Standard cost card
Standard cost card: a single document listing the standard quantity and price of materials, labour and overhead to make one unit, the reference for computing every cost variance.
See it move
A furniture maker's standard cost card for one chair lists materials at €12.00, from 3kg of pine at €4.00 per kg, labour at €19.00, from 2 hours at €9.50 per hour, variable overhead at €6.00, and fixed overhead at €10.00, stacking to a standard cost of €47.00 per chair. Producing 500 chairs budgets a total standard cost of €23,500.
The formula
Variables
- Standard cost per unit (€)
- Standard quantity of input i needed per unit (input units per output unit)
- Standard price or rate per unit of input i (€)
Builds the standard cost card total from each cost element's standard input quantity and standard price or rate.
Check yourself
A bakery's standard cost card for one loaf of bread shows: flour, 0.6kg at €0.90 per kg; labour, 0.2 hours at €14.00 per hour; and variable overhead, 0.2 hours at €2.50 per hour. What is the standard cost per loaf?