The product cost engineer plays a crucial role in ensuring efficient product design, production processes and cost-effective operations within manufacturing settings. Here are ten important skills that I think every product cost engineer should possess: Technical Competence: Understanding product design, manufacturing processes, manufacturing equipment, and technologies...
Cost engineering, a critical aspect of organizational efficiency, manifests itself differently across companies and industries. To delve deeper into this dynamic, SPCEA recently conducted a survey on LinkedIn, aiming to understand where exactly the cost engineering function resides within different organizational structures. The results and...
Becoming a cost engineer typically requires a combination of education, skills development, and practical experience. There are multiple ways to become a cost engineer but here is one step-by-step guide on how you could do it: Obtain a Relevant Degree: Most cost engineers have a bachelor's...
Knowledge is power, but how would you know whether more or new knowledge is needed? What if you were convinced that the knowledge you had was, in fact, the best and only knowledge you needed? Would you refuse to seek new knowledge and resist its...
For those lucky enough to have had careers in the automotive industry, Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) are as common as cars themselves. Most consider them a normal part of doing business. They are meant to provide suppliers with assurances of volumes over the full life of...
There is a certain innocence in numbers. Just like music, they can create a harmony that soothesthe soul. Maybe that’s why some costing professionals don’t stress when performing theircalculations. They put their numbers on the page, and they walk away. No harm, no foul. Theirconscience...
“Those of you familiar with my writings already know my opinion of the accounting concept of depreciation (“the dumbest concept in the history of management accounting”). I’ve been ranting against its use in decision-making since an article of mine on the subject appeared in Management...
“Sunk costs are irrelevant” is a principle stated in almost every book on decision science ever written. Despite this well-accepted principle of decision science, accountants continue to include their company’s biggest sunk cost as a major factor in determining its product, service and process costs....
In earlier blogs, I explained my views about depreciation; both its irrelevance in business decision-making and the way it is treated as a fixed annual cost. An organization does, however, need to provide for the preservation of its existing capital based as it sells products...
It's important to distinguish between measurements made from the financial accounting perspective and those made from the managerial accounting perspective. Periodicity is important in financial accounting. Expenses are measurements of the resources consumed during a specific period of time using measurable and auditable historical information...