We frequently use job-to-job WIP transfers, where the job is linked as a material requirement to another job. Most of the time we do this for what we call “part on the fly” items (items which do not exist in the Item Master), and these seem to work fine as far as correctly transferring the cost. On occasion we will link jobs for “real” items (which do exist in the Item Master) to other jobs. And the costs are not always transferring, with the result of the total job cost going to variance. A few questions-
is there a criteria for what kind of parts work on job-to-job (e.g. quantity bearing, non-stock etc)
what is the correct sequence of events, as far as issuing to the next job, completing & closing the job, etc. Maybe we are doing something out of order.
does the costing method matter (std, lot average etc)
When I’ve seen cost issues in the target job, it almost always had to do with the source job not being fully processed prior to any WIP-MFG trans.
e.g. operation missed or mtl not issued yet.
Tracking down causes can be even more fun when source jobs issues are getting corrected after WIP-MFG trans. And the more time that passes, the harder it can be to address. At one site I remember cost accounting had a series of custom BAQs they ran at the end of each shift that would catch the most common issues - and shop employees would get regular feedback on any items that were popping up.
Thanks Bruce. Based on my testing, it appears the correct order is complete job, issue job, close job. Issuing before completing the costs don’t transfer. it also appears job-to-job does not work on Standard Costed items, that I would have to change them to Last Cost/qty bearing. I don’t always trust my test results because there are several variables and isolating and testing them individually to make sure I have the correct cause/effect correlation sometimes something gets overlooked.