Levy (accounting)
In accounting, allocation is in particular the distribution of overhead costs to specific cost centers based on a distribution key . The allocation procedure is part of the internal cost allocation . Cost allocation is therefore the charging of cost centers / cost units with costs from upstream cost centers without a causal relationship.
General
Only part of a company's total costs can be traced back to those cost centers or cost units that triggered or are responsible for these costs. These are the so-called individual costs that are assigned directly to the cost centers or cost units (which is why they are also called direct costs). Special direct costs and overhead costs, on the other hand, cannot be allocated precisely or only with unreasonable effort to the cost centers that cause the costs. In order to be able to distribute this part of the total costs as well as possible without arbitrariness, so-called distribution keys were developed as an aid.
Distribution key
The costs incurred in the cost centers of the general area / administration and production auxiliary centers must be allocated to the other main cost centers, which is done on the basis of a distribution key as part of the internal cost allocation.
The following are generally used as key parameters:
- Quantities (temporal load such as man hours or operating hours), according to quantity, area, volume or weight units or
- Values (such as wages, material, production costs, share of sales or tied or invested capital).
The distribution key (also known as the allocation key ) is intended to prevent arbitrary and undifferentiated distribution of cost allocations and to ensure that the allocation of secondary costs is as fair as possible . There should be a certain proportionality between the key size and the cost consumption. In this way, administrative salaries and auxiliary wages are allocated on the basis of salary and wage lists, energy costs through electricity or water meters, rental costs through room sizes.
Subsequent secondary costs
In the case of company allocations, it is also possible to dynamically determine the "allocation key" based on the costs already posted on the "recipient objects". In this case, the costs posted under certain cost types serve as the reference base for calculating the apportionment key. This is the case with the allocation of administrative costs to the production areas based on the production costs incurred.