Job Cost Calculator
Total a job from its materials, labour and the overhead your own rate applies.
What this calculator does
Traced costs added, then overhead applied as rate × base. Cost per unit is shown only when the user enters the units produced.
Inputs and what they mean
- Currency
- — Amounts are shown in the currency you pick. No exchange rate is applied..
- Direct materials charged to the job
- — number value.
- Direct labour charged to the job
- — number value.
- Your overhead rate per base unit
- — Your own predetermined overhead rate — set it with the Predetermined Overhead Rate Calculator. None is assumed..
- Allocation base the job used
- — Machine hours, labour hours or whatever base your rate is built on..
- Other direct costs (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Good units produced on the job (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result. Used only to show cost per unit..
How to use it
- Enter your own figures — the calculator never fills in a rate, price or benchmark for you.
- Press Calculate to see the result.
- Read the formula, variables, assumptions and source below the result before you rely on it.
Formula
Job cost = Direct materials + Direct labour + (Overhead rate × Allocation base) + Other direct costs
Worked example
A job with materials, labour and applied overhead
Overhead is applied with your own rate; no rate is assumed for you.
Reading the result
The headline figure is the main answer. Any breakdown underneath shows the parts that make it up, so you can check the working and see what changes when you adjust an input.
Limitations and assumptions
Results depend entirely on the figures you enter and are rounded for display. They are for general information and education, not professional advice.
Reference: Rice University — Principles of Accounting, Volume 2: Managerial Accounting
Last reviewed:
Common questions
Formula, source and verification
Job order costing: the costs traced to a job plus overhead applied with the organisation's own predetermined rate.
The question it answers: What did this job, batch or unit actually cost us to produce?
The formula
Job cost = Direct materials + Direct labour + (Overhead rate × Allocation base) + Other direct costs
- DM — Direct materials
- (currency). Materials traced to the job.
- DL — Direct labour
- (currency). Labour traced to the job.
- r — Overhead rate
- (currency). The organisation's own predetermined overhead rate per base unit.
- b — Allocation base
- (count). Machine hours, labour hours or the base the rate is built on.
- O — Other direct costs
- (currency). Optional. Anything else traced to the job.
- u — Units produced
- (count). Optional. Used only to show cost per unit.
Units: Currency; hours or other base units; counts.
What kind of calculation this is
Deterministic formula. The same inputs always give the same answer. The maths is fixed and does not depend on judgement.
Method
Traced costs added, then overhead applied as rate × base. Cost per unit is shown only when the user enters the units produced.
Assumptions built into the result
- Industry: Every cost, rate and standard is the figure the user entered, in the currency they chose; no exchange rate is applied.
- Mathematical: Costs and output cover the same period or the same job.
Figures this calculator will never guess for you
- No industry average, benchmark or target cost is supplied.
- No standard rate, wage or material price is assumed on the user's behalf.
- Optional components are excluded from the result when left at zero.
Limitations
- Arithmetic over the figures entered — it cannot tell whether the costs, standards or allowances behind them are right.
- A target cost, an industry benchmark and the organisation's own standard are different things; only the figures entered are used.
- Overhead is applied, not actual; any over- or under-applied overhead is settled outside this calculation.
Source and version
- Standard or reference
- Managerial accounting — job order and process costing — OpenStax (Rice University) (Principles of Accounting, Volume 2: Managerial Accounting (OpenStax) — job cost is direct materials plus direct labour plus overhead applied at a predetermined rate; unit cost is total production cost divided by the units produced.)
- Published source
- Rice University — OpenStax (CC BY)
- Formula version
- Version 1
- Verification
- Reviewed against the cited source on
- How much weight the source carries
- Academic
- Applies to
- Currency
- Amounts stay in the currency you choose; no exchange rate is applied.
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