Key Terms: Chapter Twenty

ABC/activity based costing

Alternative costing method for strategic management; divides production into activities, defines costs for activities, and allocates costs to objects based on activity consumption

activity

An event that gives rise to the consumption of resources

activity cost pool

The costs assigned to a particular activity

activity driver

Event that causes consumption of an activity

batch-level activity

Activities that relate to each batch of production; independent of the number of units within that batch

cost object

The output for which costing information is to be determined under ABC; can be product or service related, or customer, market, etc.

cost of production report

A report used in a process costing environment to tabulate the costs incurred within a particular stage/department

customer-level activity

Activities that relate to each customer; independent of the volume of goods and services provided to the specific customer

entity-sustaining activity

Activities that relate to an entity's ability to operate; independent of business volume

equivalent units

A measure of physical units expressed in terms of finished units

market-level activity

Activities that relate to the number of markets in which an entity operates; independent of the number of products, customers, etc.

process costing

Process costing is a method to allocate the total costs of production to homogenous units produced via a continuous process that usually involves multiple steps or departments

product-level activity

Activities that relate to the number of products produced; independent of the number of units produced

resource

The elements consumed by activities and cost objects

resource driver

The concept that activities create the need for resources which will be consumed in the production process

unit-level activity

Activities that relate to the number of units of output; each additional unit of production requires another activity

weighted-average process costing

A process costing technique where all units of production are assigned the same cost; determined by blending of current period costs with beginning inventory cost