Name two reasons why overhead might be under-applied in a given year and how thi
ID: 2376802 • Letter: N
Question
Name two reasons why overhead might be under-applied in a given year and how this might be able to be prevented? What is a predetermined overhead rate and how is it computed? What do you feel is the best allocation base to use for the denominator in the predetermined overhead rate calculation and why? What factors would you consider in choosing the allocation base?
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Research the history of process costing in the United States. When did it begin to be used in manufacturing companies? What type of company would use a process costing system?
Investigate process costing accounting in at least one country outside of the United States. What are the reporting requirements, if any? If possible, find a company that would use process costing.
Explanation / Answer
Overhead may be underapplied for several reasons. Control over overhead spending may be poor. Or, some of the overhead may be fixed and the actual amount of the allocation base was less than estimated at the beginning of the period. In this situation, the amount of overhead applied to inventory will be less than the actual overhead cost incurred Overhead may be underapplied for several reasons.
.=============================================================================================================================================== Control over overhead spending may be poor. Or, some of the overhead may be fixed and the actual amount of the allocation base was less than estimated at the beginning of the period. In this situation, the amount of overhead applied to inventory will be less than the actual overhead cost incurred.
Underapplied overhead implies that not enough overhead was assigned to jobs during the period and therefore cost of goods sold was understated. Therefore, underapplied overhead is added to cost of goods sold. Likewise, overapplied overhead is deducted from cost of goods sold.
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Underapplied overhead occurs when the actual overhead cost exceeds the amount of overhead cost applied to Work in Process inventory during the period. Overapplied overhead occurs when the actual overhead cost is less than the amount of overhead cost applied to Work in Process inventory during the period.
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Under- or overapplied overhead is disposed of by either closing out the amount to Cost of Goods Sold or allocating the amount among Cost of Goods Sold and ending inventories in proportion to the applied overhead in each account. The adjustment for underapplied overhead increases Cost of Goods Sold (and inventories) whereas the adjustment for overapplied overhead decreases Cost of Goods Sold (and inventories).
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When the predetermined overhead rate is based on the amount of the allocation base at capacity and the plant is operated at less than capacity, overhead will ordinarily be underapplied. This occurs because actual activity is less than the activity the predetermined overhead rate is based on.
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