance in the overhead account at the end of a period; when the applied overhead amount is less than the actual overhead that was incurred

variable overhead efficiency variance

the difference between budgeted variable overhead based on actual input activity and variable overhead applied to production

variable overhead spending variance

the difference between total actual variable overhead and the budgeted amount of variable overhead based on actual input activity

Factory overhead

All the costs incurred during the manufacturing process, minus the
costs of direct labor and materials.

Fixed overhead

That portion of total overhead costs which remains constant in size
irrespective of changes in activity within a certain range.

Production yield variance

The difference between the actual and budgeted proportions
of product resulting from a production process, multiplied by the standard unit cost.

Aggregate Production Function

An equation determining aggregate output as a function of aggregate inputs such as labor and capital.

Factor of Production

A resource used to produce a good or service. The main macroeconomic factors of production are capital and labor.

Lean production

The technique of stripping all non-value-added activities from
the production process, thereby using the minimum possible amount of resources
to accomplish manufacturing goals.

Process flow production

A production configuration in which products are continually
manufactured with minimal pauses or queuing.

Allocation base A measure of activity or volume such as labour

hours, machine hours or volume of production
used to apportion overheads to products and
services.

fixed expenses (costs)

Expenses or costs that remain the same in amount,
or fixed, over the short run and do not vary with changes in sales volume
or sales revenue or other measures of business activity. Over the
longer run, however, these costs increase or decrease as the business
grows or declines. Fixed operating costs provide capacity to carry on
operations and make sales. Fixed manufacturing overhead costs provide
production capacity. Fixed expenses are a key pivot point for the analysis
of profit behavior, especially for determining the breakeven point and for
analyzing strategies to improve profit performance.

product cost

This is a key factor in the profit model of a business. Product
cost is the same as purchase cost for a retailer or wholesaler (distributor).
A manufacturer has to accumulate three different types of production
costs to determine product cost: direct materials, direct labor, and
manufacturing overhead. The cost of products (goods) sold is deducted
from sales revenue to determine gross margin (also called gross profit),
which is the first profit line reported in an external income statement
and in an internal profit report to managers.

budget variance

the difference between total actual overhead
and budgeted overhead based on standard hours allowed
for the production achieved during the period; computed
as part of two-variance overhead analysis; also
referred to as the controllable variance

variable costing

a cost accumulation and reporting method
that includes only variable production costs (direct material,
direct labor, and variable overhead) as inventoriable
or product costs; it treats fixed overhead as a period cost;
is not acceptable for external reporting and tax returns

volume variance

a fixed overhead variance that represents
the difference between budgeted fixed overhead and fixed
overhead applied to production of the period; is also referred
to as the noncontrollable variance

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