Methodological aspects of cost accounting and calculation of the cost of it services

Abstract

The article examines the essence of the concept of «IT-service» and provides a critical assessment of the state of regulatory regulation of the costing of services. It is found that the insufficiency of regulatory regulation and the lack of theoretical research on the choice of an organizational and methodological model of costing information products and services in practice encourage adaptation of the general costing methodology without taking into account the peculiarities of the technology of providing IT-services (production of IT-products), which reduces the reliability of costing calculations and does not contribute to the adoption of effective management decisions. Therefore, based on the study of scientific works, the significant differences inherent in IT-services were defined and systematized, and the specific features of IT-services and their provision technologies were determined. It has been proven that the established features of IT-services have a significant impact on the organization and methodology of cost accounting for the provision of IT-services. It was concluded that the most adequate to the nature of IT-services and the features of the technology of their provision is the non-contract (project) method of accounting with the detailing of production costs by customers, IT-projects and types of information services. Taking into account the requirements of the current regulatory framework and the technological features of the provision of IT-services, the composition of cost items for the implementation of IT-projects has been identified, which will contribute to streamlining the accounting of costs and calculating the cost of IT-services. In order to take into account the peculiarities of the provision of IT-services, the ratio of cost accounting objects and calculation objects is proposed, and calculation units are differentiated depending on the type of IT -services. Taking into account the insignificant amount of indirect costs for the provision of information services, a traditional approach to their distribution using a single basis – the working time of programmers – is proposed. An organizational and methodological model of project costing of IT-services is proposed. The practical application of the given proposals will ensure the complete inclusion of costs in the cost of IT-services, the reliability of cost calculations, and the improvement of the quality of management decision-making.