Chapter 3 Labor Costing Q
Chapter 3 Labor Costing Q
Chapter 3 Labor Costing Q
INTRODUCTION
Labour is the second element of cost after materials. Labour cost represents the remuneration for
employees’ effort in the production process. Controlling labour cost involves complex
procedures since it involves human beings and controlling human behaviour is complex. This
chapter will explain the process for determining and controlling labour cost.
From the perspective of cost accounting, labour cost determination and control is very important
because it has huge cost implications for the organization. Labour cost consists of: recruitment
cost, cost of training and staff development, wages and salaries, employee bonuses, overtime
premium, group incentives etc. if these cost are not properly controlled, total cost may not be
minimized.
Labour recruitment cost as well as other labour cost therefore includes the following:
Advertising cost
Interviewing expenses
Training expenses
Cost of wastages of new employees
Wages and salaries of employees
Overtime premiums
Employee bonuses
Retirement payments etc.
Labour Timing and Assessment.
After employees have been engaged and they begin to work, there is the need to time them as
they work so as to assess their performance and also to make it possible to cost work that they
Work study
Method study
This is the recording and critical examination of existing methods of doing work and comparing
same with proposed methods with a view to coming up with easier methods which would be
more effective and cheaper on the long run.
Work measurement
As the name suggests, work measurement seeks to measure the time required for a qualified
worker to complete a specific assignment at a specified level of performance.
There are two basic methods of remunerating labour; time based remuneration and output based
remuneration.
The amount earned by the employee is based on the number of hours spent at his place of work
and not on the quantity of work produced. The Gross wage is calculated as Hours Worked × Rate
per hour. However when overtime is worked, the payment to the employee will also include
premium on the overtime hours.
1. Effort is rewarded and in consequence, the employee is given the incentive to produce
more
2. Because employees are self-motivated, less supervision is required.
3. The employer benefits from a reduction in the overhead cost per unit of production.
Disadvantages
1. There is a danger that quality will be sacrificed and in order to avoid such a situation the
employer would spend more on inspection and quality control
2. Piece workers, after earning certain remuneration during a week, might be satisfied and
slacken their pace, arrive late or absent themselves. Plant is therefore left idle and
capacity is under-utilised.
3. A considerable degree of time is involved in setting standard times and as these are
subject to the agreement of trade union representatives, further time is often spent in
detail negotiation before piece rates are established.
4. If an error is made and piece rates are set too high, it is difficult subsequently to reduce
them. This could prove to be extremely costly.
Under this scheme the piece work rate changes at different levels of efficiency or production.
The object of this is to provide a strong incentive to reach the maximum rate of production.
Bonus schemes are intended to reward employees for their efficiency in saving cost for the
organisation through the saving of time. These are therefore schemes for sharing extra profits
with employees. Conceptually, bonus can only be awarded where there has been cost savings or
improved performance that leads the organisation to exceed its profit target. To be able to
compute bonuses, we must first appreciate the following concepts:
Time allowed: This refers to the expected time to be spent in doing some piece of work e.g. if
time set for one unit is 5 hours, then 100 units shall be 500 hours.
Time allowed may therefore not be the same as the hours worked.
Time taken: This the number of hours actually used in performing a piece of work.
Time saved: It is the difference between time allowed and hours worked, when time allowed is
greater than hours worked.
Premium bonus: This is paid when time has been saved; the magnitude of the bonus therefore
depends upon the time saved.
According to this scheme, the time saved should be apportioned equally between the employer
and the employee.
Under this scheme the proportion is 2:1in favour of the employer. Thus the employee gets only a
third of time saved at the rate per hour.
