Use
To achieve useful comparisons of the
plan and actual costs of a period, you need a consistent basis. Plan and actual costs are compared on the basis of actual activity.The system uses the
operating rate to adjust the plan costs of a period to the actual activity.The operating rate is based on the following formula:
Operating rate = (Actual activity
¸ Plan activity) X 100The plan costs adapted to actual costs in this manner are called target costs. In variance calculation, the system calculates target costs for each cost center and business process in each period. The values are calculated according to the following formulas:
Fixed target quantity = Fixed plan quantity
Variable target quantity = Variable plan quantity X Operating rate
Fixed target costs = Fixed plan costs
Variable target costs = Variable plan costs X Operating rate
Total target costs = Fixed plan costs + Variable plan costs X Operating rate
For these costs, the emphasis is on value-based calculation, even if additional quantities are entered when planning.
Fixed target costs = Fixed plan costs X Operating rate
Variable target costs = Variable plan costs X Operating rate
If an activity type or a business process participate as senders in predistribution of fixed costs, the fixed costs are not corrected with the operating rate (see: Predistribution of Fixed Costs). In this case:
Fixed target costs = Fixed plan costs
Fixed target costs = Fixed plan costs
Variable target costs = Variable plan costs
Fixed target quantity = Fixed plan quantity
Variable target quantity = Variable plan quantity X Operating rate
Fixed target costs = Fixed target quantity X Fixed price
+ Fixed target quantity X Variable price
+ Variable target quantity X Fixed price
Variable target costs = Variable target quantity X Variable price.
Here, the emphasis is on quantity-based calculation because allocation takes place via activity quantities. The target costs can vary with the operating rate because the variable target quantity is included in the fixed target costs.
If during activity allocation you assigned the fixed costs using predistribution of fixed costs, (see: Predistribution of Fixed Costs), the target costs are calculated as follows:
Fixed target costs = Fixed plan costs
Variable target costs = Variable plan costs X Operating rate
In this case, the fixed costs are not dependent on the operating rate.