What Are The Differences Between Job Costing And Contract Costing?

Generally, tenders are invited giving details of the contract to fix up the contract price. As per agreement between the parties, any additional work may be charged separately.

Contract costing is ensuring that the customer understands and has knowledge of all costs that are incurred so that the customer can easily track where their money is being spent. These types of contract agreements are becoming more frequent to develop better business relationships with customers and companies. In an economy that’s consistently growing with new businesses, it’s important that companies do all they can to create stability within their business relationships. When customers are seeking help to complete a big job they look for the company with the best price. Contract costing is a good way to show customers that your company can be trusted and that your company can get the work done at a reasonable price. Prevailing wage rate – is a term used in a legislative effort to provide organized labor a fair chance to bid for government contracts.

The profit taken up should be based on Standard Cost Accounting principles. In case of Completed Contracts, all the profit that arise from the contract can be transferred to Profit and Loss Account. The amount of work-in-progress includes the value of work certified and uncertified appearing in the Contract Account. The general overheads and head office expenses are apportioned to different con­tracts on equitable basis, and the portion of overheads are charged to the Contract Account. All the materials purchased for the contract or any material sent to site is charged to contract.

The actual amount received will be credited to his personal account and the balance shown as an asset in the balance sheet as ‘contractee’. Contract costing is also known as Terminal Costing because the work is terminated once it is completed and contract A/c is closed. Most of the expenses on the contract are generally of the direct nature and for the specific contract. Overheads related to central office or store are apportioned among the various contracts on some suitable basis like, wages, or material or period basis etc.

Contract Costing: Definition & Example

DepreciationDepreciation is a systematic allocation method used to account for the costs of any physical or tangible asset throughout its useful life. Its value indicates how much of an asset’s worth has been utilized. Depreciation enables companies to generate revenue from their assets while only charging a fraction of the cost of the asset in use each year. If the work started recently and one-fourth or less is done, no profit should be transferred to the profit and loss account. The scale of operations and cost control becomes difficult due to the theft of materials, labor time utilization, pilferages, etc. Under job order costing profit is determined after all cost related to the job is incurred. Cost Plus Contract is a contract in which the value-of-the contract is ascertained by adding a fixed margin of profit to the total cost of the contract.

She most recently worked at Duke University and is the owner of Peggy James, CPA, PLLC, serving small businesses, nonprofits, solopreneurs, freelancers, and individuals. Job to be completed takes lesser time while contract takes long enough period for completion like Bhakhra Dam, Tihri Dam, SYL Canal, thermal powerhouse etc. The difference of the totals of the two sides represents the notional profit or notional loss. If the credit side is bigger, the difference represents notional profit, if the total debit side exceeds the total credit side, the difference is the notional loss. When a contractor undertakes a large contract, he may entrust a specific portion of the main work undertaken by him to another contractor called, sub-contractor. The agreement or contract between the contractor and sub-contractor is called sub-contract.

An aircraft development contract, for example, may pay award fees if the contractor’s product achieves certain speed, range, or payload capacity goals. For some contracts, the award fee is determined subjectively by an awards fee board whereas for others the fee is based upon objective performance metrics.

Contract Industries Where Contract Costing Can Be Suitably Applied

The cost-plus contract involves the contractee agreeing to pay the contractor the cost price of the work carried out on the contract plus an agreed amount or percentage thereof by way of different overheads and profit. A contract is a job of a large size that may extend beyond one accounting period. The person executing the contract is known as a contractor, and the person for whom it is executed is known as the contractee. Exempt Employees – Certain employees are exempt from the overtime laws. These are typically managers, executives, professionals and outside sales personnel. Regardless of how many hours these employees work during a week, employers are not under any obligation to pay them overtime. Employers are free to give them paid time off as a reward for the extra hours.

Adjustments can be made based on the costing results to enhance quality and ensure service providers do not incur losses. Here, the work agreement is closed once the whole work is completed and the contract is closed after the termination of the work. Most of the expenses in contract costing are generally of a direct nature. Although job costing and contract costing belong to the category of specific order costing where work is started after receiving the order of the customer according to the specific instructions of the customers. In other words, the amount of notional profit may be carried to the credit side of the contract account and the amount to be transferred to the profit and loss account may be shown on the debit side. The balance of the notional profit is kept in reserve as an element of work in progress.

Difference Between Job Costing And Contract Costing

In contract costing, we open contract account for every contract. In this account, we show all expenses relating to contract and it also show work in progress in the form of work certified and work uncertified.

Contract costing is defined as that form of specific order costing wherein work is carried out in accordance with customer’s special requirement and each order is of long duration. All costs relating to contracts are charged to the respective Contract Accounts. Job costing or job order costing also called specific order costing is a method of costing which is used when work is undertaken as per the customer’s special requirement (tailor-made).

