Expenses for the maintenance of administrative and management personnel. Administrative budget. payroll budget

Where should the costs of maintaining administrative and managerial personnel be included if the organization does not yet conduct production activities?

Question: Where it is necessary to include the costs of maintaining administrative and managerial personnel (salary with deductions and office rent), if the organization does not yet conduct production activities, but has entered into a development agreement technical information for the implementation of the production project next year.

Answer: In accounting, write off the expenses reflected on account 26 to account 20 or 91, depending on the provisions of the accounting policy. More on this in the situation below.

Concerning tax accounting, then if these expenses are indirect, then they are recognized in the current period, forming a loss. The organization is not entitled to postpone indirect costs to a later period.

Rationale

General business expenses (for example, salaries of management personnel, office rental expenses and other expenses associated with the development and development of a business), as well as other expenses, must be taken into account regardless of whether they lead to income generation or not (p. 16-18 PBU 10/99). Therefore, even if the organization does not receive income from its activities, these costs should still be fully reflected in the accounting accounts.

General business expenses, which are reflected in the account of the same name 26, take into account one of the following ways:

In the second case, the expenses will directly form the financial result (loss) of the reporting period (that is, they will be taken into account in the debit of account 91-2) (Instructions for the chart of accounts).

Until January 1, 2011, general business expenses could also be taken into account using account 97 “Deferred expenses”. From January 1, 2011, organizations no longer have such an opportunity. Such a conclusion follows from subparagraph 14 of paragraph 1 of the amendments approved by order of the Ministry of Finance dated December 24, 2010 No. 186n.

Determine the chosen procedure for distributing expenses in the accounting policy of the organization for accounting purposes (clause 4 PBU 1/2008).

How to allocate direct and indirect expenses in tax accounting

What costs to take into account as part of direct costs in the production of goods, works, services

What expenses in the production of goods, works or services are classified as direct, and which are indirect, you have the right to determine independently. The list of expenses is approved by the head of the organization and recorded in the accounting policy.

When making a choice, be guided by the following principles. As part of direct costs, reflect those costs that are directly related to production or sales. At the same time, you can focus on industry specifics and proceed from specific features production process within the organization itself.

Typically, direct production costs include:

material costs. In particular, the cost of purchasing raw materials and materials that will be used directly in production, as well as components that are being installed, and semi-finished products that require additional processing;

labor costs of employees employed in production activities, and contributions to social insurance accrued from these amounts. The same applies to premiums for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases;

depreciation of fixed assets that are used in the production of goods, works or services.

When to recognize direct and indirect costs, determining the basis for calculating income tax

Write off indirect costs in full in the period to which they relate. That is, according to the rules of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

But the direct costs will have to be distributed. That part of them, which relates to the remains of work in progress or unsold goods, cannot be recognized in current expenses. This can be done only as the sale of goods and works, in the cost of which such expenses are taken into account.

This is stated in paragraph 2 of Article 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Situation: how to take into account direct and indirect expenses when calculating income tax on an accrual basis, if there are no sales revenues in the reporting period. The organization is not a newly created

If there is no income in the reporting period, the organization can recognize only indirect costs.

The explanation is simple - you can recognize direct costs only as the sale of goods, works or services, in the cost of which costs are included. Direct expenses, which relate to the balance of unsold products, cannot be taken into account when calculating income tax.

As for indirect costs, they are in no way tied to the proceeds received. They can be taken into account in the current period. And only expenses that meet the following criteria are recognized as expenses in tax accounting.

The organization in a contract way carries out the construction of fixed assets, which, after commissioning, will be used in income-generating activities. Is an organization entitled to take into account, for the purposes of taxation of profits, expenses for the maintenance of administrative and managerial personnel (wages, rent of office space, payment for communication services, maintenance and protection of property, depreciation of office equipment), travel expenses, consulting services and other expenses?

Answer: Journal No. 2 (46), 2007 “Consultations and clarifications on pricing and estimated rationing in construction"

"> OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL TAX SERVICE IN MOSCOW

According to Art. 256 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, depreciable property for the purpose of calculating income tax is recognized as property, results of intellectual activity and other objects of intellectual property that are owned by the taxpayer, are used by him to generate income, and the cost of which is repaid by accruing depreciation. Depreciable property is property with a useful life of more than 12 months and an initial cost of more than 10,000 rubles. In accordance with Art. 257 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, fixed assets are understood to be a part of property used as means of labor for the production and sale of goods (performance of work, provision of services) or for the management of an organization. The initial cost of a fixed asset is determined as the sum of the costs of its acquisition, construction, manufacture, delivery and bringing it to the state in which it is suitable for use, excluding VAT and excises, except as provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Based on Art. 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, expenses (with the exception of those specified in Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), taken into account for the purposes of calculating income tax, are recognized as reasonable and documented costs (and in the cases provided for in Article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, losses) incurred (incurred) by the taxpayer . Justified costs are understood as economically justified costs, the assessment of which is expressed in monetary terms, and documented costs are costs confirmed by documents drawn up in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. At the same time, expenses, for the accounting of which, for the purposes of Ch. 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes a special procedure; they are not included in the initial cost of an object of fixed assets. For example, property insurance costs (Article 263 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), interest on bank loans received for the construction of fixed assets, sum differences (Article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Thus, the organization can take into account in the initial cost of the fixed asset the costs of wages, office space rental, payment for communication services, maintenance and protection of property, business trips, consulting services, costs in the form of depreciation of office equipment and other costs directly related to the construction of the facility fixed assets, if the specified costs were incurred before the facility was put into operation. And about. Deputy Head of the Department, Advisor to the State civil service RF 1st class O.M.SPITSYNA

Administrative and business expenses are a category of mandatory costs, the occurrence of which is associated with the company's management processes. These costs cannot be charged to operating results. The effect of spending transactions within the framework of the administrative resource affects not a separate subdivision of a business entity, but the entire organization.

What is administrative expenses

The group of administrative costs is characterized by an indirect impact on the efficiency of the entire enterprise. Their overestimated value may indicate irrational use financial resources firms, the presence of problems in personnel policy. Administrative expenses include expenses related to management staff, consulting fees and utility bills.

In this category of costs, it is advisable to include the funds spent on compensation for travel expenses, organizing meetings with partners and paying state fees. When an enterprise participates in a lawsuit as an interested party, all legal costs must be shown in accounting as part of administrative expenses.

How administrative expenses (invoice and typical postings) are reflected in accounting is described in an article on our website.

This category of costs includes the cost of remuneration of the administrative staff of employees, personnel serving the administrative departments. These include the amount of social benefits accrued and transferred in favor of office employees. They include measures to train employees, conduct trainings and motivate actions. Administrative and management expenses include:

• payment of invoices for received outsourcing services;
• the cost of banking services to the company;
• conducting marketing analysis market;
• reimbursement of expenses of recruiting institutions in the selection of specialists for vacant positions;
• payments for water supply and sanitation, for electrical and thermal energy;
• costs associated with the maintenance of fixed assets (buildings, structures, equipment);
• purchase of computer equipment for accounting and other groups of management personnel.

General and administrative expenses include the cost of purchasing stationery and other supplies to support office staff. These include the costs of acquiring fuel and lubricants for company vehicles, expanding the office fleet. installation and Maintenance security systems, communication installations and fire extinguishing equipment can be recorded in accounting as business costs.

As administrative and management expenses, costly operations that have brought benefits cannot be shown. a separate division, but did not affect the activities of other departments. The main criterion by which the belonging to the administrative resource is determined is the presence of direct or indirect influence on the results of the company's work as a whole. For example, meeting the needs of the accounting service helps to minimize tax security risks, which prevents the occurrence of fines. Funding the marketing department has signs of general administrative costs, this allows you to get benefits for the enterprise as a whole:

• the ability to regularly analyze the competition market;
• development effective strategy promotion of goods and increase in sales;
• improving the company's reputation.

Administrative expenses can be represented by rental payments for premises and equipment provided for temporary use, the cost of sending correspondence, printing forms in a printing house, the cost of repairing office buildings, deductions to the reserve for upcoming repairs.

Management expenses are the costs of running a company. They are separated from the costs of maintaining the production process. This is their main feature.

What is included in management costs?

First, let's look at what is not included in management costs. They do not include any expenses that are associated with production activities.

Consider an example. The salary of the foreman is something that can be attributed to spending on production processes. This is due to the specifics of the work of this specialist. It directly ensures the stability of production. The salary of the CEO is already management expenses. The main difference between these costs is that production costs affect the cost of the final product, while management costs do not. However, the latter may be included in the cost indirectly.

Consider typical examples of management costs:

• Administrative expenses.
• Ensuring the work of managers.
• Depreciation and expenses for the repair of fixed assets for management purposes.
• Rental of premises for the company's activities.
• Costs for the services of an auditor, consultant.
• Expenses for other administrative needs.
• Security.
• Costs of dealing with third parties.
• Staff training.
• Spending on stationery, telephone.

SD have a conditionally constant value. That is, they practically do not change. The amount of spending can be predicted. This is due to the fact that the volume of management costs is not affected by the number of manufactured products. However, the expansion of production volumes leads to a decrease in the size of SD per unit of product. For this reason, the profit per unit of the manufactured product increases.

ATTENTION! Information about total volume The UR can be obtained from line 2220 of the income statement. Detailed information is contained in account 26 of accounting.

