The form of the report of production will naturally vary in different lines of business, though the information needed follows the same lines in all cases. The essential feature is an exact record covering every article manufactured in the factory; and every order for parts must be considered as an order for finished product.
Fig. 21. Monthly Recapitulation of Job Costs
Sometimes daily reports of finished orders will be required by the main office, especially when the factory is located at a distance. As a rule, however, a report covering a period of a week or a month will serve the purpose.
A form that is adapted for most industries, and for daily, weekly, or monthly reports, is shown in Fig. 21. In the heading of this form, provision is made for the name of the department. When it is desired to keep separate records of two or more classes of goods made in the same factory, it is necessary to make a report of each class. The class is usually indicated by the name of the department; when it is not, the name of the class should be substituted. The body of the form records the date started, order number, date finished, quantity, and cost in detail.
The making of this report requires very little additional labor in the cost department. Each day, when costs are tabulated on the finished job cost cards, the details are entered on the report, each job being placed in its proper class. At the end of the week or month, the total column is footed and the report is sent to the general accounting office. If the office and factory are widely separated, the report should be made in duplicate, and a copy retained in the cost department.
CONTROLLING ACCOUNTS
49. Certain controlling accounts are required in the general ledger to complete the connection between the cost and general accounting system—to bind the two together. These controlling accounts, which absorb all of the elements of cost from month to month, furnish the means of proving the accuracy of cost figures; they change the cost system from single entry to double entry.
Two controlling accounts are necessary—Manufacturing and Expense Distribution. The former finally absorbs the latter and is, therefore, the principal controlling account.
One manufacturing account may represent the entire product of the plant, or there may be several accounts representing different classes of goods, or departments of the business. In machinery manufacture, the foundry is frequently treated as a separate business; in the manufacture of knit underwear, the yarn and knitting mills are operated as separate plants; in a harness factory, separate accounts are kept of the manufacture of harness, collars, and saddles. Each of these divisions, whether departments or kinds of goods, calls for a manufacturing account.