Issues of planning production volumes and accounting for products have always been in the focus of attention of managers, accountants, financiers and other specialists who are involved in the real sector of the economy. Commercial products are goods manufactured by the enterprise that are in stock and ready for shipment to the consumer. Its accounting is carried out both in kind and in monetary terms. At the same time, semi-finished products are also included in the volume of marketable products, which are also supplied to the market.
If we take an automobile manufacturing plant as an example, then it is obvious to everyone that its marketable products consist of automobiles. These cars can be of various brands. In turn, each brand has several configuration options. For example, the entire line of models of the Volga Automobile Plant is equipped with a heating device. The buyer according to his needs can choose a car equipped with a radio and navigator. Similarly, the interior of the car can be sheathed with materials of different costs.
From the above examples it can be seen that different materials and components are used to manufacture the car. Of course, the radio is purchased from a third-party supplier. A radio factory in Russia or abroad is engaged in the production of these complex products. Thus, we can conclude that its marketable products serve as a component for a car. It is easy to guess that the proportion and cost of such component parts is significant.
To understand one subtlety in the system of economic indicators, you need to know that when analyzing and calculating the results of an enterprise for a certain period, indicators such as gross and marketable products are used. For some reason, these indicators seem to be the same for many students and young economists. Although in fact they have fundamental differences. For managers involved in financial management, they carry completely different information, which, in turn, serves as the basis for making management decisions.
At an automobile plant, which is taken as an example, it may very well be a situation where the mentioned radio tape recorders were purchased with a large margin. Commercial products - finished cars - are stably sold to consumers. At the same time, cars are purchased without these radio tape recorders. This can happen for a variety of reasons. One of which is their outdated design. All leading companies offer their cars equipped with players on optical discs. And in our example, yesterday's radio tape recorders that play only magnetic tape on cassettes.
And it turns out that components purchased for future use will gather dust in a warehouse as a useless load. First of all, this fact characterizes the low professional level of logistics specialists. Of course, they should not be blamed for the decision to purchase a large number of these components. Most likely, the counterparties offered very favorable conditions. And the radio was purchased at a price significantly lower than the market. Now, being in a warehouse for a long time, they increase their gross output by the fact of their presence.
I must say that such an indicator as gross output is formed according to a simple formula. Gross output is marketable output plus stocks in warehouses. And to this is added the volume of work in progress. When the main experts analyze the results of the enterprise for the reporting period - it can be a quarter or a year - then they necessarily pay attention to the structure of gross output. Stocks of components that do not find application in the main production should be minimized. How this is done is a separate topic.