PR - A COMPARISON OF STANDARD COSTS AND ACTUAL COSTS FOR SWISS CROP ENTERPRISES BASED ON FULL COSTING

Abstract:

This paper derives actual costs (AC) for five crop enterprises on a full costing base from the Swiss Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and compares them with standard costs (SC) from farm management literature representing target costs. For wheat, barley and oilseeds, total AC are around 10% lower than total SC whereas the cost structure is similar. The substantial differences in cost structures for sugar beet and potatoes seem to be related to changes in the production technology. The AC of land and other joint costs are generally lower than the corresponding SC. Except for sugar beet, labor input is larger in the AC than SC indicating that labor could be used more efficiently. As a core conclusion, the revealed differences between the two cost types point to the necessity of regular comparisons between AC and SC as a precondition to provide adequate SC.

Key words: costing type, arable crop, crop enterprise, Switzerland, FADN