Definition of life cycle costing

life cycle costing

the accumulation of costs for activities that
occur over the entire life cycle of a product from inception
to abandonment by the manufacturer and consumer

Lifecycle costing

An approach to costing that estimates and accumulates the costs of a product/service over
its entire lifecycle, i.e. from inception to abandonment.

Average life

Also referred to as the weighted-average life (WAL). The average number of years that each
dollar of unpaid principal due on the mortgage remains outstanding. Average life is computed as the weighted average time to the receipt of all future cash flows, using as the weights the dollar amounts of the principal
paydowns.

Business cycle

Repetitive cycles of economic expansion and recession.

Cash conversion cycle

The length of time between a firm's purchase of inventory and the receipt of cash
from accounts receivable.

Cash cycle

In general, the time between cash disbursement and cash collection. In net working capital
management, it can be thought of as the operating cycle less the accounts payable payment period.

Deferred nominal life annuity

A monthly fixed-dollar payment beginning at retirement age. It is nominal
because the payment is fixed in dollar amount at any particular time, up to and including retirement.

Expiration cycle

An expiration cycle relates to the dates on which options on a particular security expire. A
given option will be placed in 1 of 3 cycles, the January cycle, the February cycle, or the March cycle. At any
point in time, an option will have contracts with 4 expiration dates outstanding, 2 in near-term months and 2
in far-term months.

Market cycle

The period between the 2 latest highs or lows of the S&P 500, showing net performance of a
fund through both an up and a down market. A market cycle is complete when the S&P is 15% below the
highest point or 15% above the lowest point (ending a down market). The dates of the last market cycle are:
12/04/87 to 10/11/90 (low to low).

Operating cycle

The average time intervening between the acquisition of materials or services and the final
cash realization from those acquisitions.

Product cycle

The time it takes to bring new and/or improved products to market.

Replacement cycle

The frequency with which an asset is replaced by an equivalent asset.

Term life insurance

A contract that provides a death benefit but no cash build-up or investment component.
The premium remains constant only for a specified term of years, and the policy is usually renewable at the
end of each term.

Universal life

A whole life insurance product whose investment component pays a competitive interest rate
rather than the below-market crediting rate.

Variable life insurance policy

A whole life insurance policy that provides a death benefit dependent on the
insured's portfolio market value at the time of death. Typically the company invests premiums in common
stocks, and hence variable life policies are referred to as equity-linked policies.

Weighted average life

See:Average life.

Whole life insurance

A contract with both insurance and investment components: (1) It pays off a stated
amount upon the death of the insured, and (2) it accumulates a cash value that the policyholder can redeem or
borrow against.

Absorption costing

A method of costing in which all fixed and variable production costs are charged to products or services using an allocation base.

Activity-based costing

A method of costing that uses cost pools to accumulate the cost of significant business activities and then assigns the costs from the cost pools to products or services based on cost drivers.

Budget cycle

The annual period over which budgets are prepared.

Job costing

A method of accounting that accumulates the costs of a product/service that is produced either
customized to meet a customer’s specification or in a batch of identical product/services.

Process costing

A method of costing for continuous manufacture in which costs for an accounting compared are compared with production for the same period to determine a cost per unit produced.

Target costing

A method of costing that is concerned with managing whole-of-life costs of a product/service during the product design phase – the difference between target price (to achieve market share) and the target profit margin.

Variable costing

A method of costing in which only variable production costs are treated as product costs and in which all fixed (production and non-production) costs are treated as period costs.

activity based costing (ABC)

A relatively new method advocated for the
allocation of indirect costs. The key idea is to classify indirect costs,
many of which are fixed in amount for a period of time, into separate
activities and to develop a measure for each activity called a cost driver.
The products or other functions in the business that benefit from the
activity are allocated shares of the total indirect cost for the period based
on their usage as measured by the cost driver.