Varieties of SD and forms of their planning

Management expenses are not directly tied to sales figures or production volumes. The calculation is made without taking into account the dynamics of the company's income. Most overhead costs are not included in normalized, but in limited costs. That is, they set a certain limit for a given period. Management expenses can be divided into two categories:

1. Asset-linked. These are depreciation charges, expenses for the maintenance and repair of fixed assets, premises, rent.
2. Tied to the development of the enterprise. These include spending on the payment of salaries to management staff. These can be travel allowances, vacation pay. Planning such expenses is very difficult.

Management costs are on the rise. This must be taken into account when planning them. An increase in spending is necessary to ensure the efficiency of the company's functioning and maintain competitiveness. Indexing plays an important role. Let's consider SD planning methods:

1. Traditional. This method was used back in the Soviet Union, and therefore its second name is Soviet. It implies the limitation of SD to a fixed percentage of the payroll fund. This method is considered obsolete. This is due to the fact that it has many shortcomings. In particular, its use leads to a decrease in production efficiency. The traditional method is practically not used. It is not relevant for commercial productions.
2. Planning based on the results already achieved. The method assumes an annual increase (indexation) of SD indicators. The increase is based on the rate of growth of expenses. The considered method is often used by commercial companies.
3. Planning that provides a link to the final result. This is the most effective method, which is used by key structures of highly developed countries.

The specific method is determined depending on the needs of the enterprise. In Russia, the second option is the most popular.

Features of accounting for management expenses

The concept of management expenses is not included in regulations regulating accounting. Accounting for these expenses is determined in a practical way. In particular, SD are recorded on the line "Administrative expenses", on account 26 (debit):

• DT KT02, 05 - depreciation on fixed assets.
• DT26 KT04 - write-off of expenses for scientific and other research, the results of which will be used in further general business activities.
• DT26 KT16 - write-off of deviations in the cost of fixed assets that were applied in general business needs.
• DT26 KT18 - VAT write-off.
• DT26 KT21 - the use of semi-finished products that were manufactured in production for general business needs.
• DT26 KT23 - write-off of expenses of auxiliary industries.
• DT26 KT29 - write-off of expenses of service farms.
• DT26 KT43 - write-off of the cost of finished products that are used for general business needs.
• DT26 KT60, 76 - accounting for expenses for the services of auditors, consultants and other representatives of third-party companies.
• DT26 KT68 - accrual of tax fees.
• DT26 KT69 - accrual of contributions for pension or medical insurance.
• DT26 KT70 - accrual of earnings to management staff.
• DT26 KT71 - write-off against general business expenses, which are formed by accountable employees.
• DT26 KT76 - provision of services for general business needs.
• DT26 KT79 - general business expenses generated at the head office and received by branches, directed to an autonomous balance.
• DT26 KT94 - write-off of shortages and expenses from damage to material objects.
• DT26 KT96 - the formation of reserves for future expenses for general business expenses.
• DT26 KT97 - write-off of expenses for the upcoming periods.

Consider the postings on the credit of account 26:

• DT76 KT26 - compensation for damage that was previously included in general business expenses.
• DT86 KT26 - write-off of expenses at the expense of money allocated for targeted financing.
• DT90 KT26 - writing off expenses that are on account 26 to the debit of account 90.

Each posting must be supported by primary documentation. If a source documents missing, the inspection authorities will have questions. For each transaction, the amount of the transaction is indicated.

tax accounting

Any expenses of the company, including management expenses, are taken into account in taxation. To be considered, they must meet the following conditions:

• The costs are rational from an economic point of view.
• Expenses are confirmed by primary documentation. All expenses are included in tax accounting only on the basis of information from accounting.
• The main purpose of expenses is the profit of the enterprise in the future.

The expenses will be reflected in the period to which they belong.

NOTE! When tax accounting for management expenses, specialists have a lot of questions. For example, many do not know whether the expenses of the next periods of SD are related to the case if there is no profit. When analyzing tax regulations, we can conclude that UR for taxation are recognized only in expenses of the current reporting period. In accounting, the company independently determines the procedure for recognizing expenses and fixes this in the accounting policy.

Any company that has several activities is faced with the need for management evaluation. financial result each of them. Main question when solving such a problem - the correct determination of the costs associated with individual areas of work.

Basic principles of management cost accounting for profit analysis of individual areas of the company's work

To obtain reliable information about financial results various kinds activities of the enterprise, it is necessary to objectively and as accurately as possible determine the income and expenses associated with each of them. Determining the revenue side in most cases is not difficult. The bulk of the analytical work falls on costing. Of all the possible classifications of costs for assessing the profitability of individual business areas (as well as individual goods and services), the classification of costs into direct and indirect is relevant.

