Costing, WIP and absorption
Direct material and direct labour are the easy part. Overhead absorption is where most manufacturers lose the plot: rates set years ago against volumes that no longer exist, so profitable jobs look marginal and marginal jobs look profitable.
- Standard cost build-up by part and by job
- Overhead rate setting reviewed against actual capacity rather than history
- Work in process tracked through each stage rather than estimated at close
- Purchase price, material usage and labour efficiency variance analysis
- Scrap, rework and yield loss captured as cost rather than absorbed silently
- Physical inventory procedures and cycle counting that the ledger can rely on
Capital equipment and depreciation strategy
Manufacturers buy assets, and how those purchases are treated for tax is one of the largest planning levers available. Section 179 expensing, bonus depreciation and the choice between them interact with your profit level, your state's conformity rules and your plans for future years.
Buying a machine in December rather than January can be worth a substantial amount, or nothing at all, depending on where your taxable income lands. That is a conversation to have in October.
Research and development credits
Process improvement qualifies more often than owners expect. Developing a new production method, redesigning a part for manufacturability, or engineering a solution to a tolerance problem can all constitute qualified research even when nobody in the building calls it R&D.
The credit requires contemporaneous documentation tied to specific business components, which is why we set up the tracking during the year rather than reconstructing it afterwards.
Cash tied up in the floor
Manufacturing ties up cash in raw material, work in process and finished goods simultaneously, while customer terms stretch receivables out past supplier terms. The cash conversion cycle, not the P&L, is what constrains growth. We forecast it weekly and manage it deliberately.
Frequently asked questions
Do you work inside our ERP?
Yes, and where an ERP exists the accounting should live inside it rather than in a parallel spreadsheet. Where the ERP costing module has never been configured properly, configuring it is usually the highest return work available.
Can you help us understand true job profitability?
That is the core of the engagement. Fully loaded job costing, including overhead at a defensible rate, is what makes pricing decisions rational.
Is the research credit worth pursuing at our size?
It depends on qualified wage spend rather than revenue. Companies with a meaningful engineering or process improvement headcount often qualify for more than they expect.