absorption costing

a cost accumulation and reporting
method that treats the costs of all manufacturing components
(direct material, direct labor, variable overhead, and
fixed overhead) as inventoriable or product costs; it is the
traditional approach to product costing; it must be used for
external financial statements and tax returns

activity-based costing (ABC)

a process using multiple cost drivers to predict and allocate costs to products and services;
an accounting system collecting financial and operational
data on the basis of the underlying nature and extent
of business activities; an accounting information and
costing system that identifies the various activities performed
in an organization, collects costs on the basis of
the underlying nature and extent of those activities, and
assigns costs to products and services based on consumption
of those activities by the products and services

attribute-based costing (ABC II)

an extension of activitybased costing using cost-benefit analysis (based on increased customer utility) to choose the product attribute
enhancements that the company wants to integrate into a product

backflush costing

a streamlined cost accounting method that speeds up, simplifies, and reduces accounting effort in an environment that minimizes inventory balances, requires
few allocations, uses standard costs, and has minimal variances
from standard

cycle time

the time between the placement of an order to
the time the goods arrive for usage or are produced by
the company; it is equal to value-added time plus nonvalue-
added time

direct costing

see variable costing

FIFO method (of process costing)

the method of cost assignment that computes an average cost per equivalent
unit of production for the current period; keeps beginning
inventory units and costs separate from current period production
and costs

full costing

see absorption costing

hybrid costing system

a costing system combining characteristics
of both job order and process costing systems

job order costing system

a system of product costing used
by an entity that provides limited quantities of products or
services unique to a customer’s needs; focus of recordkeeping
is on individual jobs

manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE)

a ratio resulting from dividing the actual production time by total lead time;
reflects the proportion of lead time that is value-added

modified FIFO method (of process costing)

the method of cost assignment that uses FIFO to compute a cost per
equivalent unit but, in transferring units from a department,
the costs of the beginning inventory units and the
units started and completed are combined and averaged

process costing system

a method of accumulating and assigning costs to units of production in companies producing large quantities of homogeneous products;
it accumulates costs by cost component in each production department and assigns costs to units using equivalent units of production

product life cycle

a model depicting the stages through
which a product class (not necessarily each product) passes

relevant costing

a process that compares, to the extent possible
and practical, the incremental revenues and incremental costs of alternative decisions

strict FIFO method (of process costing)

the method of cost assignment that uses FIFO to compute a cost per equivalent unit and, in transferring units from a department, keeps the
cost of the beginning units separate from the cost of the
units started and completed during the current period

target costing

a method of determining what the cost of a
product should be based on the product’s estimated selling
price less the desired profit

variable costing

a cost accumulation and reporting method
that includes only variable production costs (direct material,
direct labor, and variable overhead) as inventoriable
or product costs; it treats fixed overhead as a period cost;
is not acceptable for external reporting and tax returns

weighted average method (of process costing)

the method of cost assignment that computes an average cost per
equivalent unit of production for all units completed during
the current period; it combines beginning inventory units
and costs with current production and costs, respectively,
to compute the average

Absorption costing

A methodology under which all manufacturing costs are assigned
to products, while all non-manufacturing costs are expensed in the current period.

Activity-based costing (ABC)

A cost allocation system that compiles costs and assigns
them to activities based on relevant activity drivers. The cost of these activities can
then be charged to products or customers to arrive at a much more relevant allocation
of costs than was previously the case.

Direct costing

A costing methodology that only assigns direct labor and material costs
to a product, and which does not include any allocated indirect costs (which are all
charged off to the current period).

Economic life

The period over which a company expects to be able to use an asset.

First in, first-out costing method (FIFO)

A process costing methodology that assigns the earliest
cost of production and materials to those units being sold, while the latest costs
of production and materials are assigned to those units still retained in inventory.

Kaizen costing

The process of continual cost reduction that occurs after a product
design has been completed and is now in production. Cost reduction techniques can
include working with suppliers to reduce the costs in their processes, implementing
less costly re-designs of the product, or reducing waste costs.

Process costing

A costing methodology that arrives at an individual product cost through the calculation of average costs for large quantities of identical products.

Useful life

The estimated life span of a fixed asset, during which it can be expected to
contribute to company operations.

cash conversion cycle

Period between firm’s payment for materials
and collection on its sales.

Business Cycle

Fluctuations of GDP around its long-run trend, consisting of recession, trough, expansion, and peak.

Political Business Cycle

A business cycle caused by policies undertaken to help a government be re-elected.

Real Business Cycle Theory

Belief that business cycles arise from real shocks to the economy, such as technology advances and natural resource discoveries, and have little to do with monetary policy.

Payroll Cycle

The period of service for which a company compensates its employees.

Cycle counting

The frequent, scheduled counting of a subset of all inventories,
with the intent of spotting inventory record inaccuracies, investigating root
causes, and correcting those problems.

Shelf life

The time period during which inventory can be retained in stock and beyond
which it becomes unusable.

