The design objectives of the Cost Accounting module are to provide management with concise and complete reports showing how actual performance compares with budgeted performance. In the predominant area of costs, this translates to a comparison of the "actual cost of work performed" (ACWP) with both the "budgeted cost of work performed" (BCWP) and the "budgeted cost of work scheduled" (BCWS).

The Cost Accounting module has two primary objectives. First, it enables you to budget the production operations of your company; you can compare the actual performance of those operations against the budget to supply each level of management with the information essential to make timely, accurate and effective decisions. The second objective is to provide a detailed cost subledger to your company's General Ledger. These principal objectives are met through the use of the various data elements that are maintained in the Cost Accounting database.
Features
Conforms with Department of Defense C/SCSC requirements, and has passed the DOD compliance criteria.
Multiple work breakdown structures can be defined and each of these utilize the following "key" data elements: Company is the "Owner" of cost center
Operating Center is responsible for the cost center within the "owning" company
Cost Center is job, project, or department number
Level is the hierarchy in work breakdown structure
Cost Account is the work package or task
Data Type differentiates cost, production, revenue, and schedule data elements
Detail Code differentiates expenses within data type, e.g., separates labor costs by craft

Unlimited user-defined data types, e.g., labor, material, subcontract, contract revenue, change order revenue, schedule, etc.
Allocation of payroll burdens to each cost center via user-defined options.
User-defined "summarization" rules for aggregating cost accounts within multiple work breakdown structures; i.e., cost center subtotaling can be completely independent of the cost account code.
Detail code options by cost center by source module, e.g., labor costs from the Payroll module by craft, or by employee.
Billing surcharge accrual tables enable the system to compute customer billing surcharge amounts using either a surcharge rate or a lump sum amount.
Multiple cost centers can be processed simultaneously.
Work breakdown structure for each cost center is user-defined.
Multiple work breakdown structures can be processed simultaneously for each cost center; however, the system only requires the entry of source transactions to a single work breakdown structure. This feature permits the generation of reports according to multiple charts of accounts, e.g., the project manager's, an estimating standard, the client's reporting requirements, etc.
"Actual" or "committed" options available for processing and reporting cost center data.
Periodicity for transaction accumulation by cost center is user-defined, e.g., weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly, or fiscal period.
Retroactive report generation delineates a project's progress; these options are accomplished by the accumulation of all data elements in the Cost Accounting database by period.
Cost Variance analysis results in a quantitative evaluation. You can define "variance codes" and assign a percentage weighting factor by period to the cost variance amounts.
User-defined labor charge rates expense labor costs to specific cost centers. These rates are used to override the actual payroll rates in the payroll module and replace them with rates that may be used for billing jobs.
Accrued costs can be recorded and automatically reversed.
Committed costs, invoiced costs against commitments, and open commitments by purchase order and subcontract within each cost account can be reported.
Flexible budgeting techniques. A budget can be passed to the Cost Accounting module from the Estimating module, or can be entered directly into the Cost Accounting module. If entered directly, the budget can be expressed as either the "total budget" for the cost account or as the "incremental budget" by cost center period.
Both original and current budgets are maintained by the system.
Earned budgets (BCWP) are determined by optional methods: (1) computation based on physical progress achieved, or (2) allocated budgets entered by the user.
Continuous projection of costs at completion based on actual performance utilizing a user-selected algorithm.
Estimated cost at completion can be entered as either the "total" projected cost or the "remaining" projected cost.
Continual computation of the following key management data elements: Percent complete
Budgeted cost of work performed
Budgeted cost of work scheduled
Actual cost of work performed
Current and to date cost variance
Current and to date schedule variance
Estimated cost at completion
Estimated cost variance at completion
Estimated schedule variance at completion

Preparation and generation of customer invoices in custom or standard AIA formats.
Multiple methods of arriving at invoice cost.
Time and materials billing capability allows you to bill at an individual cost transaction level through the utilization of billing rate schedules.
Income Recognition processes automate the computation of General Ledger journals according to user-specified rules.
External audit requirements can be met through the compilation of detail transactions.
Multi-level Cost Account On-line inquiry provides immediate access to detail transaction information for cost accounts. Cost Account Selection Screen
Budget Detail
Actual Detail
Commitment Detail

Multi-level Cost Center On-line inquiry enables you to easily track the detail transactions associated with the costs, revenue, and production amounts accumulated in each cost center. Cost Center Selection
Cost Center Recap
Margin Analysis by period
Cost Account Group Summary Cost Account Summary
Cost Account Detail
Budget, Actual Cost, Commitment & Projection Transaction Listings
Transaction Detail

Revenue Account Group Summary Revenue Account Summary
Revenue Account Detail
Budget & Actual Transaction Listings
Transaction Detail

Production Account Summary Budget, Actual & Production Transaction Listings
Transaction Detail

Project schedule data can be entered either directly or through the interface with a CPM module.
Specification of non-linear distribution of resource consumption over the scheduled duration of a cost account.
Execution schedules associated with cost accounts compute the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) for each cost account.
The Cost Accounting database is specifically designed to facilitate the generation of user designed report formats using the operating system's integral report writer.