| Course | AC239 Managerial Accounting |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Process costing exercise |
| Length | About 590 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Accounting |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for AC239 Unit 6
Chemicals at the Start, Labor Along the Way: A Unit 6 Weighted Average Process Costing Exercise for a Foam Pouring Department
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
AC239: Managerial Accounting
Unit 6 Process Costing Exercise
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Burrow Bedworks, its foam department and all figures are composite; the textbook and the costing studies cited are real.
Schedule 1: Physical Units
Beginning work in process: 1,200 cores, 60 percent complete for conversion. Started this month: 18,000. Units to account for: 19,200. Completed and transferred to the sewing department: 17,400. Ending work in process: 1,800 cores, 40 percent complete for conversion. Units accounted for: 19,200.
Schedule 2: Equivalent Units, Weighted Average
Materials: transferred out 17,400 plus ending work in process 1,800 at 100 percent equals 19,200. All chemicals are added before pouring, so every core in the department has all of its materials. Conversion: transferred out 17,400 plus ending work in process 1,800 at 40 percent, or 720, equals 18,120.
Schedule 3: Costs to Account For
Materials: beginning work in process $14,640 plus current $225,360 equals $240,000. Conversion: beginning work in process $3,960 plus current $115,632 equals $119,592. Total: $359,592.
Schedule 4: Cost per Equivalent Unit
Materials: $240,000 divided by 19,200 equals $12.50. Conversion: $119,592 divided by 18,120 equals $6.60. Total cost per equivalent unit: $19.10.
Schedule 5: Assignment and Reconciliation
Transferred out: 17,400 cores times $19.10 equals $332,340. Ending work in process: materials 1,800 times $12.50, $22,500; conversion 720 times $6.60, $4,752; total $27,252. Total cost accounted for: $332,340 plus $27,252 equals $359,592, which agrees with Schedule 3.
Ending work in process counts in full for materials but only 40 percent for conversion, because the chemicals for every unfinished core are already in the mold while only 40 percent of the labor and curing has been done.
Journal Entry for the Transfer
Work in Process, Sewing, debit $332,340; Work in Process, Foam Pouring, credit $332,340. The cost follows the cores into the next department, where cover fabric, zippers and sewing labor are added.
Why Weighted Average
The weighted average method blends last month's costs in beginning work in process with this month's, so it does not separate work done last month from work done now (Franklin et al., 2019). The first in, first out method would compute this month's cost per unit on this month's work alone and would show whether costs are rising. For a department whose chemical prices change with oil markets, that separation can matter, and switching methods for internal reports is a choice the owner is free to make. Process costing suits foam pouring because the cores are identical and flow continuously, unlike the custom jobs costed in Unit 5. Where products differ widely in how much of a department's effort they use, a single average cost can mislead, which is the argument behind activity-based approaches (Cooper & Kaplan, 1988). Process costing itself is older than either; it grew out of the textile mills and refineries of the nineteenth century, where owners measured the cost of each stage of continuous production to compare it with buying the intermediate product outside (Johnson & Kaplan, 1987). Burrow Bedworks faces the same question each year, because foam cores can be bought ready-made from a supplier, and this department's $19.10 per core is the figure that comparison would start from.
Checks
1. Physical units in equal physical units out at 19,200.
2. Costs to account for equal costs accounted for at $359,592.
3. Cost per equivalent unit is computed separately for materials and conversion.
References
Cooper, R., & Kaplan, R. S. (1988). Measure costs right: Make the right decisions. Harvard Business Review, 66(5), 96-103.
Franklin, M., Graybeal, P., & Cooper, D. (2019). Principles of accounting, volume 2: Managerial accounting. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-managerial-accounting
Johnson, H. T., & Kaplan, R. S. (1987). Relevance lost: The rise and fall of management accounting. Harvard Business School Press.
AC239 Unit 6 instructions, in plain terms
The sixth AC239 unit gives one department's units, completion percentages and costs and asks for a process costing report, usually by the weighted average method. Work in five steps. Reconcile physical units to account for with units accounted for. Compute equivalent units separately for materials and conversion, using the point at which materials are added and the completion stage of ending work in process. Total the costs to account for by input, including beginning work in process. Divide to get cost per equivalent unit for each input. Assign costs to units transferred out and to ending work in process, and reconcile to the total. Record the transfer to the next department. A note on weighted average versus first in, first out adds depth. Cite the textbook in APA 7.
How this AC239 Unit 6 example is built
The sample's first schedule balances 19,200 physical units in and out. The second computes 19,200 equivalent units for materials, because chemicals go in before pouring, and 18,120 for conversion, counting ending work in process at 40 percent. The third totals $240,000 of materials and $119,592 of conversion. The fourth divides to $12.50 and $6.60. The fifth assigns $332,340 to the 17,400 cores transferred and $27,252 to ending work in process, reconciling to $359,592. The highlighted sentence explains the split equivalent units. A transfer entry moves the cost to sewing. A section compares the two methods, cites research on activity-based costing and the history of process costing, and three checks close the exercise.
AC239 Unit 6 rubric: what earns full points
Process costing exercises are graded schedule by schedule, and each must tie to the next. Physical units must balance. Equivalent units must reflect when materials are added and how complete the ending inventory is. Costs to account for must include beginning work in process under weighted average. Cost per equivalent unit must be computed by input, not as one blended rate. The final reconciliation must equal total costs exactly, apart from labeled rounding. The transfer entry demonstrates the journal side. A comparison of methods earns interpretation credit. Graders in AC239 award the final points for layout and for APA 7 sources.
AC239 Unit 6 help from the desk
The most common process costing error is counting ending work in process at its conversion percentage for materials too, when materials were added at the start. Others leave beginning inventory costs out of the weighted average totals. Units started are confused with units completed. A single cost per unit is computed for both inputs together. The reconciliation is off by the beginning balance. The transfer entry credits the wrong department. Rounding the cost per equivalent unit too early also leaves the reconciliation a few dollars off with no label. Send your department's figures, and our writers will return all five schedules tied together.
Get an AC239 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Process costing problems differ mainly in their percentages, so the Unit 6 figures matter most: units, completion stages, beginning inventory and costs by input. Include them with the rubric and say whether weighted average or first in, first out is required. All five schedules arrive within 24-48h; the first custom sample is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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AC239 Unit 6 questions, answered
How does first in, first out change the equivalent units?
It separates the work done this period from work done last period. Equivalent units then cover only the work needed to finish beginning inventory, plus units started and completed, plus ending inventory, and beginning inventory costs are kept out of the cost per unit. The weighted average method blends both periods. Where a section assigns both, the sample shows the two schedules side by side.
What if a second department receives the units?
Then the second department adds a third input, transferred-in cost, which is always one hundred percent complete for units in its ending inventory because those units arrived whole. The five schedules repeat with an extra column. Many AC239 problems stop at one department, but multi-department versions appear often enough that the sample notes how the column would work.
Why must materials and conversion be kept apart?
Because they are complete to different degrees. Units still in process at period end may have received all of their materials but only part of the labor and overhead, so a single percentage would misstate one input or the other. Separate columns let each input be divided by its own equivalent units, which is the whole mechanism of process costing.
Where can I find a free AC239 Unit 6 sample paper?
A complete AC239 Unit 6 process costing exercise is on this page, working a foam pouring department through five weighted average schedules to $19.10 per core and a full reconciliation.
Why are equivalent units different for materials in the AC239 Unit 6 sample?
Chemicals are added at the start of each pour, so all 1,800 cores in ending work in process have their materials. Only 40 percent of their conversion is done, so they count as 720 for conversion.