Materials requirements in process costing

Materials can be required at any moment of production process. In general, some direct material  should be introduced at the beginning of a production process or there would be no requirement for labor or overhead to be incurred. 

 

For example, to make its various products, XYX Co. dispenses wax at the beginning of a process. Any material added at the beginning of production is 100 percent complete throughout the process regardless of the percentage of completion of labor and overhead.

Most production processes require multiple direct materials. Additional materials may be added at any point or even continuously during processing. A material, such as a box, may even be added at the end of processing. During the production process, the product is 0 percent complete as to the box although other materials may be complete and some labor and overhead may have been incurred.