Cost accounting of IT Project Manager Manual

Enterprise Accounting Standards-Intangible Assets Article 3rd defines intangible assets as "an enterprise provides services for the production of goods and leasing to others, or non-monetary long-term assets held for management purposes, without physical forms ", article 13th" intangible assets developed by the enterprise and applied for in accordance with law, the research and development expenses incurred prior to obtaining the application in accordance with the law should be confirmed as the current fees when the application occurs ". Generally, software products that do not have physical forms are considered as intangible assets. Therefore, R & D expenditures incurred are included in the current expenses. However, with the development of the software industry, the accounting processing principles of the above standards have become unreasonable and even difficult to implement in some situations. In traditional industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, R & D costs account for a small proportion of the total production cost, and only the proportion of profits and losses to enterprises is counted in the current period. In the software industry, R & D costs are the main production costs of the company. If all the costs are included in the profit and loss of the current period, the reflection method of the company's financial benefits and the confirmation and calculation of income tax will have a great impact. In this case, it is very important for an accountant to judge his career.

I. Opinions on the handling of software product R & D costs

In the start-up phase, software development enterprises basically develop a single product, and all expenses are processed as current expenses. With the development of enterprises entering the multi-product development stage, enterprises tend to maintain and upgrade existing products, and develop new products. So how should we deal with the R & D cost of new products?

(1) claims to be treated as intangible assets

1. in terms of form, software products do not have physical forms and are classified as intangible assets. software products in the market are updated quickly, and the cost is generated in a short profit period. In accordance with the principle of prudence, all expenses should be included in the current profit and loss; 3. the accounting system stipulates that all expenses incurred during the enterprise's self-research and development of intangible assets shall be deemed as the current expenses at the time of occurrence.

(2) claims to be treated as inventory handling

1. Logically, if the R & D costs are all charged in the current period and the value of intangible assets is almost zero, no assets will be generated.

2. In principle, there is no ratio between income and expenditure. For example, for information software products, the income of a product may last for several years, and the expenditure has been paid in the current year.

3. from the management perspective, because the cost collection and accounting of a single product is not performed, the market efficiency of the product cannot be quantified. How much manpower and material resources a product (or project) has invested, whether benefits are produced cannot be clearly reflected.

4. conflict between the principle of prudence and the accrual system. In the enterprise accounting standards, there is a dividing line between expenditures, that is, where the benefits of expenditures and the current year (or a business cycle), they shall be used as income expenditures; any expenditure benefit that falls within several fiscal years (or business cycles) shall be deemed as capital expenditure.

Therefore, the author believes that software and technology products should be treated as inventories, and should be processed separately in products, finished products, and semi-finished products.

The classification of software products is the basis for cost accounting. The comparison between products and intangible assets makes it possible that software products should be accounted for according to inventory.

Property intangible asset Products

1. The purpose is to sell assets for use by enterprises rather than for sale.
2. The expression of purpose must be combined with other assets of the enterprise to directly achieve income and create economic benefits for the enterprise, with great uncertainty.

3. The revenue can only be transferred at a time and can be transferred multiple times in batches.

4. Ownership belongs to the buyer as an intangible asset and inventory for the developer.

Ii. Method of software product cost accounting

1. From the perspective of content, R & D costs directly fall into the profit and loss of the current period from intangible assets. However, if the R & D cost is used as inventory or product, the R & D cost is the manufacturing cost of the product and should be included in the cost accounting. Specifically, R & D fees can be divided into two phases:

A. The cost is still in the research phase. Due to its large uncertainty, it should be regarded as the current cost;

B. If the company has already approved the project and entered the development stage through feasibility study, the product's profit period is expected to be more than one year, and the product should be capitalized.

2. Collection category of costs.

A. project cost. Project, that is, the information system platform developed by the company's developers for the customer. Because there is a prior contract, the corresponding investment costs can be reliably measured based on direct labor and public fees, and the cost-effectiveness can be directly reflected through accounting.

B. product cost. For the development of a new product, from the date of establishment, the relevant direct charges, indirect charges and public fees are collected in a reasonable proportion and calculation method, and the deadline for collection is established. At the same time, the development progress is assessed based on the input budget in the project establishment, and the budget is adjusted regularly or irregularly according to the actual progress.

C. Cost of semi-finished products. Semi-finished products purchased from the market for redevelopment.

3. Cost Accounting Process.

Taking a securities information technology software company as an example, the products-finished products-are amortized one month by one based on the estimated service life after sales-the end of each accounting year:

A. Based on the annual information income, evaluate the cost of finished products in the book inventory and determine whether the provision for impairment is accrued;

B. Determine whether a project is offline based on the continued investment in the product and determine whether the project is overdue for the current period;

C. Based on whether there is a new product alternative, it is decided to overwrite the remaining cost of the old product.

3. suggestions on improving the relevant provisions of the current Enterprise Accounting System

1. The conditions for determining the weights of prudence and other accounting principles are clearly stated. For example, the judgment model of accounting error handling in the current accounting system is a supplement to the consistency principle. You can refer to this model to clarify the conditions for determining the weights of the prudence principle and other accounting principles.

2. Consider the proportion of R & D costs in the cost accounting of the information technology industry and clearly define them, instead of simply describing them.