Direct Material Definition
Direct material refers to the raw materials that are directly used in the production process of goods and services of a company and are an essential component of the finished goods manufactured. Direct Material Costs are reported in the trading account debit side under the head “cost of goods soldCost Of Goods SoldThe Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is the cumulative total of direct costs incurred for the goods or services sold, including direct expenses like raw material, direct labour cost and other direct costs. However, it excludes all the indirect expenses incurred by the company. read more.” They are also referred to as the expenditures incurred to make a product that can trace back to its original form.
It can be in physical form or artificial form like technology. E.g., In a company like Amazon, the main cost of the company is to build a system so that it can reach the maximum number of people across the globe. Here the technology cost will be looked at as the direct materials since, without setting up a proper technical infrastructure, the company will not be in a position to sell the products on the platform. On the other hand, cost accountancyCost AccountancyCost accounting is a defined stream of managerial accounting used for ascertaining the overall cost of production. It measures, records and analyzes both fixed and variable costs for this purpose.read more, is more studied in detail since it directly impacts the final product costing.
Table of contents
Table of contents
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Types
They are broadly divided into the following categories.
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- Raw Materials: Raw Materials are the base materials used in the manufacturing process to make the finished goods.
- Work in Process: WIP refers to the direct materials used in the process which are under unfinished form and require additional processing to turn them into a finished product.
- Finished Goods: These are the goods ready for consumption or sales.
Examples of Direct Material
- Example 1: In the case of a computer, it is made up of many parts like a keyboard, hard disk, motherboard, etc. All these form a part of the direct materials required to manufacture a computer.
- Example 2: In the case of a textile company, yarn works as a raw material to process the same into a finished product like a cloth, which is then used to make clothes.
- Example 3: In the case of a brick manufacturing company, cement is the primary direct material required to make the brick used in the construction of buildings.
- Example 4: In the case of a real estate company, the direct material costDirect Material CostDirect Material Cost is the total cost incurred by the company in purchasing the raw material along with the cost of other components including packaging, freight and storage costs, taxes, etc. that are related directly to the manufacturing and production of various products of the company.read more required to build the building is the purchase of cement, steel, etc., which is essential to start the construction work. Any change in the prices of these essential commodities may inflate the selling price of the flats as these costs are directly related to the project and cannot be avoided under any circumstances.
- Example 5: In the case of Apple, the chip used inside the phone would be the essential material cost for the company to make the phone.
- Example 6: In the case of a medicine company, the bulk drug used in the product acts as a direct material, which is essential to manufacture the medicine for the general public.
Advantages
- They form an essential component of product costing, and without direct raw materials, no product can be manufactured.
- Very useful in the contribution analysis of a product computed by revenue minus the cost of goods sold to arrive at the gross profit marginGross Profit MarginGross Profit Margin is the ratio that calculates the profitability of the company after deducting the direct cost of goods sold from the revenue and is expressed as a percentage of sales. It doesn’t include any other expenses into account except the cost of goods sold.read more.
- They are easily traceable since they are the main component of manufacturing a particular product.
- Plays a significant part in the budget prepared for the future;
- Is the deciding factor in computing the major ratios used for the management for analysis;
Disadvantages
The cost cannot be avoided since it forms the crust of the manufactured product, and an increase in the direct materials and costing eventually ends up in an increase in the price of the goods sold.
- A company that relies heavily on the procurement of direct materials for its final product may struggle a bit if there is an issue with the materials to be procured.
- Direct Costs are often exposed to huge fluctuations, which have an impact on the factory overheadsFactory OverheadsFactory Overhead, also called Factory Burden, is the total of all the indirect expenses related to the production of goods such as Quality Assurance Salaries, Factory Rent, & Factory Building Insurance etc. read more as well.
Conclusion
Direct materials form a very crucial element of the product costing of the company since even a minor change in it may result in a massive financial impact on the profit and loss of the company. The cost cannot be avoided and is often used in standard costingStandard CostingStandard cost is an estimated cost determined by the company for the production of the goods and services or for performing an operation under normal circumstances and are derived by the company from the historical analysis of the data or from the time and the motion studies.read more or process-costing methodologies to arrive at the effective cost of the product so that the company can fix up the selling price. If the cost is too high, it may suggest improvements to curb it.
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