Fig. 14. Boston Ledger Form Adopted for a Continuous Cost Record
A further reason for distributing expense to shops is, that costs of separate operations are more accurately figured. To reach their greatest value, cost records should reduce costs to the smallest possible unit. Every detail should be shown, and these records should be available for comparison.
Fig. 14 shows how the Boston ledger may be used for a continuous cost record. The regular form is used, five lines being set aside for each job. The first line is for the job number, following which, material, direct labor, indirect labor, and expense are entered. Under each date, the first column contains particulars of previous costs, the second, the costs added for the day, and the third column contains the totals to date. It is not necessary to use the column for previous costs except the first day for which the page is used; daily costs can be added to totals for the previous day.
Several jobs can be recorded on one page and the record can continue until a job is finished. Additions can be made daily, weekly, or even monthly. This form is used to excellent advantage for contracts that cover a long period.
When a large number of small jobs are going through the factory at all times, the labor of the cost department can be reduced and, as a rule, satisfactory results secured, if tabulations of job costs are made when the job is finished. This should not be allowed to interfere with the daily tabulation of total costs, but when requisitions and time-cards have been re-sorted by job numbers, they may be filed by these numbers, in a job rack—new cards being added from day to day until the job is finished. Tabulations can then be made of material costs, showing the quantity and cost of each kind used, and of the labor costs, showing costs by operations or by order numbers.
Each business requires its special form for job cost records. The form must provide for the information of greatest importance to the business in which it is used. The forms shown herein are submitted as examples for their suggestive value.
Fig. 15. Recapitulation of Costs for a Single Job