Q.As per the time-keeping records, a worker was present in the factory for 48 hours during a week. The job cards (time-booking records) show only 44 hours booked against production jobs. Of the 4 hours not booked to any job, 2 hours were lost due to a machine breakdown and 2 hours were the normal time lost in tea breaks and machine-setting between jobs. The worker's wage rate is ₹50 per hour. Compute the total idle time, classify it as normal or abnormal, and state its cost treatment.

The gap between time kept (48 hrs) and time booked (44 hrs) is total idle time; it must then be split by CAUSE into normal and abnormal portions.

Step 1 — Compute Total Idle Time:

Total Idle Time = Time Kept − Time Booked = 48 hours − 44 hours = 4 hours.

Step 2 — Classify the 4 hours by cause:

• 2 hours lost to a machine breakdown → this is an avoidable, abnormal event → Abnormal Idle Time.
• 2 hours lost to tea breaks and machine-setting time between jobs → this is inherent to normal factory operation, unavoidable → Normal Idle Time.

Step 3 — Cost each category at the wage rate of ₹50/hour:

• Normal Idle Time cost = 2 hours × ₹50 = ₹100
• Abnormal Idle Time cost = 2 hours × ₹50 = ₹100

Step 4 — Treatment:

• The ₹100 of Normal Idle Time cost is absorbed as Factory Overhead (a routine cost of running the factory). …

A frequent error is stopping at 'Total Idle Time = 4 hours' without going on to split it by cause into normal and abnormal — the classification step is exactly what the syllabus tests, since the two portions are treated completely differently in the cost accounts. Another error is costing the abnor …