Page 43 - Participant Guide ebook - Unanet GovCon Using General Ledger

Introduction to Cost Accounting
Cost Accounting is a series of interrelated topics and functionality that form the basis for
all project accounting (sometimes called project or job costing) in Unanet. Cost
Accounting enables users to report on the total project costs (direct plus proportional
indirect) for providing specified products or services associated with their projects.
Indirect costs need to be grouped so that they can be distributed appropriately across
each project in the organization (e.g., Overhead, Fringe, G&A). This is especially true
for government organizations working on Cost Plus projects.

There are several Administrator configurations that are critical to support Cost
Accounting: Cost Elements, Cost Structure, and Cost Pools.

Cost Elements
Cost Elements are the building blocks of the Cost Structure which group costs into
“buckets” of expenses and are classified in three (3) categories: Direct Labor, Other
Direct Costs, and Indirect Costs.

Cost Structures
Cost Structures are where the Administrator assigns (maps) which Direct Labor Cost
Elements and Other Direct Cost (ODC) Elements will be associated with the Cost
Structure. The indirect rates calculations (or formulas) are created to be used to
determine how indirect rates are applied to calculate indirect costs. Cost Structures
must be configured for billing Cost Plus contracts. While Cost Structures are optional for
Time & Materials and Fixed Price contracts, they are still very beneficial for
revenue/margin tracking.

APPENDIX B: SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
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