Allocation base of general production costs as optimization of prime costs

Qualified management aimed at optimizing financial results is the key factor in today's society. Effective management decisions depend on the necessary information about the costs of production process in all its aspects – their structure, types, accounting policies of reflecting costs. General production costs, the so-called indirect costs that are not directly related to the production process, but provide its functioning in terms of supporting structural divisions and create the necessary conditions of production, play a significant role in calculating prime costs of goods (works, services). However, the accurate estimate of prime costs of goods (works, services) should be determined with the value of indirect costs (in other words, general production costs), and properly determined with the base of their allocation. The choice of allocation base of general production costs is the significant moment, depending on the nature of business, which must guarantee fair distribution regarding to the largest share of direct expenses in the total structure of production costs. The study finds the essence of general production costs based on the analysis of key definitions of leading Ukrainian economists. The optimal allocation approach of general production costs is to calculate these costs as direct production costs within each subsidiary division (department) separately without selecting a base as the main one to the their total amount.