The payments by the contractee are made to the contractor in installments on the basis of the extent of the work completed and certified as complete by the contractee’s engineer or architect. If the work certified is less than 25% of the contract price, the profit should neither be calculated nor accounted for. The amount of the work certified may be debited to the work-in-progress account and credited to the contract account. The amount received from the contractee may be debited to his personal account.

Work Period

Progress is judged by technical personnel, such as architects, surveyors, and engineers. Indirect expenses are treated and apportioned in the same manner as any costing system. However, if it is acquired for a shorter period, the amount is only debited with the usual depreciation of the assets. Mean – The mean of a set of numbers is the sum of all the members of the set divided by the total number of items in the set.

• Progress billings are invoices requesting payment for work completed to date.
• Jobs carried under job costing are paid upon completion or full with order.
• This is especially true if the contractor makes an error during the course of the project or is found to be negligent in any part of the construction.
• ABC can also bill indirect, or overhead, costs, which include insurance, security, and safety.
• Jobs can be transferable (some part of work can be given to sub-contracts/third parties).

Regardless of the amount of work certified, the contractor is paid a specified percentage of the same and the balance is held or retained by the contracture. The unpaid balance of work certified or the amount held back or retained by the contracted is known as ‘retention money’. And in the case of materials supplied by the contractee himself, no entry is required in the Contract Account. Profit is calculated only in respect of work certified by the contractee’s architect or surveyor. No profit is calculated in respect of work uncertified which is valued at cost. This is the part of work which is approved by surveyor or engineer.

What Are The Differences Between Job Costing And Contract Costing?

Since the work is executed at the contract site, most of the items of cost to be incurred are direct in nature. The contracts are executed per the specifications provided by the contractee.

In a cost-plus contract, parties make an agreement in which price is determined as expenses incurred along with specific gain i.e., cost incurred plus profit. Here, the contractor compensates all the costs incurred to the contractor plus a percentage of the cost as gain or a lump sum amount. Because, in some cases, the contractee may agree to make part payments from time to time depending upon the degree of work completed as certified by the contractee’s surveyor. By crediting the Contract Account for the contract price and finding out the balance, profit or loss on the contract can be computed. Sometimes, materials not required for the contract or unused materials at the contract site are sold to other parties. Escalation clause in the contract agreement safeguard the interests of both contractor and contractee. The method to adjust the price will be explained in the escalation clause.

It is a system of pay that is a throw-back to piece work bonuses in which workers are paid more than others for more or better work or for supposedly higher performance on the job. Back loading- Back loading occurs when the largest increases occur at the end of a contract cycle (e.g. Year 1- 2% increase, Year 2- 4% increase, Year 3- 6% increase) in a multi-year agreement. Where the production is against the order of the customer or jobs are executed for different customers according to their specifications. A cost-plus contract is often used when performance, quality or delivery time is a much greater concern than cost, such as in the United States space program. Cost-plus- This is reimbursed for all the costs in the production process, plus a percentage margin. There is only one disadvantage which is to the contractor as there is a chance of good negotiation in the price due to the escalation clause.

As a customer, you likely want to see how your money is being spent. We, as consumers, sometimes feel more comfortable making a purchase or getting into a contract agreement when we have a good idea of exactly where our money is going. For instance, when purchasing a new car, it’s important to understand what amenities we’re getting for the price of the purchase in order to decide if the purchase is worth the amount it’s selling for. Some dealerships may even provide a price breakdown on the window of the car so customers have a better idea of how certain amenities that come with a car effect the purchase price. In contract costing each contract is treated as a cost unit and costs are ascertained separately for each contract.

Contract Costing Meaning

“Contract costing is that form of specific order costing which applies where work is undertaken to customers’ special requirements and each order is of long-term duration”. The cost of certified work is decided as per the milestones set in the contract. Thus, experts such as architects, engineers, surveyors, etc. are appointed to certify the work completed to date. As per the work completion, the revenue is recognized by the contractor.

National and regional figure are available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics available on its web site bls.gov. Allows more oversight and control of the quality of the contractor’s work.

A cost-plus contract is an agreement to reimburse a company for expenses incurred plus a specific amount of profit, usually stated as a percentage of the contract’s full price. These type of contracts are primarily used in construction where the buyer assumes some of the risk but also provides a degree of flexibility to the contractor. In such a case, the party drawing up the contract anticipates that the contractor will make good on their promises to deliver, and agrees to pay extra so that the contractor can make additional profit upon completion. All the expenses incurred on the contract are debited to the contract account. At the end of the accounting period, the contract account is credited with the amount of work-in-progress, consisting of value of work certified and cost of work uncertified. If any materials are in hand or there is a plant at site, they are also shown on the credit side of the contract account.

Materials sold at the contract site are credited to the contract account. However, if a sale is made, the resulting profit or loss is credited to the profit and loss account. In case of a sale of contract assets and property for profit or loss, the profit and loss account is credited.