Cost accounting is gradually formed and perfected with the development of commodity economy. The earliest cost accounting originated in Britain, and was later introduced to the United States and other countries.

In order to meet the needs of management, British accountants studied the cost. At first, they used off-balance-sheet statistics to calculate the cost. At this point, cost accounting is in the primary stage. Then, in order to improve the accuracy of cost calculation and meet the needs of enterprises for cost information, cost accounting is formed by combining cost accounting with double-entry bookkeeping.

Because the cost accounting at that time was limited to systematically collecting and calculating the production consumption in the production process to determine the product cost and sales cost, it was also a record-based cost accounting.

Development of cost accounting;

I. Pre-cost accounting stage (1880 to 1920)

1, and established the material accounting and management methods.

2. Establish working hours records and labor cost calculation methods.

3. The allocation method of indirect costs is established.

4. Calculate the product cost through batch cost calculation and step-by-step cost calculation.

5. Specialized cost accounting organizations have emerged.

Second, the modern cost accounting stage (192 1 year to 1945)

1, implement the standard cost system.

2, the improvement of the budget system.

3. The application scope of cost accounting is wider.

Third, the modern cost accounting stage (after 1946)

1. Make cost forecast and decision.

2. Implement target cost management.

3. Implementation of responsibility cost.

4. Implementation quality cost.

5, the implementation of activity-based cost management.

The task of cost accounting

1. Calculate the product cost correctly and provide cost information in time: only the cost data is correct and reliable can meet the needs of management. Timely preparation of various cost statements can make the relevant personnel of enterprises know the changes of costs in time, and serve as important reference materials for making sales prices and making cost decisions.

2. Optimize cost decision and establish target cost: To optimize cost decision, we need to collect and sort out all kinds of cost information on the basis of scientific cost prediction, and take various measures to reduce costs under realistic and possible conditions. In order to optimize the cost decision-making, it is necessary to enhance the cost awareness of employees and improve the economic benefits of enterprises.