Advanced professional course
Cost Accounting
Design, run and critique cost systems that produce decision-useful information — from job and process costing to ABC, variances and throughput.
₹1,999 one-time
Buy the course — ₹1,999 See the curriculum
What this course teaches
A cost system is only as good as the decisions it supports. This course teaches you to design, run and critique cost systems: not just to calculate an allocation, but to judge whether the number it produces is fit for pricing, product, capacity and performance decisions.
The lessons follow two fictional businesses, Varela Foods (a multi-plant food manufacturer with joint products, process losses and a bottleneck) and Brightline Engineering (a job shop with a loss-making contract). You cost their jobs, processes and products under several systems, reconcile the results to the ledger and see exactly where and why the systems disagree.
Who it is for
- Cost accountants, plant and management accountants who want to move from running a system to redesigning it.
- Finance business partners in manufacturing, food, engineering, logistics and service operations.
- Controllers and auditors who need to understand how inventory and margins are built.
- Experienced learners preparing for advanced management and cost accounting examinations.
Prerequisites
Familiar with basic cost terms (direct/indirect, fixed/variable), simple job costing and a basic budget; comfortable with spreadsheets.
Basic cost terms, simple job costing and a basic budget are assumed. Foundations are reviewed briefly only where an advanced topic needs them.
What you will be able to do
- Design cost objects and cost hierarchies, trace cost flows through the ledger and estimate cost behaviour from data.
- Apply job, contract, process and operation costing, including equivalent units, losses and transferred-in costs.
- Allocate overhead deliberately, solve reciprocal service-department allocations and measure allocation distortion.
- Build activity-based and time-driven activity-based models and judge when they are worth the effort.
- Set standards and decompose variances, including mix, yield, sales, planning and operational variances, then decide what to investigate.
- Account for joint products and by-products and avoid decisions distorted by joint-cost allocation.
- Cost capacity and constraints, apply throughput accounting and measure the cost of quality.
- Reconcile management cost reports with financial reporting under IAS 2 and review a cost system's design and behavioural effects.
Curriculum
10 modules, 50 lessons, a final assessment and a capstone project. Each lesson includes worked examples, original charts or diagrams, an exercise with a full solution and a knowledge check. Times are estimates based on the actual lesson content.
Module 1: Cost Architecture · about 4.3 h
Build cost systems around their purpose and estimate cost behaviour from data.
- The Purpose of Cost Systems · 49 min
- Cost Classification for Purpose · 46 min
- The Cost Hierarchy and Cost-Object Design · 44 min
- Cost Flows Through the Ledger · 51 min
- Estimating Cost Behaviour from Data · 71 min
Module 2: Job and Contract Costing · about 3.9 h
Cost bespoke work accurately and control it as it progresses.
- Advanced Job Costing · 46 min
- Under- and Over-Applied Overhead · 46 min
- Contract Costing and Cost-to-Complete · 44 min
- Service and Engagement Costing · 38 min
- Job Cost Control and Estimate-at-Completion Analysis · 62 min
Module 3: Process Costing · about 4.2 h
Cost continuous production, losses and multi-stage processes correctly.
- Equivalent Units: Weighted-Average Method · 48 min
- FIFO Process Costing · 44 min
- Normal and Abnormal Loss and Gain · 53 min
- Multi-Process Costing with Transferred-In Costs · 44 min
- Operation Costing and Hybrid Systems · 66 min
Module 4: Overhead Allocation · about 4.2 h
Allocate overhead deliberately and measure the distortion allocation creates.
- Allocation Bases and Departmental Rates · 43 min
- Service Department Allocation · 56 min
- Capacity Concepts and the Denominator Problem · 53 min
- Single- and Dual-Rate Allocation · 39 min
- Measuring Allocation Distortion · 60 min
Module 5: Activity-Based Costing · about 4.6 h
Build and critique activity-based and time-driven activity-based models.
