On 16/11/2011 10:22 PM, Stephen wrote:
> On 16/11/2011 9:56 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> I'm surprised too. The only thing I can think of is that if you sell a
>> widget, that *obviously* goes to the widget profit center. But if you
>> have to buy 10 more PCs, does that go to the admin office cost center?
>> Or does it go to the IT cost center? Or perhaps it goes to the project
>> planning cost center, because it was them that wanted more admin staff?
>> Or...
>
> If the PCs are bought on a project the costs will be credited to the
> project. (To make things even more transparent financial bods view
> things from a banks point of view. So when you pay out from a cost
> centre or WBS that is a credit and pay in is debiting.) As long as you
> are within budget all is well. If the purchasing department buys the PCs
> they will charge the IT department who in turn will charge the Admin
> department the cost of the PCs plus labour and maybe an overhead. It is
> simple if your mind is wired like an accountant.

Except that it seems to have a lot more scope for people to argue over 
who gets to actually pay for stuff. Which would perhaps be why I've 
heard plenty of people argue about cost centers, but I've never ever 
heard anybody use the phrase "profit center".

Alternatively, maybe my employer just doesn't *have* any profit centers? :-P

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