When scrap tickets arrive after month-end
Late scrap coding turns a clean material usage variance into a mystery. Here is how we timeline tickets against the ledger close.
A plant can run a tidy scrap cage and still wreck its material usage variance if tickets hit the ledger after the month closes. We see this most often on night shifts and weekend overtime, when the stores clerk who owns the code list is off the floor.
What the ledger shows
Usage variance spikes in the closed month. The following month shows an unexplained credit or a scrap expense that does not match production volume. Finance argues the BOM; operations argues the close calendar.
What we check on site
- Ticket date versus posting date for a sample of high-value materials
- Who is authorised to code scrap on each shift
- Whether rework returns are coded as scrap, receipt, or silent floor stock
A workable control
Agree a scrap cut-off time with finance — for example, tickets for Saturday production must be coded by Monday noon, or they carry a visible “late” flag in the variance pack. The flag does not fix the accounting; it stops the argument about whether the BOM failed.
If your month-end variance keeps sliding into the next period, ask us to sample your scrap trail.