Cost Finding and Keeping
(4) That a percentage be added to the price of all material to cover the
cost of handling and other expenses connected therewith, but each master
printer should ascertain for himself what is suflicient in the circumstances
of his own business. On the iigures the Committee have obtained, this cost
amounts to at least I0 per cent.
(5) That depreciation should be written off at the rate of IO per cent.
per annum on the diminishing value of all plant.
(6) That a record should be kept of the exact number of chargeable
hours Worked or chargeable units produced in each department.
(7) That interest at the rate of 5 per cent. on the capital employed be
considered a cost.
A small business would consist of composing, machine and warehouse
departments. A statement of cost of production should be kept, and Would
show in each department its own wages and salaries. This statement could
be made out weekly, monthly or quarterly, but a weekly statement is pro-
bably the most convenient period. The annual cost of rent, rates and
taxes, lighting, heating, etc., would be divided over the departments accord-
ing to floor space ; power according to the approximate amount consumed ;
and depreciation, insurance, etc., would be allocated to the departments in
the proper proportions. Those amounts added to the Wages would give the
departmental cost. The overhead expenses, such as expenses of ofiice and
travellers, partners' salaries, interest on capital, etc., less the amount
debited to material, would be divided over the departments in proportion
to the departmental costs. The departmental cost plus the share of
overhead expenses is the total cost of the department for the period
chosen.
The number of chargeable hours will vary considerably from week to
week, as the work fluctuates, and estimates and charges should be made on
the average cost per hour over a long period, and not on a short period,
when the cost may be abnormal owing to slackness or great pressure of
work. At the end of twelve months the total chargeable hours should be
divided into the total cost of each department to find the average cost of
the chargeable hour. Probably each master printer already has some hourly
rates in use in his office and he can continue to use these until he has a
year's average under the new system, or he can adopt the hourly rates that
have been given in the pamphlets of the Master Printers' Association. The
number of chargeable hours in each department multiplied by the hourly
rate gives the value of work produced. This amount compared with the
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