The calculation of the costs of each of the company's activities involves two key stages:

1. Definition of direct costs (direct costs), which can be directly and the only way associated with each area of ​​work. Direct costs include both variable and fixed costs.
2. Determination of the total value and further distribution of indirect costs (indirect costs) - costs, to one degree or another, associated with all types of activities related to ensuring the operation of the organization as a whole.

A number of companies conduct profitability analysis without resorting to the allocation of indirect costs. In this case, the analysis of the financial results of the enterprise includes the following elements:

• comparison of revenue and direct costs certain types of activities.

The excess of direct costs over revenue in any of the areas of work becomes an argument for abandoning it. Exceptions there are cases when such a loss is the result of targeted actions, such as dumping when entering the market or forced implementation additional species activities necessary for the presence of the company's goods and services in a certain market niche (for example, providing a service for manufactured products positioned as a high-class product);

• calculation of profitability indicators of the company as a whole (the ratio of profit from sales to revenue and the ratio of net profit to revenue), their sufficiency assessment(analysis in dynamics and comparison with profitability indicators of similar companies in the industry);
• element-by-element analysis of the absolute value of indirect costs for the possibility of their reduction.

note

This approach can be considered fair and sufficient if the company sets prices for goods and services sold by the method of marketing estimates (focusing on market value similar goods and services), rather than based on the level of production costs.

In other companies, management in without fail requires a full separation of costs for certain types of activities, goods and services. Economic literature and work practice offer a variety of methods for accounting and allocating indirect costs, but in general they can be reduced to one of two models:

• the entire amount of indirect costs is distributed by type of activity in proportion to a single base;
• for each element or article of indirect costs, an individual base for the breakdown by type of activity is established.

In any case, management accounting for the costs of certain types of activities requires the following rules:

1. Expenses are classified as direct or indirect based on economic meaning, regardless of how they are classified in accounting and in which line of the income statement they are recognized. For example, as part of the direct costs of each of the areas of the organization's work (separate business, separate production) must be included:

• part of the remuneration of administrative and managerial personnel, which is defined as a percentage of sales. The revenue of certain types of activity is definitely known, so the percentage of remuneration from revenue, including that received by the administrative and managerial apparatus, is an obvious example of direct rather than indirect (general business) expenses;
• expenses for advertising products or services of a specific type of activity. An example is an enterprise producing agricultural and motor vehicles, which in the reporting period carried out advertising campaign of its motorcycle products and took part in the exhibition of agricultural machinery. In this case, each of the activities of the enterprise had direct advertising costs:
  • motorcycle production - to place advertisements for motorcycles;
  • production of agricultural machinery - to cover the costs associated with participation in the exhibition;
• expenses for the maintenance and operation of vehicles occupied only in the movement of products of a particular type. As a rule, this applies to specialized equipment, such as truck mixers and truck-mounted concrete pumps at enterprises producing various types of materials for road construction;
• lease payments for equipment and vehicles used exclusively for the needs of a particular area of ​​work of the organization;
• interest on loans and borrowings raised in connection with the purchase, construction or modernization of assets, replenishment working capital specific production (if such credits and loans can be identified).

2. The choice of cost accounting format, including their classification as direct or indirect, is determined by the characteristics of the production process, organizational and production structure of a particular company. At the same time, under production structure refers to the composition of shops, sections, services of the company and their relationship in the process of work, organizational - the distribution of functions and responsibilities between the services (personnel) of the enterprise. For example:

• maintenance and operation costs warehouse(source resource warehouse, warehouse finished products), used exclusively for the needs of a particular production, are direct costs this production and apply to it in full. The cost of a similar warehouse serving several activities of the enterprise, are indirect and distributed by type of activity in one way or another.

The mentioned storage costs should include the costs of wages of the warehouse staff (with accruals), utility, repair, insurance costs, property tax on warehouse assets;

• if independent teams of employees are involved in the promotion and marketing of goods (services) of certain types of business of the company, the cost of remuneration of each team with accruals, as well as the costs of maintaining and operating the assets used by the teams (premises, computers, cars) are included in direct costs. every business line. If the promotion and marketing of the entire line of goods / services of the enterprise is carried out by a single team related costs are indirect.

In this way, management information is recorded in accordance with the management structure of the organization.

At management evaluation financial results of certain areas of the enterprise, it makes sense to take into account other income and expenses associated with them, such as exchange differences or the results of the sale of property. The income statement removes these components from sales profits, but they can still have a significant impact on the effectiveness of a particular type of activity.

The need to compare income and direct costs of certain types of business activity

Often, company management insists on assessing profitability with a full breakdown of costs by type. business activity, goods, services. At the same time, in some cases it is assumed that the intermediate stage, implying a comparison of income with direct costs, is not required.

It should be noted that the evaluation of performance based only on a comparison of revenues with the full value of costs deprives management of important management information, in particular, regarding the expediency of abandoning (or maintaining) each of the activities of the organization.