Shelf life control

Deliberate usage of the oldest items first, in order to avoid exceeding
a component or product’s shelf life.

Group Life Insurance

This is a very common form of life insurance which is found in employee benefit plans and bank mortgage insurance. In employee benefit plans the form of this insurance is usually one year renewable term insurance. The cost of this coverage is based on the average age of everyone in the group. Therefore a group of young people would have inexpensive rates and an older group would have more expensive rates.
Some people rely on this kind of insurance as their primary coverage forgetting that group life insurance is a condition of employment with their employer. The coverage is not portable and cannot be taken with you if you change jobs. If you have a change in health, you may not qualify for new coverage at your new place of employment.
Bank mortgage insurance is also usually group insurance and you can tell this by virtue of the fact that you only receive a certificate of insurance, and not a complete policy. The only form in which bank mortgage insurance is sold is reducing term insurance, matching the declining mortgage balance. The only beneficiary that can be chosen for this kind of insurance is the bank. In both cases, employee benefit plan group insurance and bank mortgage insurance, the coverage is not guaranteed. This means that coverage can be cancelled by the insurance company underwriting that particular plan, if they are experiencing excessive claims.

Level Premium Life Insurance

This is a type of insurance for which the cost is distributed evenly over the premium payment period. The premium remains the same from year to year and is more than actual cost of protection in the earlier years of the policy and less than the actual cost of protection in the later years. The excess paid in the early years builds up a reserve to cover the higher cost in the later years.

Life Expectancy

The average number of years of life remaining for a group of people of a given age and gender according to a particular mortality table.

Life Income Fund

Commonly known as a LIF, this is one of the options available to locked in Registered Pension Plan (RPP) holders for income payout as opposed to Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) holders choice of payout through Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIF). A LIF must be converted to a unisex annuity by the time the holder reaches age 80.

Split Dollar Life Insurance

The split dollar concept is usually associated with cash value life insurance where there is a death benefit and an accumulation of cash value. The basic premise is the sharing of the costs and benefits of a life insurance policy by two or more parties. Usually one party owns and pays for the insurance protection and the other owns and pays for the cash accumulation. There is no single way to structure a split dollar arrangement. The possible structures are limited only by the imagination of the parties involved.

Temporary Life Insurance

Temporary insurance coverage is available at time of application for a life insurance policy if certain conditions are met. Normally, temporary coverage relates to free coverage while the insurance company which is underwriting the risk, goes through the process of deciding whether or not they will grant a contract of coverage. The qualifications for temporary coverage vary from insurance company to insurance company but generally applicants will qualify if they are between the ages of 18 and 65, have no knowledge or suspicions of ill health, have not been absent from work for more than 7 days within the prior 6 months because of sickness or injury and total coverage applied for from all sources does not exceed $500,000. Normally a cheque covering a minimum of one months premium is required to complete the conditions for this kind of coverage. The insurance company applies this deposit towards the cost of a policy at its issue date, which may be several weeks in the future.

Term Life Insurance

A plan of insurance which covers the insured for only a certain period of time and not necessarily for his or her entire life. The policy pays a death benefit only if the insured dies during the term.

Cash Cycle

The length of time between a purchase of materials and collection of accounts receivable generated by the sale of the products made from the materials.

Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA)

An association of most of the life and health insurance companies in Canada that conducts research and compiles information about the life and health insurance industry in Canada.

Joint Policy Life

One insurance policy that covers two lives, and generally provides for payment at the time of the first insured's death. It could also be structured to pay on second death basis for estate planning purposes.

Life Insurance

Insurance that provides protection against an economic loss caused by death of the person insured.

Life Insurance (Credit Insurance)

Group Term life insurance that pays or reduces the balance due on a loan if the borrower dies before the loan is repaid.

Life Insured

The person who's life is protected by an individual policy.

Life Underwriter

Insurance Agent.

Mortgage Life insurance (Credit Insurance)

Decreasing term life insurance that provides a death benefit amount corresponding to the decreasing amount owed on a mortgage.

Term Life

A product that provides life coverage for a specified duration typically not beyond the age of 75.

Universal Life

An unbundled life product with a separate investment component. It typically does not participate in companies profits.

Whole Life

Component that provides life coverage during the insured's life.

Kaizen

A method of costing that involves making continual, incremental improvements to the
production process during the manufacturing phase of the product/service lifecycle, typically
involving setting targets for cost reduction.

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