MAPICS DB/XA

THE COST ACCOUNTANT'S TOOL KIT
(AVEM96)

The Cost Accountant's Tool Kit saves time and money by automating the maintenance of MAPICS cost fields. It also helps the cost accountant maintain control of cost data by reporting exceptional conditions.

The Cost Accountant's Tool Kit provides several powerful analysis reports. The tools can be used to prevent or correct errors and identify cost changes that warrant further investigation.

The Tool Kit contains three reports that compare the values in the most commonly used cost fields; standard compared to current, standard compared to unit cost default and current compared to unit cost default. These are exception reports. The program will list only those items that have a percentage variance between the two cost fields that exceeds a tolerance limit provided by the user when the report is run. These reports are especially useful when standard or current costs are being updated. They can be used to identify cost changes of a magnitude that challenge credibility.

The Tool Kit contains three reports that can be used to prevent problems.

	The first report identifies items without costs. New items are sometimes set up in the files without costs because the costs have yet to be determined. The cost accountant must make sure that the cost fields are updated before any material usage transactions for the new items can be processed.
	The second report identifies material receipt transactions that may have been entered with invalid costs. The program compares transaction receipt cost to either the default cost or the warehouse standard unit cost. The choice is determined by the user when the report is run. The program will list only those receipts with a percentage variance that exceeds a tolerance limit supplied by the user. If a receipt was entered incorrectly, the cost accountant can get the last and average cost fields in the item balance record corrected before they are used by other costing procedures or on reports. On the other hand, if an over tolerance receipt cost turns out to be valid, the cost accountant may want to take action to prevent product profitability from being adversely affected.
	The last report in the Tool Kit identifies the purchased cost content of any assembly  or sub-assembly. This report is particularly useful during costing updates because it can help the cost accountant analyze purchase cost content without having to run a cost roll up.

 

The Cost Accountant's Tool Kit eliminates time consuming and tedious file maintenance and manual keying errors. The first time standards are changed, these functions alone will more than justify the cost of the Tool Kit.

Using the Tool Kit menus options, cost values can be moved quickly and easily.

	For purchased items, non-zero last (invoice) or average cost values can be moved  from the warehouse balance records to current purchase content this level fields in the item master 'B' records. The cost accountant will usually want to run this  procedure when changing current costs.
	For purchased items, non-zero current purchase content this level values can be  moved to standard purchase content this level fields in the item master 'B' record. The cost account will usually want to run this procedure when changing standard  costs.
	For new purchased items, non-zero current purchase content this level values can be moved to zero value standard purchase content this level fields in the item master 'B' record.
	For new items, non-zero standard unit cost values can be moved from the item master 'B' record to zero value unit cost default fields in the item master 'A' records. The cost accountant will want to run this procedure when new items have been added during the month and material usage transactions are likely to be processed before the end of the month.
	Also for new items, non-zero standard unit cost values can be moved from the item  master 'B' record to zero value warehouse standard unite cost fields. The cost  accountant will want to run this procedure if standard costs are being maintained in  the warehouse balance records rather that the unit cost default field in the item master 'A' records.
	Finally, all non-zero warehouse standard unit cost values can be cleared. The cost  accountant will want to run this procedure when changing standard costs and the  standard costs are being maintained in the warehouse balance records rather than  the item master 'A' records. If, on the other hand, standard costs are being maintained in the item master 'A' record's unit cost default field, then the cost accountant will want to run this procedure to insure that all warehouse standard unit cost fields are clear.

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