Job Cost Sheet

In extremely simple terms, a job cost sheet is a record or an inventory for a work that is in progress to meet an order that has been placed by a customer. A cost sheet is maintained for every job that is performed to meet the order. Costs are recorded for direct materials, direct labor, and the manufacturing overhead that is involved in performing the process. Depending on what job the company undertakes and what the requirements of the job are, the cost sheet template that is used may be modified. The importance of a cost sheet is manifold as it allows the employer to accurately determine the different costs involved in the process of production. One of the main costs that can be so determined is the time spent in labor and which employee worked for how long, which enables correct calculation for accounting purposes. A cost sheet also determines the pricing of the materials purchased for the production of the final item. These materials are itemized according to each product. If tasks overlap, it can become difficult to determine actual costs and therefore, these cost sheets allow you to determine overhead costs and prevent overlapping. A cost sheet also helps determine the end cost to the company and helps in accounting.

There is no standard procedure to make a cost sheet as it completely depends on the need of the company and the costs incurred in production. But there is a general outline that can be followed. Generally a cost sheet will always have mention of direct materials, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead. There are many sites that offer examples of these cost sheets that can allow you to use the format for the job you have at hand. You could use a spreadsheet software like Excel to make a sheet for job costing and bookkeeping. In this article, we give you the generic format for a cost sheet.

Format for a Cost Sheet

A cost sheet like a balance sheet is also very helpful in determining how much beyond estimate a project has gone by comparing it with the estimate cost sheet that is made before a job begins. Given below is a template of a cost sheet that will help you draft one for your purposes. You can use this template of a cost sheet to create one according to your needs from the cost sheet.

^NEW!Click on the cost sheet template given below in order to print it and use it.


The template of a cost sheet given above has hopefully help you understand how to format one for yourself. A form that allows you to keep track of the materials, labor, and overhead costs involved in the job, a job cost sheet functions as an inventory. These sheets are of great help in those companies that deal in providing services to people. A cost sheet also allows the accountant of a company to keep track of the costs involved in the job as it analyzes cash flow. Now that you know how such a cost sheet is drafted, you will definitely be able to format one for yourself without any difficulty.