Absorption Costing

What Is Absorption Costing?

Absorption costing, sometimes called “full costing,” is a managerial accounting method for capturing all costs associated with manufacturing a particular product. The direct and indirect costs, such as direct materials, direct labor, rent, and insurance, are accounted for by using this method.

Absorption costing is required by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for external reporting.

Understanding Absorption Costing

Absorption costing includes anything that is a direct cost in producing a good in its cost base. Absorption costing also includes fixed overhead charges as part of the product costs. Some of the costs associated with manufacturing a product include wages for employees physically working on the product, the raw materials used in producing the product, and all of the overhead costs (such as all utility costs) used in production.

In contrast to the variable costing method, every expense is allocated to manufactured products, whether or not they are sold by the end of the period.

Higher and Lower Items

Absorption costing means that ending inventory on the balance sheet is higher, while expenses on the income statement are lower.

Absorption Costing vs. Variable Costing

The differences between absorption costing and variable costing lie in how fixed overhead costs are treated. Absorption costing allocates fixed overhead costs across all units produced for the period. Variable costing, on the other hand, lumps all fixed overhead costs together and reports the expense as one line item separate from the cost of goods sold (COGS) or still available for sale.

Variable costing does not determine a per-unit cost of fixed overheads, while absorption costing does. Variable costing will yield one lump-sum expense line item for fixed overhead costs when calculating net income on the income statement. Absorption costing will result in two categories of fixed overhead costs: those attributable to the cost of goods sold, and those attributable to inventory.

Image by Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2021

Advantages and Disadvantages of Absorption Costing

Assets, such as inventory, remain on the entity’s balance sheet at the end of the period. Because absorption costing allocates fixed overhead costs to both cost of goods sold and inventory, the costs associated with items still in ending inventory will not be captured in the expenses on the current period’s income statement. Absorption costing reflects more fixed costs attributable to ending inventory.

Absorption costing ensures more accurate accounting for ending inventory because the expenses associated with that inventory are linked to the full cost of the inventory still on hand. In addition, more expenses are accounted for in unsold products, which reduces actual expenses reported in the current period on the income statement. This results in a higher net income calculation compared with variable costing calculations.

Because absorption costing includes fixed overhead costs in the cost of its products, it is unfavorable compared with variable costing when management is making internal incremental pricing decisions. This is because variable costing will only include the extra costs of producing the next incremental unit of a product.

In addition, the use of absorption costing generates a situation in which simply manufacturing more items that go unsold by the end of the period will increase net income. Because fixed costs are spread across all units manufactured, the unit fixed cost will decrease as more items are produced. Therefore, as production increases, net income naturally rises, because the fixed-cost portion of the cost of goods sold will decrease.

Higher Net Income

Absorption costing results in a higher net income compared with variable costing.

Example of Absorption Costing

Assume that ABC Company makes widgets. In January, it makes 10,000 widgets, of which 8,000 are sold by the end of the month, leaving 2,000 still in inventory. Each widget uses $5 of labor and materials directly attributable to the item. In addition, there are $20,000 of fixed overhead costs each month associated with the production facility. Under the absorption costing method, ABC will assign an additional $2 to each widget for fixed overhead costs ($20,000 total ÷ 10,000 widgets produced in the month).

The absorption cost per unit is $7 ($5 labor and materials + $2 fixed overhead costs). As 8,000 widgets were sold, the total cost of goods sold is $56,000 ($7 total cost per unit × 8,000 widgets sold). The ending inventory will include $14,000 worth of widgets ($7 total cost per unit × 2,000 widgets still in ending inventory).

What’s the Difference Between Variable Costing and Absorption Costing?

Absorption costing and variable costing treat fixed overhead costs differently. Absorption costing allocates fixed overhead costs across all units produced for the period. Variable costing, on the other hand, adds all fixed overhead costs together and reports the expense as one line item separate from the cost of goods sold or still available for sale. In other words, variable costing will yield one lump-sum expense line item for fixed overhead costs when calculating net income, while absorption costing will result in two categories of fixed overhead costs: those attributable to the cost of goods sold, and those attributable to inventory.

What Are the Advantages of Absorption Costing?

The main advantage of absorption costing is that it complies with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which are required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Furthermore, it takes into account all of the costs of production (including fixed costs), not just the direct costs, and more accurately tracks profit during an accounting period.

What Are the Disadvantages of Absorption Costing?

The main disadvantage of absorption costing is that it can inflate a company’s profitability during a given accounting period, as all fixed costs are not deducted from revenues unless all of the company’s manufactured products are sold. Additionally, it is not helpful for analysis designed to improve operational and financial efficiency or for comparing product lines.