Overhead absorption is the process whereby overhead costs allocated and apportioned to production cost centres are added to unit, job or batch costs.

Related MCQs

• Which of the following procedure is incorrect for attributing overhead costs to cost units? I. Collecting production overhead costs by item II. Establishing cost centres III. Allocating and apportioning overhead costs to cost centres IV. Apportioning service cost centre costs to production cost centres V. Absorbing production cost centre costs into cost units
• The apportionment of production overhead costs might be in two stages: • sharing (or dividing) general costs between production centres and service centres; and • then sharing the costs of the service centres between the production centres.
• Apportionment means sharing on a reasonable basis. Many overhead costs are costs that cannot be allocated directly to one cost centre, because they are shared by two or more cost centres. These costs are apportioned between the cost centres.
• When overheads have been allocated and apportioned to production cost centres, they are charged to the cost of products manufactured in the cost centre.
• The cost per unit manufactured in a batch is the total batch cost divided by the number of units in the batch.
• Allocation is where overheads are allocated to cost centres. If a cost centre is responsible for the entire cost of an item of expenditure, the entire cost is charged directly to the cost centre.
• Variable overhead is overhead that increases as more production work is done. Total variable overhead expenditure therefore depends on the volume of production. Variable overhead is usually calculated as an amount for each direct labour hour worked.
• Indirect production costs are incurred in three main ways: • Production activities: costs arising in production departments such as fuel, depreciation, supervision • Service activities: the cost of operating non-producing departments such as materials handling, canteen • Establishment costs: general production overheads such as factory rent/rates, heating and lighting
• Sharing the costs of the service centres between the production centres is called:
• . Which of the following is most likely to be an allocated production overhead cost to the finishing cost centre?