The production activities of enterprises and firms is a complex process. It consists of different stages. This, for example, the creation, storage, distribution, transportation of goods. Each of these links in the production chain is fraught with a number of difficulties, risks and costs. As a rule, they need to be expressed in monetary terms. The resulting numbers are called logistics costs. This shows all the financial aspects of the functioning of the company, and it determines the profitability of the organization. Consider the topic in more detail.
Logistic Costs
This topic is best started with an understanding of what the term implies. Logistics is full of professional terms, the understanding of which will make it easier to navigate the topic. So, logistic costs are the monetary expression of the used labor, labor, consumables and related funds, as well as financial costs, which include a variety of undesirable consequences due to force majeure situations. Such costs also include funds that are spent to maintain the required amount of stock in the warehouse.
Cost characteristics
For a more detailed analysis of the logistics costs of the enterprise, you need to understand how they are expressed:
- distribution by categories of costs, which are classified by type and quantity;
- the variability of indicators of values in different seasons of the year;
- the distribution of responsibilities for the control of their occurrence between the links of the enterprise and work positions;
- the complexity of activities related to the determination of their total volume and involving the implementation of a large number of accounting and settlement operations.
As a result, all costs are distributed in three target areas:
- on the calculation of cost, estimates of inventory of tools and material resources, as well as intermediate products, including its components, finished products for determining profit;
- managerial decision making: planning, forecasting, risk calculation;
- supervision and regulation.
Enterprise Cost Groups
The first group of costs of the logistics system includes, of course, direct costs. They are reflected in accounting for production costs, but analytical work is necessary for their allocation, since their role is very important.
All production costs that form the cost of production are divided into the following categories: material costs; depreciation costs; finance allocated to pay; social Security contributions. Also, this may include other expenses that arise for the company in the process of manufacturing, delivery and sale of goods and services.
The financial costs of employees' wages take into account all types of wages, which are calculated on the basis of tariff rates, piecework or other principles of remuneration adopted at the plant. This also includes all processing surcharges; bonuses and bonuses; work on weekends and / or holidays, which is charged at a double or even triple rate; northern, southern and other allowances; part-time job.
Cost structure by economic content
First of all, it is necessary to clarify what is included in the cost structure. Mandatory contributions are accepted for deductions for social needs according to established legislative norms. As well as force majeure costs, which are included in the structure of the calculation of logistics costs related to positions related to the financial performance of the company.
It also takes into account all lost profit, which is not reflected in the balance sheet of the enterprise, but is important for the formation of trade policy, calculation of potential risks and possible benefits.
Circulation costs
In addition to the production costs that arise in the process of reproduction of a service or product, it is important to take into account the costs of circulation. This is the kind of financial cost that accompanies the movement of goods from the place of production to the place of sale or final consumption. These costs include:
- the costs of operations associated with transportation, storage, completion, packaging, packaging of goods and their merchandising;
- salary costs of sales workers, including deductions to state extra-budgetary funds and social funds;
- depreciation of funds and intangible assets.
Variable logistics costs are those costs that increase or decrease in proportion to the increase or decrease in the volume of trade. This category includes the costs of transportation of goods, storage, sorting, packaging, packaging, repacking and so on. If the impact of changes in the volume of trade is minimal, then such costs are called conditionally constant. These, for example, include depreciation; expenses for the maintenance and repair of buildings and structures; for the payment of salaries to the administrative and administrative apparatus and personnel.
The relationship of logistics costs and the cost of goods / services
The term "cost" refers to the monetary expression of the costs of production factors necessary for the enterprise to carry out commercial and industrial activities that are associated with the production and sale of products and / or the provision of services.
The place of logistic costs in the cost of goods is clear from the above definition. Since such costs will directly affect first the basic production cost of the product, and then its final price. So, for example, the process of moving a product from the warehouse of the supplier or the enterprise itself (factory, farmland, etc.) will be associated with certain risks that are automatically included in the price of the goods.
How is the cost price formed?
For the Russian Federation, the main factors in the formation of the cost of the product are the following categories:
- costs associated with the production and further sale of goods and services;
- staff costs, wages, training, advanced training;
- expenses for the maintenance, management and maintenance of the organization itself and its subsidiaries;
- payments to organizations that provide services related to the creation of products;
- expenses for the development and preparation of models of new products, probes and the development of new niches and markets.
Cost types
Depending on the cost categories included in the cost of production, it can be of the following types:
- Workshop, which includes all the basic costs and total production costs (shows the costs of manufacturing finished products in the right amount).
- Production, which is formed from the workshop cost and general business expenses, but already indicates the costs of the enterprise for production.
- Full, which, in fact, is the same production cost, with the only difference being that it is increased by the amount of commercial and sales costs. This indicator combines the total costs of the enterprise associated with both the creation and all other costs that cannot be dispensed with in the process of delivering goods to the point of further sale or final consumption.
All this adds up to the concept of the cost of goods or services, which, in turn, depends on the total logistics costs. This will be the key factor for the formation of the financial and product policy of the enterprise.