Manufacturing overhead definition
/What is Manufacturing Overhead?
Manufacturing overhead is all indirect costs incurred during the production process. This overhead is applied to the units produced within a reporting period, so that the cost of these units are fully burdened with all manufacturing costs. These costs are then charged to the cost of goods sold as the units are sold over time.
Examples of Manufacturing Overhead
Examples of costs that are included in the manufacturing overhead category are as follows:
Depreciation on equipment used in the production process
Property taxes on the production facility
Rent on the factory building
Salaries of maintenance personnel
Salaries of manufacturing managers
Salaries of the materials management staff
Salaries of the quality control staff
Supplies not directly associated with products (such as manufacturing forms)
Utilities for the factory
Wages of building janitorial staff
Since direct materials and direct labor are usually considered to be the only costs that directly apply to a unit of production, manufacturing overhead is (by default) all of the indirect costs of a factory.
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What is Not Included in Manufacturing Overhead?
Manufacturing overhead does not include any of the selling or administrative functions of a business. Thus, the costs of such items as corporate salaries, audit and legal fees, and bad debts are not included in manufacturing overhead. These costs are instead charged to expense as incurred; they are considered to be period expenses, and so are associated with an accounting period, rather than a product.
Accounting for Manufacturing Overhead
When you create financial statements, both generally accepted accounting principles and international financial reporting standards require that you assign manufacturing overhead to the cost of products, both for reporting their cost of goods sold (as reported on the income statement), and their cost within the inventory asset account (as reported on the balance sheet). The method of cost allocation is up to the individual company - common allocation methods are based on the labor content of a product or the square footage used by production equipment. it is also possible to use multiple allocation methods. Whatever allocation method used should be employed on a consistent basis from period to period.
Terms Similar to Manufacturing Overhead
Manufacturing overhead is also known as factory overhead, production overhead, and factory burden.
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