EXAMPLE 1

Trade company, which has its own distribution network, evaluated the performance of its stores ( trade enterprises). At the same time, the management of the organization received information in the form presented in Table. one.

Table 1.The format for presenting information for profit analysis, originally proposed to the company's management
No. p / p	Name of positions	Total for the company
	Income: revenue
	Expenses: cost of sales, selling and administrative expenses
	Revenue from sales

Note: The company has more sales outlets than shown in the table. The number has been reduced for clarity, while maintaining the essence of the problem under discussion.

Comparison of income and expenses for individual trading enterprises showed that enterprises 3, 4 are unprofitable. As a result, it was accepted decision to abandon unprofitable business units(close them) in order to maximize the profit of the organization. However, the implementation of the decision led to the fact that the profit did not grow, but decreased significantly. Reasons for what happened:

• features of the structure of the organization;
• ignoring the stage of profit analysis, which involves comparing the income and direct costs of individual business units.

Company Configuration illustrated in the diagram. It has the following specifics: the head office does not conduct trading operations as such, its tasks include finding suppliers, organizing logistics, securing financing, and conducting promotional activities. The sale of goods to end customers is carried out directly by trading enterprises.

Since the head office did not sell to end customers, all of its costs were allocated to the cost of products transferred to trading enterprises. As a result, the expenses of each trade enterprise (p. 2 of Table 1) in their economic essence consisted of two fundamentally different components, which it made sense to demonstrate separately when conducting a management analysis:

• direct costs associated with the operation of a particular trading enterprise. These include:
  • the purchase price of goods, taking into account transportation and procurement costs (excluding the distribution of expenses of the head office);
  • staff salaries with corresponding accruals;
  • rent and utility payments;
  • asset maintenance costs;
  • other expenses arising directly from a particular store;
• share of head office costs allocated to a given trade enterprise. General management costs include:
  • labor costs of its employees with accruals;
  • expenses for the maintenance and operation of the assets of the head office;
  • similar expenses for general logistics (warehouses, cars, etc.).

Information presentation format, necessary for a full analysis of the profit of the company in question, is proposed in Table. 2. It involves going through two steps:

Step 1. Calculation of the profit of an individual trading enterprise to cover the costs of the head office (profit to cover the general costs). Its size is determined as the difference between revenue and direct costs for each store. In this case, the costs of head management are not distributed and are considered as a single value.

Important detail: the excess of direct costs over revenues for any business unit makes topical issue about its closure.

Step 2 Calculation of the profit of an individual trading enterprise after the distribution of the costs of the head office to it.

No. p / p	Name of positions	Total for the company	Trade enterprises (shops)
		Data for the year, million rubles (values ​​rounded)
	1. Profit of trading enterprises to cover the expenses of the head office
	Income: revenue
	Expenses (p. 3 + p. 5)
	Direct costs of trade enterprises Note. 1: purchase price of goods with transportation and procurement costs; expenses incurred directly in stores
	Profit to cover the expenses of the head office and indirect expenses (p. 1 - p. 3)
	Indirect costs: head office costs including general logistics
	Profit from sales (p. 1 - p. 2 = p. 4 - p. 5)
	2. Profit of trading enterprises with full distribution of expenses
	Profit to cover indirect costs
	Allocated indirect costs Note. 2
	Revenue from sales
	Total cumulative expenses allocated to each trade enterprise, shown in page 2 of Table. 1 (p. 3 + p. 8)

Notes:

1. Information on the cost of purchased goods and expenses arising directly for each trade enterprise, head office and general warehouses is contained in the primary accounting data.
2. The company distributes the costs of the head office in proportion to the purchase price of the goods. The cost of purchased goods is included in the direct costs of trade enterprises presented in paragraph 3. It is not highlighted separately in the table, since its value is not of fundamental importance for the issue under discussion: the essence of the problem was not in choosing the base for distributing costs, but in choosing the approach to the analysis of the results.

The result of the first step (p. 4 of Table 2) showed that without exception, all trading enterprises generated profit to cover the expenses of the head office. The abandonment of enterprises 3 and 4 led to a loss of profit in the amount of 10 million rubles. to cover the general (indirect) expenses of the company. At the same time, the cost of maintaining the management apparatus and assets of the head office did not undergo reductions in the amount of 14 million rubles. (for the amount of indirect costs distributed to enterprises 3 and 4: 10 million rubles and 4 million rubles). As a result, the actions taken reduced rather than increased the total profit of the organization.

As follows from the second stage of calculations, the reason for the unprofitability of enterprises 3 and 4 was that part of the costs that represented the distributed costs of the parent organization (pp. 7–9 of Table 2). In other words, each store contributed to cover the indirect costs of the company, but for a number of stores this contribution was not sufficient for the current level of costs of the head office. Having abandoned several trading enterprises, the company partially lost sources of covering indirect costs and worsened its financial results.