Rowan Scheme
Under this system, the bonus award to the employee is the proportion between time taken and
Time allowed of the
It therefore follows that if the employee saves more time, he gets a greater bonus. Many business
organisations determine their bonuses through negotiation with employee groups. The factors
that influence the size of the bonus include the following:
Time refers to the basic rate e.g. if the normal rate of pay is MVR 500 an hour, then the time is
MVR 500. Meaning of Additional Rate – The additional rate is called the overtime premium and
whatever it is the amount involved is arrived at by multiplying the description by the basic rate
e.g. The overtime rate is time and one half, the basic rate is MVR 500. The premium shall be
MVR 250 = ½ × MVR 500.
Overtime Premium
It is the portion of the overtime pay over and above the basic rate of pay. Basically, overtime
premium is treated as indirect wages. The only time it is treated as direct wages is when the
overtime is worked according to the customer’s request to complete his order within a specified
period.
This is a term which signifies the extent to which employees leave an organisation. It can be
measured by using the following formulae: Number of employees leaving
To obtain the maximum benefit from the Calculation, the rate of labour turnover should be
compared with rate for previous periods and if available, the rate for other businesses in the area
and in the industry as a whole. If the number of leavers is high relative to the total number of
employees, a high ratio will emerge. An increase in the number of employees leaving or a
reduction in the total workforce will cause an increase in the rate compared with previous
periods. The effect of a high rate is reflected in loss of output, lowering of morale and higher
cost. Loss of output occurs because of:
(a) The gap between the person leaving and his replacement;
(b) The length of time taken to train a new employee to the level of efficiency of the previous
employee;
(c) The reduced effort given by an employee during the days or weeks immediately prior to
the date of departure.
(i) Dissatisfaction with the job, wages, hours of work or working conditions;
(ii) Discontent due to the relationship with the employee’s Supervisors and or
Colleagues;
(iii) Lack of promotion opportunities;
(iv) Personal matters e.g. ill health, marriage, pregnancy, moving to a new area.
(v) Sometimes employees are discharged due to redundancy, incompetence, lateness, and
absenteeism and for disciplinary reasons.
When the total deductions are taken from the gross wages, then we obtain the wages of each
employee.
Payroll accounting relates to the process of computing the amount of earnings of employees as
well as the various payments made for and on the behalf of employees. Examples of payment on
behalf of employees include the following:
Employer’s Social Security Contribution for employee
Employee Social Security Contributions
Personal Income Tax of employees
Welfare deductions for employees etc.
Practice Questions
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 6
Question 11
Question 12
Question 14
Question 15
Question 16
Rush & Fluster Co budgets to make 25,000 standard units of output (in four hours each) during a
budget period of 100,000 hours.
Actual output during the period was 27,000 units which took 120,000 hours to make.
Required
Question 18
Penny Pincher is paid 50c for each towel she weaves, but she is guaranteed a minimum wage of
$60 for a 40 hour week. In a series of four weeks, she makes 100, 120, 140 and 160 towels.
Required
Calculate her pay each week, and the conversion cost per towel if production OH is added at the
rate of $2.50 per direct labour hour.
Question 20
Jaffa Co employs two types of labour: skilled workers, considered to be direct workers, and
semi-skilled workers considered to be indirect workers. Skilled workers are paid $10 per hour
and semi-skilled $5 per hour.
The skilled workers have worked 20 hours overtime this week, 12 hours on specific orders and 8
hours on general overtime. Overtime is paid at a rate of time and a quarter.
The semi-skilled workers have worked 30 hours overtime, 20 hours for a specific order at a
customer’s request and the rest for general purposes. Overtime again is paid at time and a
quarter.
What would be the total overtime pay considered to be a direct cost for this week?
Question 21
The following data relate to work in the finishing department of certain factory.
Employee A is a carpenter and normally works 36 hours per week. The standard rate of pay is
$3.70 per hour. A premium of 50% of basic hourly rate is paid for all overtime hours worked.
During the last week of October, Employee A worked 42 hours. The overtime hours worked
were for the following reasons:
Question 23
A company has 35 direct production employees at the beginning of last year and 25 direct
production employees at the end of the year. During the year, a total of 15 direct production
employees had left the company to work for local competitors.
Question 24
Question 31
Question 33
Question 35