What is a Job Cost Record?

A job cost record is used to aggregate the costs of direct materials, direct labor, and the overhead to be applied to a specific job. As such, it is a source document for a job costing system, in which costs are accumulated for batches of units. The materials listed on the record are extracted from material requisition forms, while the hours listed on it are taken from employee and contractor timesheets. Any overhead charges added to the record are usually based on a standard overhead rate that was calculated at the beginning of the year. A job cost record also includes a header that contains the name and identifying number of the production job, which may also include a customer name and contract number. This header information is used to uniquely identify the job.

Job cost records are compiled by hand in a manual accounting system, but are more commonly produced as a report from a computerized accounting system.