The most rational solution in this case could be called head office cost reduction. Also a possible profit optimization lever would be store network expansion provided that each of them will provide a positive profit after covering direct costs, similar to existing business units. Reducing the number of trade enterprises can be recognized as an inefficient solution, which was subsequently confirmed by a decrease in the total profit of the organization.

The second stage of calculations can be called in part reference, since the company forms prices taking into account market conditions. It should be noted that the estimated loss for individual business units was not an argument for a mandatory increase in sales prices, since the current level of sales profitability was not the lowest compared to peers:

Profitability of sales: 17 million rubles (profit from sales) / RUB 240 million (revenue) = 7,1 % .

Conclusions:

1. Comparison of income and direct costs is fundamentally important both for assessing the potential profitability and feasibility of developing certain areas of work, and for making a decision to abandon them (or retain them).

2. It is necessary to study the features of the company's business processes to select the format of cost accounting and their analysis.

The bases for the distribution of indirect costs by type of activity used in management accounting

If the company's management is interested in obtaining information about the total amount of costs that can be associated with each type of business activity, the problem arises of choosing the basis for the distribution of indirect costs.

found in theory and practice several approaches to accounting for indirect costs as part of certain types of activities (individual goods and services). The most typical ones are:

1. distribution of the total amount of indirect costs in proportion to a single base;
2. allocation and separation of those components of indirect costs, the distribution bases of which are most obvious; distribution of the remaining part of indirect costs in proportion to a single base.

The components of general production and general business costs, the distribution bases of which are most obvious, include the costs of:

• rent of premises (the most logical way of their distribution is the proportion of the areas occupied certain types business);
• maintenance and operation of machinery and equipment (the objective base of separation is the time during which machinery and equipment were involved in the production of goods and services of various activities);
• maintenance of the dining room (obvious base of distribution - the number of personnel of individual areas of activity);

1. distribution of each element (item) of indirect costs in proportion to its individual base.

A task of any of the presented approaches - to associate indirect costs as objectively as possible with certain types of business activity, to reflect the degree of involvement of costs in a particular production.

Possible bases for the distribution of the total amount of indirect costs with the rationale for choosing each of them are presented in Table. 3.

Table 3Possible distribution bases for the total value of indirect costs by type of activity
Overhead allocation base	Key assumption used when choosing a particular distribution base	Situations in which the proposed framework is most applicable
Variable/direct costs	It is assumed that the greater the value of variable or direct costs of a particular production, the more participation on the part of the company it requires (involves a larger volume of general production assets, requires more production time and management attention). Therefore, this production should recover a higher proportion of indirect costs in relation to activities with lower variable or direct costs.	The base is applicable in companies with a high share variable costs in total operating costs
Production volumes in natural terms	It is assumed that the production of all types of activity is equally associated with indirect costs.	Applicable for industries that create serial products that are comparable to each other in terms of manufacturing technology and costs
Revenue from sales of products (services)	It is assumed that the production of expensive goods and services requires more participation on the part of the enterprise, therefore, it should cover a more significant part of the indirect costs compared to less expensive products. The more expensive the product, the greater part of the indirect costs it is able to compensate	The base is applicable to companies in almost all industries
Salary of the main production staff	It is assumed that what more salary production personnel of a particular type of activity, the more difficult the work. Consequently, a greater intensity of use of production assets is required than for other types of activity. As a result, this type of activity should compensate for a more significant part of general production and general business costs.	The base is applicable for companies that require significant participation of personnel in the process of creating goods and services, which have a high share of labor costs as part of the total cost of the organization. For businesses with a low share wages as part of the costs, it is not objective
Uniform (arithmetic) distribution	It is assumed that all types of business equally involve general business funds and the attention of management.	Applicable in cases where the organization considers that all types of its activities are equivalent to each other

Important detail: the options proposed in Table. 3 do not provide absolute objectivity, since the various components of indirect costs are differently related to certain types of activities (individual goods and services).

For example, often in the practice of trading companies, the distribution of indirect costs is carried out in proportion to the purchase price of goods(base “Variable/direct costs”, Table 3). For many components of indirect costs trading business the statement “the more expensive the product, the more trouble, the greater the share of indirect costs it must pay back” can be considered fairly fair. But for such an element of indirect costs as the cost of maintaining and operating common warehouses, such a justification is not objective.

It is logical that the larger the warehouse area is occupied by a product of a certain type, the greater part of the warehouse costs it must compensate from sales revenue. It happens that the areas occupied by the storage of expensive goods are noticeably smaller than the areas filled with goods of a democratic price category (for example, for companies engaged in trade and purchasing operations with cosmetic goods of mass demand and professional use).

