Depending on the ZPK (Integrated Cost Accounting) organization of an agricultural enterprise and the analysis needs of analytical account contents, a selection scheme for operational costs in an agricultural enterprise is defined in the data warehouse – based on the group of accounts (costs booked according to the nature of expense) and the group of accounting accounts (costs booked according to the functional-calculation layout). The basis for recording in group 4 of the ZPK is the resource-based assignment of costs, as the nature of expense layout is a resource-based layout – for example, the cost of depreciation of fixed assets, salaries, materials, employee business trips, etc.
For the presented example, the cost of purchasing diesel fuel (booked to account 411-07-07-1) will be treated entirely as an operational cost, while only the part allocated to account 501-02 (700.00 PLN) will form the basis for the operational analysis of primary production to determine what portion of the cost will be classified as production costs. The remaining part of the diesel purchase cost allocated to account 503-03, intended for supervisory activities, is treated entirely as an indirect general plant cost (KP), without the involvement of operational production costs.
Further operational analysis of fuel consumption in primary activities (account 501-02) requires determining the share of fuel usage for primary operational activities – for example, the activity harrowing consists of tasks: traveling to the field, harrowing, returning from the field. To obtain greater detail in cost analysis and to separate logistics costs, only the consumption within traveling to the field and returning is an operational logistics cost, while the diesel fuel consumption during the harrowing operation is an operational production cost.
Exporting operational data to the data warehouse
Operational recording, performed by employees or their direct supervisors (foremen, masters), always concerns the consumption of resources in the execution of specific tasks. This creates a work log in the agricultural enterprise, consisting of entries – for example:
-
Jan Kowalski performed potato spraying
-
sprayer 0-45 was used for the spraying
-
25 liters of W-23 preparation were used for spraying 2.5 hectares of potato field
-
tractor CR-23 was used for transport to and from the field and during the spraying.
[…] An unambiguous link between a product and the processes (which lead to its receipt) as well as the resources used in the performed tasks allows for determining the relationship between the quantity of agricultural products produced and the volume of resources consumed.
Selection and data organization operations in the data warehouse
The first activity in the data warehouse, in relation to data exported from the F/K (Finance/Accounting) system, is defining the cost selection scheme depending on the ZPK organization in the agricultural enterprise, based on ZPK groups 4 and 5. This stage is important due to the assignment of accounting items to operational costs (KO). […]
Another example is the purchase of plant protection products, booked to account 411-06, for the amount of 3,560.00 PLN. The item is booked to the debit of costs of three different plants (Plant 1 – MPK = 1, Plant 3 – MPK = 3, Plant 4 – MPK = 4). In each of the plants, the cost is allocated to primary activity (account 501-02). The consumption of plant protection products constitutes an operational production cost – hence, operational cost tags will be assigned to the accounting items in the data warehouse.
The condition for the integration of cost data and operational data is the identification of resources that is unambiguous for both recording systems. On one hand, tasks (within activities, sub-processes, and processes) are performed using resources, and on the other hand, costs are incurred for the consumption of resources.
The two presented recording systems allow for the analysis of operational activity costs – enabling the determination of when and in which activities and for which products resources were used, as well as the amount of costs booked to the debit of consumed resources.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2/2009.