Skip to main content

Manufacturing Cost & WIP

Purpose​

Manufacturing Cost & WIP connects controlled standard-cost versions, manufacturing-order cost snapshots, variance alerts, work-in-progress accounting and a manufacturing close checklist. It extends Manufacturing under Cost Control.

Cost analysis and accounting are separate workflows. A cost rollup prepares a version for review; activating it can update product standard costs if that option is enabled. WIP posting creates and posts accounting entries. Read the selected policy before preparing or posting a batch.

Before you start​

For 19.0, install the package with mrp_account, purchase_stock and hr_hourly_cost. The declared dependencies are native addons, with no Enterprise-only dependency declared. Earlier and later versions use different labour-cost dependencies and valuation APIs.

Prepare bills of materials, units, component standard costs, operation durations, work-centre rates, employee hourly costs and accurate production records. An accountant must configure the WIP journal, WIP asset account and material, labour and overhead offset accounts for the company.

This guide describes the 19.0 source workflow, with selected comparisons of other versions. No manufacturing, standard-cost update, journal posting or period close was executed for this guide.

Access and setup​

Cost Control User reads cost records and inherits Manufacturing user access. Cost Control Manager maintains cost versions, snapshots and variance rules and inherits Manufacturing manager access. Manufacturing Cost Accountant adds WIP policy/batch and close maintenance, plus accounting-user access. Company rules apply. Native rights to sensitive employee and accounting information remain relevant to calculations and posting.

Open Manufacturing → Cost Control for Cost Versions, Product Cost Analysis, MO Cost Snapshots, Variance Analysis, Cost Alerts, WIP Batches and Manufacturing Close. Configuration contains Cost Elements, Variance Alert Rules and WIP Policies.

Configure work-centre and operation rates for the cost categories you use, and any expected BoM yield/scrap or category freight/burden percentages. The rollup uses these source values. Cost-element configuration alone should not be treated as proof that an arbitrary charge is included in a calculation.

Standard-cost and production workflow​

  1. A cost manager creates a Standard cost version with company, effective date, products or categories, and the desired subassembly setting. Select Calculate Rollup. Inspect per-product totals and Cost Components, including material, operation time and overhead sources.
  2. Review Update Standard Price before proceeding. With this enabled, Activate writes the calculated totals to company-specific product standard costs. It is not merely a change to the version’s label.
  3. Select Submit for Review. A different cost manager selects Approve; a manager other than that approver selects Activate. Approval freezes the cost lines. Create a revision to change a frozen version. Partial overlap with products in an existing active standard requires a consolidated revision.
  4. On an MO, use an active cost version from the same company containing the product, or allow automatic selection by the MO start date. Select Refresh Cost to prepare or refresh its snapshot. Confirmation also attempts snapshot creation; check the resulting snapshot rather than assuming it succeeded.
  5. In MO Cost Snapshots, inspect standard and actual lines, Variance Analysis and alerts. Use Refresh Actual Cost while the snapshot is open. Actual materials use completed stock-move values; machine/labour amounts use completed time logs and relevant rates. Optional landed costs are separated for analysis rather than added twice.
  6. Select Finalize when ready to freeze the snapshot. Another cost manager can approve it after required alerts are approved, resolved or dismissed. To revise a final or approved snapshot, enter the reason in Notes and select Reopen; this creates a new revision and retains the earlier one.

Variance rules match a variance type and optional exact product category/work centre. Both configured absolute-amount and percentage minima must be met, including equality. Rules can create alerts/activities, require manager approval or block manufacturing close.

WIP workflow​

  1. A manufacturing cost accountant creates a WIP Policy with company, accounts, journal, eligible MO states, categories/operation types, age, progress and value filters. Choose Incremental Balance or Post and Reverse Next Period.
  2. Choose the approval mode deliberately. Prepare for Review prepares a draft batch. Require Accountant Approval submits it for approval by someone other than its preparer. Post Automatically calls posting during preparation, including scheduled preparation.
  3. Select Prepare WIP Batch for the current date, or use the preparation wizard with an explicit cutoff. The same policy/cutoff opens its existing batch. Review eligible MOs, cumulative amounts, previous amounts and deltas. In 19.0 the native manufacturing WIP calculation supplies the material and operation totals; the labour split stays within that operation total.
  4. With the approval mode enabled, the second accountant selects Approve, then an authorised accountant selects Post WIP. Posting checks component reconciliation, a nonzero total, the manufacturing close date and overlapping native WIP entries at that cutoff. Inspect the linked posted journal entry.
  5. For periodic reversal, set a reversal date later than the cutoff. Posting creates and posts the reversal dated on that chosen date in the same workflow; it does not wait until that future date to create it. For incremental mode, Reverse creates the linked reversal when required.

The installed daily WIP job processes due non-manual policies. A separate daily job can reverse completion-enabled batches once every included MO is done or cancelled. Open cost snapshots have an hourly refresh job. Review policy frequency, next-run date and scheduled-action access before relying on these jobs.

Manufacturing close​

Create a company period under Manufacturing Close and select Analyze Close. Review missing standards/snapshots, unfinished MOs, unresolved blocking cost alerts, missing WIP and unreversed completion WIP. Open each source and resolve the underlying issue. An accountant may waive an exception with a recorded resolution note.

Closing and reopening also write the company's manufacturing close date. Have an administrator validate authorised company-write access for the operator; Manufacturing Cost Accountant alone does not grant it. After reviewing all blocking exceptions, that authorised accountant selects Mark Ready, then Close Period. Closed periods cannot overlap. The close date blocks this app's backdated cost activation and WIP posting/reversal; it does not replace all native accounting lock controls. Reopening also requires a reason in Close Notes.

PDF reports are available for Manufacturing Cost & Variance, WIP Reconciliation and Manufacturing Close Report.

Practice scenario and limitations​

In an authorised test database, fictional Cedar Assembly costs a product with two components and one work-centre operation. Calculate a standard, complete the separate approval/activation steps, and inspect an MO snapshot after recording consumption and completed work time. For an unfinished MO, prepare a review-only WIP batch and compare its native-derived totals before any posting. This source-derived scenario was not executed.

For a missing standard, check company, active status, product coverage and effective dates. For unexpected actual cost, inspect completed consumption, time logs, employee rates and source valuation. A snapshot cutoff is not a guarantee that every analytical category is reconstructed historically: the 19.0 scrap analysis uses completed scrap records at current standard cost without the same cutoff filter as material/time entries.

Use explicit review when native WIP or other accounting integrations already operate on the same MOs. Duplicate checks are specific to the inspected workflow and should not be treated as a universal reconciliation guarantee.

Qualified catalogue versions are 15.0, 16.0, 18.0, 19.0 and 20.0; 17.0 source exists without a qualified live-demo pair here. Version 15 uses hr_timesheet and employee timesheet cost; 16–19 use hr_hourly_cost; 20 uses hr. Versions 15–18 read stock valuation layers for material analysis, while 19–20 use move values. WIP calculation differs in 15–17 from the native WIP integration used in 18–20. Version 20 also changes scrap valuation/filtering, units and access definitions. Use the exact package; these comparisons are not runtime certification.

Live Test — Odoo 19.0 · Choose your exact Odoo version in the Corvus catalogue.

Related guide: Inventory Replenishment.