The real story behind a packaging job cost

A selling price is only the beginning

A useful job cost starts with agreed specifications and a consistent unit of measure. Paper or board, consumables, conversion and finishing all need an explicit treatment.

Expected and actual consumption

Compare the material planned for a job with the material issued and returned. Record stage output and wastage as the work progresses. Late entries make it harder to understand where a difference occurred.

Agree the method

Decide how labour, machine time and overhead are allocated. Document the treatment of scrap, rejected work and rework. Your finance and production teams should review the same method.

Review before expanding

Reconcile a small set of representative jobs before relying on reports for decisions. The system is only as useful as the quantities, rates and posting rules used by your team.