Constructing the steel hull
For example purposes, we will create a job and its associated activities to build a boat for a customer named Smith. Although building a boat involves many activities, we will confine our example to the following activities:
Constructing the steel hull
Constructing the deck house
Boat engines
Cost of engineering
Mast assembly
Electronic assembly
We assume that the general ledger chart of accounts has been created and that customer Smith is included in the customer master file. The general ledger accounts used in this example follow:
GL Account Number Description
130 (Asset Account) Work in Process
245 (Expense) Cost of Labor
250 (Expense) Cost of Materials
255 (Expense) Other costs
To begin our example, the data entry screen for jobs and activities is accessed by selecting Jobs and Activities on the Job Cost menu.
Job Id
Press the ADD <F6> button to put the screen in ADD mode. The cursor moves to the first position of the Job Id field. For this example, we give this job an identification number of 8900. 8900 is entered into the field and the RETURN key, Space Bar or TAB key is pressed to get to the Description field.
Description
Our description is, 20' Pleasure Boat for Smith.
Date Closed
No entry is needed in this field, since we are not closing a job. We are creating a job.
Customer
The customer code, Smith, is entered in this field. As the TAB key or RETURN key is pressed, the full name of the customer is displayed. This information was entered in a customer master record in the Accounts Receivable System.
Work in Process Account
From the pre-established general ledger account list, enter the general ledger account for work in process. We used account number 130 for our example. Again, as the RETURN or TAB key is pressed, the full description of the general ledger account number entered appears. The screen appears as follows:
Press the STORE <F5> button to store the record. The activity screen appears after you store the job record. Now you can create the activities for job 8900. Notice that the Job Id is listed at the top of the screen in the Enter or Change Activities in Job field. The screen is still in the ADD mode, and the cursor is in the first position in the Activity field. You should enter the activities which listed previously as part of this example. The list of activities is detailed below along with the Activity and Type for each.
Activity Type Description
100 m, l Constructing the steel hull
110 m, l Constructing the deck house
120 m, l Boat Engines
125 m, l Cost of Engineering
130 m, l Mast Assembly
140 m, l Electronic Assembly
Two records are entered for each activity: one using type m and one using type l. Type m activities are used to record material costs. Type l activities are used to record labor costs and overhead (at the standard labor rate). Data entry to the fields on the screen is done as follows.
Activity
The number 100 from the above list is entered in this field. The TAB key is pressed to get to the next field.
Type
Enter the alphabetic character m which specifies this Activity Id as a material cost. After you enter the activity type, the cursor moves to the Activity Id field.
Activity Id
Press the RETURN key and the default Activity Id, 8900.100m, appears in the Activity Id field (see explanation of Activity Id field in previous section). As you can see, the format for the Activity Id is the Job Id number followed by the data entered in the Activity number and Type fields.
Description
Enter Constructing the steel hull as the description for this job activity. We know by looking at the Activity Id (type is m) that this expense is made up of material costs and not labor costs.
Expense Account
From the predetermined list of general ledger accounts, the Expense Account for material costs is account number 250. Enter 250 into the field and press the RETURN key. The description of the account is displayed.
Budgeted Figures
Let's assume our budget for materials for constructing the steel hull is 1000 pounds at a cost of $15,000. 1000 is entered in the Units field and 15,000.00 is entered in the Amount field.
The activity just entered appears as follows:
Press the STORE <F5> button to add the record to the file.
Next, enter an activity that represents the labor cost of constructing the steel hull. The Job Id of 8900 is still at the top of the screen and the cursor, after storing the previous record, is positioned at the first entry field.
Activity
Again, the number 100 is entered in this field which represents the activity for constructing the steel hull.
Type
The lower case letter l, which represents labor type, is entered here.
Activity Id
The RETURN key is pressed to create Activity Id 8900.100l.
Description
The description used in the previous job activity is used here also since all we have done is create a different Activity Id to represent labor costs. The description from the previous activity can be easily duplicated by pressing the Line Feed key when the cursor is positioned in the Description field.
Expense Account
The account number for labor costs from our list of general ledger accounts is entered: 245.
Budgeted Figures
Let's assume that our budget calls for 400 hours at a total cost of $12,000.00. 400 is entered into the Units field and 12,000.00 is entered in the Amount field.
The activity just entered appears as follows:
The remainder of the activities can be entered in a similar fashion. Remember to press the STORE <F5> button after completing each activity.
Pressing the NEXT <F7> button redisplays the jobs screen.