Peer Review

Managerial and Cost Accounting Exercises IV

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 9, 2014 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This free online textbook offered by Book Boon contains review problems determining product costs. The problems (and solutions) address the following issues:

Problem 1 – An example of equivalent unit computation using weighted average is given and the requirement is to compute cost per equivalent unit.
Problem 2 - An example of equivalent unit computation using FIFO is given and the requirement is to compute cost per equivalent unit.
Problem 3 – Requirement is to compute equivalent units using FIFO method.
Problem 4 – The schedule of equivalent units and cost per equivalent is given (using weighted units) and the requirement is to allocate total cost to Finished Goods and Work in Process inventory.
Problem 5 - The schedule of equivalent units and cost per equivalent is given (using FIFO) and the requirement is to allocate total cost to Finished Goods and Work in Process inventory.
Problem 6 – Cost information for three processing departments is provided and the requirement is to record summary journal entries for cost incurred in each depart and cost transferred between departments and into finished goods inventory.
Problem 7 – A schedule of costs (beginning inventory costs + costs added during period – costs transferred = Ending Inventory) for 3 departments is given. The requirement is to answer questions related to the costs incurred, costs transferred, and ending balances.
Problem 8 – Cost information is provided and the requirement is to compute production cost using ABC and traditional for comparison

Type of Material:

Assignment/open textbook.

Recommended Uses:

The material can be used as in class demonstration/practice problems or as a homework assignment

Technical Requirements:

To download the pdf file requires entering an email address, associated degree program, and name of college or university.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

This free online book is intended to provide additional practice problems on process costing and activity based costing. Specific learning goals include:

Computation of equivalent units of production using weighted average and FIFO.
Computation of cost per equivalent unit using weighted average and FIFO.
Assignment of cost using weighted average and FIFO.
Recording journal entries related to cost incurrence and costs transfer is a process costing system with multiple processes.
Computation of product costs using activity base costing and traditional costing.

Target Student Population:

The material is suitable for some introductory managerial accounting courses (if the topic of process costing is covered) but is better suited to a higher level managerial accounting course.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Students must have a basic understanding of process costing systems including calculation of equivalent units and assignment of costs using weighted average and FIFO methods

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

This learning object consists of several problems on FIFO process costing to provide students practice understanding this difficult concept. Solutions are provided to allow students to check their work. The problems are clear and concise. The set of problems demonstrate a core concept grounded in the discipline, which are current, relevant, and accurate.

Concerns:

No discussion of the material has been included. As a result, the problems are best used when tied to some reading material. Without it prerequisite knowledge is critical for the problems to be meaningful.

An example of computing equivalent units using weighted average and FIFO is provided before the student is required to do the computations.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: This learning object provides several practice problems that can be used to demonstrate process costing concepts. Practice is the key to learning this material. As a result, the module is a very useful tool for student learning. The problems do build on prior concepts and reinforce concepts progressively. Creating an assignment that utilizes some or all of the problems would be an easy task. Overall, the set of problems suffices as an effective and efficient learning tool.
Concerns:: Instructor provided context is essential because no background material has been included. In addition, learning objectives and prerequisite knowledge should be identified at the beginning of the problem set. The material builds from a basic computation of cost per equivalent unit (when all relevant information is provided) to a problem that requires students to compute equivalent units, cost per equivalent unit, and allocate costs to ending workin in process and finished goods.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: Theh primary purpose of the module is to provide repetitive practice and the unit achieves this goal. Students can print the pages, work the problems, and check their answers. As such, the module is easy to use, has clear instructions, and does provide formative feedback by allowing students to compare their answer with the solution.
Concerns:: The problems consist of black text on a white background which is not particularly visually appealing. Distracting advertisements are interspesed throughout. The module also lacks online interactivity. However, despite being noninteractive, the problem set can be used as a group assignment in class forcing students to interact with each other and the instructor.

Other Issues and Comments:: This set of exercises is not a glamorous, interactive, computer program, but it can be used effectively to practice the concept of process costing.
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