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Cost Allocation and Overhead Recovery Methods

Deciding how shared costs and overheads are spread across products, departments and cost centres shapes pricing, performance measurement and internal accountability. This course gives finance staff practical methods for allocating indirect costs fairly and recovering overheads accurately. Participants work through allocation bases, service department charging and the political challenges of dividing shared costs across a business.

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What you will be able to do

  • Distinguish direct costs from indirect and shared overhead costs.
  • Select appropriate allocation bases for different cost pools.
  • Apply step down and reciprocal methods for service department costs.
  • Calculate overhead recovery rates for products and services.
  • Assess how allocation choices affect pricing and profitability reporting.
  • Communicate and defend allocation decisions to affected departments.

Course outline

  1. 01Direct, Indirect and Shared Costs
  2. 02Choosing Fair Allocation Bases
  3. 03Service Department Cost Allocation
  4. 04Overhead Absorption and Recovery Rates
  5. 05Under and Over Recovery of Overheads
  6. 06Impact of Allocation on Pricing and Profit
  7. 07Managing the Politics of Cost Sharing
  8. 08Documenting an Allocation Policy

Who should attend

Management accountants, cost accountants, finance analysts and departmental managers who allocate or are charged shared costs and overheads.

Dates, venues and fees

DatesVenueDaysFeeCalendarRegister
8 to 9 Oct 2026Johannesburg2R10,000Register
12 to 13 Oct 2026Cape Town2R10,000Register
13 to 14 Oct 2026Durban2R10,000Register
14 to 15 Oct 2026Pretoria2R10,000Register
15 to 16 Oct 2026Windhoek2US$1,100Register
19 to 20 Oct 2026Gaborone2US$1,100Register
20 to 21 Oct 2026Maseru2US$1,100Register
21 to 22 Oct 2026Mbabane2US$1,100Register
22 to 23 Oct 2026Lusaka2US$1,100Register
26 to 27 Oct 2026Harare2US$1,100Register
27 to 28 Oct 2026Lilongwe2US$1,100Register
28 to 29 Oct 2026Blantyre2US$1,100Register
29 to 30 Oct 2026Mozambique2US$1,100Register
2 to 3 Nov 2026Nairobi2US$1,100Register
3 to 4 Nov 2026Dar es Salaam2US$1,100Register
4 to 5 Nov 2026Kigali2US$1,100Register
5 to 6 Nov 2026Kampala2US$1,100Register
9 to 10 Nov 2026Accra2US$1,100Register
10 to 11 Nov 2026Lagos2US$1,100Register
11 to 12 Nov 2026Cairo2US$1,100Register
12 to 13 Nov 2026Mauritius2US$1,100Register
16 to 17 Nov 2026Dubai2US$1,100Register
17 to 18 Nov 2026Online2US$900Register

Fees are per delegate. South African venues are priced in rand; other locations and online in US dollars. Fees exclude 15% VAT where applicable. Group bookings of three or more delegates from the same organisation qualify for a reduced rate; contact us for a quotation.

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