- ABC Design: Activities, Pools and Drivers · 60 min
- Building an ABC Model · 41 min
- Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing · 54 min
- Activity-Based Management · 53 min
- When ABC Fails · 69 min
Module 6: Standard Costing and Core Variances · about 4.1 h
Set standards and decompose cost variances precisely.
- Setting Standards · 52 min
- Material Price and Usage Variances · 45 min
- Labour Rate, Efficiency and Idle-Time Variances · 43 min
- Variable and Fixed Overhead Variances · 44 min
- Standard Costing in the Ledger · 62 min
Module 7: Advanced Variance Analysis · about 4.0 h
Separate mix, yield, planning and operational effects and decide what to investigate.
Module 8: Joint Products, By-Products and Relevant Costing · about 4.3 h
Account for joint processes and make decisions without being misled by allocations.
- Joint Cost Allocation Methods · 49 min
- By-Product Accounting · 44 min
- Sell or Process Further · 44 min
- Relevant and Opportunity Costs in Costing Decisions · 48 min
- The Limits of Joint Cost Allocation · 71 min
Module 9: Capacity, Constraints, Throughput and Quality · about 4.2 h
Cost capacity, constraints and quality explicitly.
- Capacity Cost and Idle Capacity Reporting · 46 min
- Bottleneck Economics and the Theory of Constraints · 47 min
- Throughput Accounting · 44 min
- Cost of Quality · 40 min
- Spoilage, Rework and Scrap · 75 min
Module 10: Inventory, Reporting Integration and Cost-System Design · about 4.1 h
Connect cost accounting to financial reporting and design better systems.
Final assessment and capstone
- Final assessment · 240 min
- Capstone project · 540 min
Practical work and assessment
- Every lesson has a full worked example, an exercise with a complete solution and a knowledge check with explanations.
- Each module ends with an integrative checkpoint including numeric problems and a written decision question.
- A 40-question final assessment (pass mark 70%) plus three written questions with marking guides.
- Capstone: a cost-system redesign for a newly acquired Varela plant, covering an activity-based model, bottleneck economics, a full variance reconciliation and a ledger bridge, with a rubric and a full model solution.
A look inside
Charts in the course are drawn from the case data, so you can see the economics behind each method. This one from Module 5 shows how the same overhead lands on each product under three different costing systems.
What is included for ₹1,999
- All 50 lessons, the final assessment and the capstone project, with model answers.
- Original charts, diagrams and data exhibits, plus downloadable CSV datasets for the exercises.
- Progress tracking and saved assessment scores when you are signed in.
- Access from your account on any device for as long as the course is offered on this site.
This is self-paced, text-based learning. It does not include live sessions, personal tutoring, a formal qualification or continuing professional education (CPE/CPD) credit.
About the instructor
The course is written and published by Aditya Gupta, who has spent 12 years working with startups in Europe and the US, including fractional-CFO work for Y Combinator-backed startups. More about Aditya.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from the Managerial Accounting course?
Cost Accounting is about measuring cost correctly and designing the system that produces it. Managerial Accounting uses that information for decisions, planning, performance measurement and incentives. The two courses cross-reference each other and can be taken in either order.
Does the course follow UK or US terminology?
Both are explained. Where the CIMA/UK and US traditions name or treat something differently (for example normal loss and spoilage, or fixed-overhead variances), the lessons say so explicitly.
How do I get access after paying?
Payment is processed by Razorpay. When the payment is confirmed, your order is marked paid and the lessons unlock for the account linked to your order email. You receive an email with your sign-in details; you can also find the course under My Account → My Courses.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, within 7 calendar days of purchase if you have completed less than 25% of the lessons, as set out in our Refund & Cancellation Policy. Email the address in the policy with your order number.
Do I get a certificate or CPE credit?
No. The course is not accredited and does not award CPE/CPD credit or a professional qualification. Your scores and progress are saved to your account for your own records.
Are the companies in the case studies real?
No. Case companies and datasets are fictional and built for teaching. Where a lesson refers to a real standard or a well-documented public case, it says so.
See the Refund & Cancellation Policy and Terms of Service. Educational content only — not investment, legal or tax advice.
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