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Microlesson · 5-min read

Re-apportionment of Service Department Overheads to Production Departments

## Re-apportionment of Service Department Overheads

After apportioning overheads to all departments, the costs accumulated in service departments (which do not directly produce goods) must be transferred to production departments because products ultimately pass only through production departments.

This secondary apportionment is called re-apportionment.

### Bases for Common Service Departments

Service DepartmentBasis of Re-apportionment
Maintenance & Repair shopDirect labour hours, machine hours, direct wages, or asset value × hours worked
Planning & Progress / Tool RoomAsset value × hours worked
Canteen & Welfare / Hospital / Personnel DeptNumber of direct workers / employees
Time-keepingNo. of cards punched or no. of employees
Computer SectionComputer hours or specific allocation
Power House (lighting cost)Floor area, cubic content, no. of electric points, wattage
Power House (power cost)Horsepower, kWh, HP × machine hours, or kWh × machine hours
Stores DepartmentNo. of requisitions, weight or value of materials issued
Transport DepartmentCrane hours, truck hours, truck mileage, tonnage, ton-hours
Fire ProtectionCapital values
InspectionInspection hours

### Important Notes

1. Repairs within the repairs shop cost and building maintenance within maintenance shop cost → apportion on capital values.

2. Selection criteria for base: Economy, Practicability, Equitability, and Reliability.

### Methods of Re-apportionment

MethodDescription
Direct Re-distributionService dept costs distributed only to production depts; inter-service transfers ignored
Step Distribution (Non-reciprocal)Service depts re-apportioned one at a time in sequence; earlier depts not re-charged
Reciprocal/Simultaneous EquationAccounts for mutual services between service departments using simultaneous equations
Repeated DistributionCosts distributed in cycles until residual amounts become negligible

Worked example

### Example 1

Example – Direct Re-distribution:

Total overhead after primary apportionment:

DeptP1P2S1 (Maintenance)S2 (Canteen)
Overheads (₹)40,00030,00012,0008,000

S1 re-apportioned on machine hours: P1 = 600 hrs, P2 = 400 hrs → ratio 3:2

  • P1 gets: 12,000 × 3/5 = ₹7,200 | P2 gets: ₹4,800

S2 re-apportioned on no. of workers: P1 = 40, P2 = 60 → ratio 2:3

  • P1 gets: 8,000 × 2/5 = ₹3,200 | P2 gets: ₹4,800

Final production dept overheads: P1 = 40,000 + 7,200 + 3,200 = ₹50,400; P2 = 30,000 + 4,800 + 4,800 = ₹39,600

⚠️ Common exam mistakes

  • Using the wrong basis – e.g., using number of workers for Stores Department instead of no. of requisitions or value of materials issued.
  • Forgetting that service department costs include their own share of primary apportioned overheads before re-distribution.
  • In direct re-distribution, attempting to charge service dept costs back to other service depts – this method explicitly ignores inter-service usage.
  • Confusing 'power cost for machine operation' (use HP/kWh) with 'lighting cost' (use floor area/light points) – both come from the power house but use different bases.
Reference:
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