Manufacturing Overhead Calculator
Total the indirect production costs you enter, and show them per base unit.
What this calculator does
Entered overhead lines summed. Overhead per base unit is shown only when the user enters a base; no base is assumed.
Inputs and what they mean
- Currency
- — Amounts are shown in the currency you pick. No exchange rate is applied..
- Indirect materials (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Indirect labour and supervision (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Factory utilities (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Depreciation on plant and equipment (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Maintenance and repairs (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Factory rent, rates and insurance (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Other manufacturing overhead (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result..
- Allocation base for the period (optional)
- — Optional component. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result. Machine hours, labour hours or units — used to show overhead per base 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
Manufacturing overhead = Indirect materials + Indirect labour + Utilities + Depreciation + Maintenance + Facility + Other
Worked example
Factory overhead for a period
Only the lines you enter are counted; every other component stays out of the total.
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
The indirect production costs of a period, added as entered; anything left at zero is excluded.
The question it answers: What does the material, the labour, the overhead and an hour on the machine cost us?
The formula
Manufacturing overhead = Indirect materials + Indirect labour + Utilities + Depreciation + Maintenance + Facility + Other
- IM — Indirect materials
- (currency). Optional component.
- IL — Indirect labour
- (currency). Optional component.
- U — Utilities
- (currency). Optional component.
- D — Depreciation
- (currency). Optional component.
- M — Maintenance
- (currency). Optional component.
- F — Facility costs
- (currency). Optional component.
- O — Other overhead
- (currency). Optional component.
- b — Allocation base
- (count). Optional. Used only to show overhead per base unit.
Units: Currency; base units.
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
Entered overhead lines summed. Overhead per base unit is shown only when the user enters a base; no base is assumed.
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.
- No overhead line is estimated or filled in from an average.
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.
- Only production overhead belongs here; selling and administrative costs are not manufacturing overhead.
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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