Despite noticeable differences in natural volumes, the cost of expensive and cheap products may turn out to be comparable. In this case, the distribution of storage costs in proportion to the cost of goods will create distortion: cheap products will unreasonably lose some of their storage costs for an expensive assortment.

If the share of other components of the costs of the trading company is small in relation to the cost of purchased goods, the distribution of indirect costs using a single base is justified and acceptable, the elemental allocation of indirect costs, including storage, can be called excessive. It is enough to keep in mind a certain amount of subjectivity of the results obtained.

If the amount of indirect costs of the organization is comparable to the amount of direct costs, the company's management is interested in maximizing full assessment profits of various activities, the distribution of indirect costs can be carried out element by element (item by item).

Possible approaches to the separation of individual components of indirect costs by type of activity are discussed in Table. four.

Table 4Possible distribution bases for individual components of indirect costs by types of company activities
Components of indirect costs	Possible distribution bases by type of company activity
Rent and related utility bills	Areas (footage) occupied structural divisions different business lines Approx. one
Costs for maintaining general warehouses	Areas occupied by the storage of input resources and finished products of various activities
Expenses for the maintenance and operation of equipment and machines employed in various activities Note. 2	The time spent producing goods or providing services for each activity. The volume of resources processed on equipment for the production of goods and services of each type of business. Number of orders from individual productions
Property insurance costs	Distributed in accordance with the list of insured property assigned to each type of activity
Test site maintenance costs	Time occupied in testing products (for example, equipment complexes) of individual industries
Management expenses	Number of personnel in controlled activities
Dining room expenses	Number of personnel in certain areas of activity

Notes:

1. Determining the total size of the areas occupied by structural divisions of various types of activities requires studying the plan of the organization's premises.

The area of ​​shared space (corridors, reception areas, break rooms) can be taken into account automatically or using a multiplier.

The total area occupied by the organization - 1000 m 2, rental costs - 1500 thousand rubles.

Areas occupied by structural divisions of various types of activities:

• type of activity No. 1 - 300 m 2;
• type of activity No. 2 - 500 m 2.

Total: 800 m 2.

Shared space - 200 m 2 .

Boosting factor:

1 + 200 m 2 / 800 m 2 = 1.25.

Distribution of rental expenses by types of activity:

• activity number 1:

300 m 2 x 1.25 / 1000 m 2 x 1500 thousand rubles or 300 m 2 / 800 m 2 x 1500 thousand rubles. = 562.5 thousand rubles;

• activity number 2:

500 m 2 x 1.25 / 1000 m 2 x 1500 thousand rubles or 500 m 2 / 800 m 2 x 1500 thousand rubles. = 937.5 thousand rubles.

2. The mentioned expenses include: wages of workers and craftsmen with accruals, process fuel and energy, rental and lease payments in the case of leased assets, depreciation on own assets, property tax (for immovable assets and movable property acquired before 2013), repair and insurance costs.

EXAMPLE 2

small consulting firm conducts two independent activities:

Table 6Profit analysis of individual lines of business consulting company
Name of positions	Values, thousand rubles per year (rounded)
	Total for the company	1. Audit and financial management of enterprises	2. Conducting seminars and trainings	Management, accounting, administrators
Cost classification		Direct costs of lines of business		indirect costs
Step 1. Determining the costs of individual services, departments
Salary with accruals Note 1		Distributed using the payroll and payroll sheet; the staff of each line of business is known by last name
		Salary of auditors and consultants	business coach salary	Salary of other employees
Travel expenses Note 2		in connection with business trips of auditors and consultants	in connection with business trips of business coaches	in connection with business trips
Rent expenses including utility bills		Office rental expenses are distributed in proportion to the areas of premises occupied by personnel of various areas of work Note 3
			Rent of halls for the duration of seminars
Depreciation and repair of office equipment, purchase and maintenance of software		The belonging of computers and other office equipment to a specific type of activity is known, on the basis of which depreciation, repair costs and expenses for software
other expenses Note 4		Expenditure on advanced training of auditors and financiers	Expenses for organizing coffee breaks at seminars, replicating handouts for attendees
Percentage to be paid	Note 5
Total expenses
Profit before tax
Step 2. Determination of the profitability of individual business areas with full distribution of costs
Direct costs
Shared indirect costs		Note 6	Note 6
Profit before tax
Net profit
Profitability, %

Notes:

