Which center is most likely to be responsible for costs revenues and investments in assets?

Meaning Of Responsibility Centre

A responsibility center is an operational unit or entity within an organization, that is responsible for all the activities and tasks structured for that unit. These centers have their own goal, staffs, objectives, policies and procedures, and financial reports. And are used to balance responsibilities related to expenses incurred, revenue generated, and funds invested to an individual.

In a multinational or large corporation, the organization tasks are divided into a subtask, and each task is given to various small division or groups. In this context, all groups in that organization are responsibility centers.

Related links: What is a responsibility accounting?

Types of Responsibility Centre:

  • Cost Centre- A Cost Centre is a department or a unit which supervises, allocates, segregates, and eliminates all sorts of the cost related to a company. The cost center prime work is to check the cost of an organization and to limit the unwanted expenditure the company may acquire. The cost can be the determination of both person and location. In multinational companies, the cost center is authorized to decrease and manage the cost.
  • Revenue Centre- This center is accountable for initiating and monitoring revenue. The management does not have any control over the cost or investment but can monitor a few of the expenses in the marketing section. The production of the revenue center is calculated by analyzing the budgeted revenue with actual revenue and actual marketing expenses with budgeted marketing expenses.
  • Profit Centre-It is a division or department of a company which operates for the calculation of profit. In an organization, different profit centers are managed by the managers, who identifies profits on the basis of costs and incomes. Profit Centre is accountable for all the actions associated with the sales of goods and production.
  • Investment Centre- This center is responsible for both investments and revenue. The investment manager can control expenses, income, the fund invested in assets, etc. He also has the authority to form a credit policy, which has an immediate impact on debt collection.

Also add: What are the functions of management?

The above mentioned is the concept, that is elucidated in detail about ‘Responsibility Centre’ for the Commerce students. To know more, stay tuned to BYJU’S.

Do You Know?

Q1. What is the 4 Ps of Marketing MIx?

Answer: The 4 Ps of Marketing Mix are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion

Q2. Who is known as the father of modern management theory?

Answer: Henry Fayol is the father of modern management theory

What are Responsibility Centers?

Responsibility centers are categorized depending on the level of control over revenues, costs, or investments. 

Responsibility centers can be based on such attributes as sales regions, product lines, or services offered. 

The purpose of establishing responsibility centers within organizations is to hold managers responsible for only the assets, revenues, and costs they can control. 

The level of control a manager has over a segment’s assets, revenues, and costs will help determine the type of responsibility center used for each manager.

What is a Cost Center?

A cost center is an organizational segment that is responsible for costs, but not revenue or investments in assets. 

Service departments, such as accounting, marketing, computer support, and human resources, are cost centers. 

Managers of these departments are evaluated based on providing a certain level of services for the company at a reasonable cost.

Production departments within a manufacturing firm are also treated as cost centers. 

Production managers are evaluated based on meeting cost budgets for producing a certain level of goods. 

What is a Profit Center?

A profit center is an organizational segment that is responsible for costs and revenues (and therefore, profit), but not investments in assets. 

Managers of profit centers are responsible for revenues, costs, and resulting profits. 

Profit center determination must be made on a case-by-case basis, and it depends on the level of responsibility assigned to the store manager.

Methods of performance evaluation for profit centers vary. 

Some organizations compare actual profit to budgeted profit. Others compare one profit center to another. 

Also, some organizations use segmented income statement ratios, such as gross margin or operating profit, to compare current profit center performance to prior periods and to other profit centers. 

What is an Investment Center?

An investment center is an organizational segment that is responsible for costs, revenues, and investments in assets. 

Investment center managers have control over asset investment decisions. 

In many cases, investment centers are treated as stand-alone businesses. 

Several measures can be used to evaluate the performance of investment center managers, including segmented net income, ROI, RI, and economic value added (EVA). 

Related Topics

  • Job Costing vs Process Costing
  • Assign Direct Material and Direct Labor to Job
  • Assign Manufacturing Overhead Costs to Job
  • Assign Overhead Costs to Products
  • Plantwide Cost Allocation
  • Department Cost Allocation
  • Activity-Based Costing
  • Weighted-Average Cost of Products
  • Production Cost Report
  • Fixed, Variable, and Mixed Cost Estimations
  • Contribution Margin Income Statement
  • Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis
  • Margin of Safety
  • Contribution Margin per Unit of Constraint
  • Absorption Costing vs Variable Costing
  • Differential Analysis and Decisions
  • Cost Decisions for Joint Products
  • Capital Budgeting
  • Life Cycle Costing
  • The Master Budget
  • Activity-Based Budgeting
  • Standard Costs
  • Imputed Value
  • Variance Analysis for Product Costs
  • Absorption Pricing
  • Price Variance
  • Absorption Variance 
  • Responsibility Centers
  • Comparing Segmented Income
  • Using ROI to Evaluate Performance
  • Using Residual Income to Evaluate Performance
  • Use Economic Value Added to Evaluate Performance
  • Transfer Pricing

Other Related Topics

  • Theory of the Firm
  • Capital Formation
  • Rent Seeking
  • Structure Conduct Performance Model
  • Co-Insurance Effect
  • Conglomerates
  • Cost vs Profit Center
  • Accelerator Theory

What are profit centers responsible for?

A profit center is a branch or division of a company that directly adds or is expected to add to the entire organization's bottom line. It is treated as a separate, standalone business, responsible for generating its revenues and earnings.

Which responsibility center generates revenue and cost?

A profit center is an organizational segment in which a manager is responsible for both revenues and costs (such as a Starbucks store location).

What is cost center profit center and investment center?

The Investment Center takes care of Revenues, Cost and Assets, while a Profit Center deals with revenues and costs and Cost Centers with costs only. This is a clear sign of how the span of control and span of accountability grow from Cost Centers to Investment ones.

Which responsibility center is held responsible for the use of assets as well as profits?

The correct option is Investment center. It is an investment center which is one of the divisions of responsibility centers of an organization held accountable for managing and making the use of assets and capital in such an attractive way, through which an organization can generate higher revenues or incomes.