Day: November 12, 2017

Which formula is used to calculate the overhead absorption rate?

Select ONE answer:

1. Actual overheads / actual activity
2. Actual overheads / budgeted activity
3. Budgeted overheads / actual activity
4. Budgeted overheads / budgeted activity
5. Budgeted overheads / managed activity

What is the purpose of the overhead absorption rate?……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This is multiple choice question is suitable for Accounting KS5 classes.

The answer is 4 – Overhead absorption rates are our attempt at coming up with the best ‘guess’ of how much overhead should be given to a product. In traditional costing systems, the rates are likely to be based on machine hours or labour hours. The process is a little more refined in activity based costing, but the intention is still the same: we are trying to find an equitable way of sharing out the overheads to products and are therefore looking for a method that relates the absorption base to the incidence of the overheads (establish a ‘causal link’). If a business is machine intensive, machine hours would be the most appropriate base as the overheads would be related to machine usage. But this is taking a very wide view: it would be better to break the business down into separate departments and choose individual rates for each department. In order for the business to move along and not wait a full year before it can sell its products we need to forecast the overheads and forecast the total hours to be used when making all of our products (assuming a traditional system), in other words we work with budgeted figures when calculating the overhead absorption rates. The formula to use is Overhead absorption rate = budgeted overhead/budgeted activity.

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