1. The number of auditors and consultants is twice the number of business coaches.
2. Most of the contracts for the performance of audit and consulting work were concluded with organizations of the city, so they practically did not require business trips. Contracts for holding corporate seminars and trainings were concluded with enterprises from different cities and carried out with business coaches visiting the territory of customers.
3. The distribution of costs was carried out according to the principle discussed in Note 1 to Table. four.
4. The item “Other expenses” combines expenses for company advertising, communications, staff development, stationery, water, coffee and other company-wide expenses. The company does not record the consumption of paper and other stationery by each employee, as well as the amount of water and coffee consumed by the employee, purchased for the needs of the office. All such expenses are considered as company-wide (indirect). Separate accounting is maintained for expenses related to providing coffee breaks during seminars and printing handouts for attendees.
5. If there is interest payable, an analysis of the intended use of borrowed funds is required borrowed money. The cost of loans raised in connection with the purchase of assets (computers, etc.) or the reimbursement of expenses of a certain business, the cost of loans to finance cash gaps caused by late payments on the part of clients of one of the lines of business, must be attributed to the expenses of this line of business. If it is difficult to establish the connection of loans with a specific type of business, interest expenses should be attributed to indirect costs.
6. The following were considered as bases for distribution of indirect costs:
   • wage fund for employees of each of the areas of work (this approach is fair, since labor costs are the main component of the company's costs);
   • the number of personnel in each of the areas (such a choice is not devoid of logic, since the main object of management in the organization is personnel, regardless of the level of remuneration for their work).

As a result, in order to management accounting it was found that indirect costs should be distributed evenly to each type of business of the company. The chosen approach proceeds from the fact that the efforts of management to manage both areas of the firm's activities are the same. An additional argument in favor of this choice was the fact that any other proportion, including the payroll fund, the number of staff or the direct costs of the directions, will attribute a smaller part of the indirect costs to the “Conducting seminars and trainings” direction, making the assessment of its financial result even more advantageous, as shown in the last two rows of Table. 6.

By dividing the total costs of each direction by the time taken to complete projects (by the number of client hours), the company will receive information about the cost of a man-hour of work of its specialists - a natural measure of the volume of consulting work.

According to the results of step 1, it can be seen that, with less revenue, holding seminars and trainings brought the company as much profit to cover indirect costs as auditing and financial rehabilitation of enterprises. The distribution of indirect costs approved the management of the comparable efficiency of both activities of the firm. Accounting for expenses for individual components of the business process (the final line of step 1 "Profit before tax", Table 6) showed that the amount of general company expenses is comparable to the profit after covering direct expenses, which is created by each of the organization's activities.

The approach to accounting and analysis presented in Table. 6 can be useful not only for the consulting business, but for any organization that wants to get information about:

• what expenses arise in connection with the work of its individual services, departments, divisions (both basic and servicing);
• what is the profit of individual areas of the organization's work, what components it is determined by.

In particular, the format is applicable for distribution companies, which have in their structure several sales departments (for example, departments of wholesale and exclusive sales), which are sources of income for the organization, as well as a supply (logistics) service and an administrative and managerial apparatus. In this case, Table. 6 instead of one-fifth of the column, two or more columns would appear, such as " Supply Service" and " Control» (perhaps with additional detail by department).

At the first step of the analysis, using the proposed in Table. 4 and 6 approaches to the distribution of costs for wages, rent of space, depreciation and repair of assets, property insurance, etc., the company can determine the costs objectively associated with the functioning of each structural unit.

The second step of the analysis would require the distribution of the costs of the supply and management service by sales departments (types of activity). To do this, the company could use single base distributions or individual bases. For example, management costs can be distributed in proportion to the number of personnel of each of the sales departments, supply service costs- in proportion to the value of goods or the number of contracts concluded by each department.

Possible approaches to accounting for indirect costs if the enterprise has additional (secondary, side) activities

Since indirect costs are associated with the activities of the enterprise as a whole, each of the types of activity is obliged to compensate with its income a certain part of these company-wide costs. For execution this requirement carry out the distribution of indirect costs by type of activity of the enterprise as retrospectively- in the analysis of profitability, and for the future- when forming the selling price of goods and services.

If any of the company's activities is secondary or secondary, the approach to pricing and assessing its profitability can be adjusted based on the following statement: the organization's indirect costs must be fully covered by the main activity, a side activity can be recognized as effective if his income exceeds the direct costs of this type of activity.

Conclusion

Profit analysis of individual areas of the company's work, on the one hand, is a procedure based on logic and requires knowledge of the basic financial laws. This is a process that can and should be regulated at every enterprise. Unlike accounting rules, management accounting provisions are developed solely for the benefit of decision-making in a particular company, therefore, they should include only the information that is required for management, and filter out unnecessary and irrelevant data. On the other hand, profit assessment cannot be free from subjective views and ideas, that is, it includes an element of creativity.

If a company aims to increase profits by reducing costs, the priority should be not so much to distribute them, but to consider the absolute values ​​for the possibility of reduction (for example, by changing suppliers, increasing control over spending, switching to outsourcing).