49). The first objectives requires the incorporation of job cost and process cost systems into the standard cost system. The second requires a comparison of actual and standard costs, and the third an analysis of the cost differences between actual and projected costs.
Standard cost systems are used in different ways at different levels within an organization. At the operating level, which is concerned with the transformation of inputs (materials, labor, knowledge, and so forth) into outputs (goods and services), the major function of standard costs is the control of transformation efficiency, generally over relatively short periods of time (Brown, 1983, P. 414).
Process cost and job order cost systems provide the cost account with the means of determining actual and historical unit costs of production (Niswonger, and Fess, 1985, P. 592). The purpose of both actual and historical costs is to provide organizational management with "timely data on actual manufacturing costs and to facilitate cost control a
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