Cost Accounting by Elements and Articles

The purpose of the article is to improve the grouping cost by economic elements and articles to calculate the cost of production, work and services, as well as the formation of information support for the analysis of the activity results of enterprises. The procedure for the formation of technological, production and full production cost was disclosed. It was revealed that if an enterprise produces one type of product, work or service, then all expenses incurred (basic and overhead) are essentially direct. If there are several objects of accounting, then indirect costs are subject to distribution. In order to analyze the costs incurred, they are grouped by articles. Branch guidelines contain a recommended list of expense articles, but the names and numbers of such items are not the same. In agricultural and industrial enterprises, where the vast majority of products are produced, only one article "General production costs" coincides in name. A similar situation is observed when comparing expense articles between other sectors of the economy. Thus, when planning and accounting, expenses are grouped in such a way that there is no way to compare them and conduct a detailed economic analysis. In this regard, it is advisable that the cost articles in all sectors of economic activity be the same and correspond to the established cost elements: material costs, labor costs, deductions for social events, depreciation, other operating expenses. Each article should be detailed depending on industry and other features of management. Each enterprise should set the level of detail of expenses independently, guided by its own needs, because modern information technology provides the possibility of any detail. An author's approach to grouping cost by elements was proposed, which allows to get information about the created added value for each product (including data on labor costs, deductions for social events, received incomes).