- activity-based costing(ABC) A costing system for situations where overhead is high and/or a variety of products are produced; costs are traced to activities and then activities are allocated to production
- Business to Business(B2B) A system that enables data interchange between companies; sometimes sufficiently robust to permit automatic inventory replenishment, etc.
- budgetA planning tool that outlines the financial plans for an organization; there are various types of budgets -- operating, capital, and financial
- Certified Financial Manager(CFM) a professional designation of competency in the field of financial management that is issued by the Institute of Management Accountants
- Chartered Global Management Accountant(CGMA) sponsors a designation that distinguishes professionals who have advanced proficiency in finance, operations, strategy and management
- Certified Management Accountant(CMA) a professional designation of competency in the field of management accounting that is issued by the Institute of Management Accountants
- controllerThe primary person responsible for the cost and managerial accounting functions
- conversion costCost components needed to change raw materials to finished goods, specifically direct labor and manufacturing overhead
- cost accountingThe process by which an organization's cost is collected, assigned, and interpreted
- cost of goods manufacturedThe amount of cost attributable to goods reaching the end of production; beginning work in process (wip) + (direct materials, direct labor, manufacturing overhead) - ending wip
- direct laborGross wages paid to those who physically and directly work on the goods being produced
- direct materialThe costs of all materials that are an integral part of a finished product and that have a physical presence that is readily traced to that finished product
- Enterprise Resource Packages(ERP) Comprehensive database software that tracks an almost endless array of business and accounting data
- finished goodsFinished goods represent the cost of completed products awaiting sale to a customer
- Institute of Management Accountants(IMA) a professional association for management accountants that sponsors the CMA and CFM designations
- inventoriable costProduct costs that attach to inventory
- job costing methodA costing approach whereby actual labor and material is tracked for each job or product
- Machine to Machine(M2M) enables connected devices to communicate with each other
- manufacturing overheadAll costs of manufacturing other than direct materials and direct labor (also called factory overhead)
- period costA cost not attributable to the acquisition or manufacture of inventory; expensed as incurred
- prime costProduct costs that are direct in nature; direct materials and direct labor
- process costing methodsA product costing method particularly well suited to situations where production occurs in a continuous process; costs are pooled and assigned to aggregate output
- product costCosts that attach to a product; the summation of direct materials, direct labor, and factory overhead
- raw materialsThe components that will be used in manufacturing units that are not yet started -- also known as direct materials
- radio frequency identification(RFID) Micro processes embedded in inventory that emit radio frequency signals that enable a computer to automatically track inventory
- scorecards (balanced)A system for evaluating elements that are important to the organization and under the control of an employee holding that position
- SG&ASelling, general, and administrative costs; the period costs of the business
- standardsBenchmarks against which actual productive activity is compared
- sustainabilityDevelopment without depletion of natural resources or negative effects on the environment
- theory of constraints(TOC) Efficiency is improved by seeking out and eliminating constraints within the organization
- total quality management(TQM) A process for continuous improvement by focusing on customer service and systematic problem solving via teams made up of front-line employees
- variancesDeviations from the norm that may provide warning signs of situations requiring corrective action by managers
- work in processGoods that are in production but not yet complete; an accumulation of monies spent on direct material, direct labor, and applied manufacturing overhead
