1.) Name two principal types of cost accounting systems.
– Job Order Costing System
– Process Costing System
2.) Which system provides for a separate record of each particular quantity of product that passes through the factory?
3.) Which system accumulates the costs for each department or process within the factory? Why?
4.) Discuss how the predetermined factory overhead rate can be used in job order cost accounting to assist management in pricing jobs.
Sample solution
Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell.
In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.
God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.
Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.
To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.
References
Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.
Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.
Sample Answer
Sample Answer
The two principal types of cost accounting systems are:
Job Order Costing System: This system is used when products or services are produced in distinct, identifiable units or batches. Each job or order is treated as a separate entity, and costs are accumulated and assigned to specific jobs or orders. This system is commonly used in industries such as construction, custom manufacturing, and professional services.
Process Costing System: This system is used when products or services are produced in a continuous, mass production process. Costs are accumulated and assigned to departments or processes rather than individual jobs or orders. This system is commonly used in industries such as chemical manufacturing, food processing, and oil refining.
The Job Order Costing System provides for a separate record of each particular quantity of product that passes through the factory. This is because each job or order is treated as a distinct entity, and costs need to be tracked and allocated to specific jobs or orders. By maintaining separate records, management can accurately determine the cost of each job or order, which is essential for pricing and profitability analysis.
The Process Costing System accumulates the costs for each department or process within the factory. This is because process costing focuses on the overall production process rather than individual jobs or orders. Costs are allocated to departments or processes based on the quantity of output produced. This system is used when there is a continuous flow of production, and it allows management to track costs at each stage of the production process, making it easier to identify inefficiencies or areas for improvement.
The predetermined factory overhead rate can be used in job order cost accounting to assist management in pricing jobs by providing a standardized basis for allocating overhead costs to individual jobs. This rate is calculated by estimating the total factory overhead costs for a specific period and dividing it by an estimated activity level, such as direct labor hours or machine hours. By applying this predetermined rate to each job based on its actual usage of the allocation base, management can determine the overhead cost to be assigned to each job. This information is crucial in accurately determining the total cost of a job, which helps management make informed decisions regarding pricing strategies, ensuring profitability, and evaluating the financial performance of each job. It provides a consistent method for allocating overhead costs and allows for better cost control and decision-making.
