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xTuple ERP Reference Guide

  
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6.1.  Maintain Item Costs

For visibility into Costs associated with Items—and to perform routine Cost maintenance—select the "Maintain Item Costs" option. The following screen will appear:

Maintain Item Costs

When maintaining Item Costs, you are presented with the following options:

Note

If the Costing Element does not contain lower level Costs, you will not be given the option to view Costing detail.

Item Number

Enter the Item Number of the Item whose Costs you want to maintain.

UOM

Inventory Unit of Measure.

Costing Elements

Display lists Item Costs for the specified Item using various categories—or Costing Elements—to distinguish one type of Cost from another.

To create a new Item Cost, select the NEW COST button. The following screen will appear:

Create New Item Cost

When creating a new Item Cost, you are presented with the following options:

Item Number

The Item Number specified on the referring screen will display here.

UOM

Inventory Unit of Measure.

Note

Manufactured Items have no this level material Costs. Material Costs for manufactured Items are absorbed by lower level component Items. The following system-defined Costing Elements are available for manufactured Items:

  • Direct Labor

  • Machine Overhead

  • Overhead

For purchased Items, the following system-defined Costing Elements is available:

  • Material

If you require additional Elements to describe Costs associated with manufactured or purchased Items, you may create user-defined Costing Elements.

Costing Element

Select a Costing Element to associate with the specified Item. The list of Elements will include all system-defined Costing Elements, as well as any user-defined Costing Elements that may have been added.

Tip

Use the right-click menu from the Maintain Item Costs screen to post Actual Cost to Standard Cost.

Actual Cost

Enter the amount of the Actual Cost you want to associate with the specified Costing Element. Actual Costs are the real-time Costs associated with an Item, including current material and production charges. The Actual Cost of an Item may fluctuate given changes in the Cost for materials, or other Costs related to changes in Bills of Materials or Bills of Operations. The Actual Cost provides a current record of charges actually incurred by an Item.

Post Cost to Standard

Select to post the Actual Cost for the specified Costing Element to its Standard Cost.

This option brings the Actual Cost and the Standard Cost for the Costing Element into alignment with each other. Standard Cost is the Cost used for posting General Ledger transactions. Standard Cost is distinguished from Actual Cost in the sense that Standard Cost is fixed, whereas Actual Cost is subject to fluctuations arising from material or production changes. The two Costs may diverge. However, they can be brought back into alignment by posting Actual Cost to Standard.