Re: Implementing Cost Accounting

RE: >> Does any one have any recommendations as to the best approach to implement costing?

Yes.

1. Hire an expert in managerial accounting for manufacturing, and have top management give that expert appropriate support and backing. If you want to promote someone from within to such a position, then send that person to APICS classes to learn the fundamentals of manufacturing accounting management, before addressing how BPCS does it.
2. Send that expert to BPCS classes to learn how costing works best within context of all of BPCS.
3. Bring back extra copies of BPCS Costing Manuals to share with co-workers, and be available for reference by future employees. Perhaps arrange for this documentation to be on-line available for reference by all employees. Encourage staff to study it.
4. Evaluate Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in the business.
5. Contract with a first rate BPCS tech support outfit and use their advice wisely.
6. Bring the BPCS Costing Professor to your facility to teach relevant managers and rank and file in departments relevant to Costing working effectively, so that company leadership and staff are all on the same page, with respect to making your future costing a total success.
7. Implement costing, with the help of BPCS Pilot Environment to verify test everything setup correctly before using that to run the business.
8. Conduct periodic audits of your implementation, to identify areas where the company has gone astray, and how to efficiently fix the problems.

The above plan also applies to implementing any other strategie areas for running the business. Don't forget infrastructure that might not be within your version of BPCS, such as good security, supply chain, communications with customers and vendors, tracking engineering changes, managing reduction of returns.

Or do the quick and very dirty way that everyone generally chooses to do
Do not even consider the notion of building a world class profitable competitive company, that has 100% accuracy in inventory, engineering, etc.
Stick with a version of BPCS that is 20 years obsolete.
Over time, replace personnel who know what they are doing, with people who can be hired for lower payroll.
Encourage staff to throw away good quality manuals as soon as the individuals in question have learned whatever they wanted from them.
Don't spend any money on educating any of the staff in how factory costing works.
Don't spend any money on teaching any staff how BPCS costing works.
Especially do not spend any money on getting any good quality BPCS costing manual.
Have staff struggle with the documentation, suggestions from other companies on discussion lists like this.
Blunder into trying out various superficial ideas on what constitutes a good costing system.
Then annually spend thousands of dollars fighting fires with a stressed out staff, while running a very inefficient and costly system.
Don't waste money on auditors to identify problems, give advice on how to fix, or ISO process to improve the business.
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Al Macintyre
15 year veteran of BPCS
25 year veteran of ERP
45 year veteran of midrange computing
60 year veteran of having a dangerous big mouth