Throughput Accountant

Overview

The Throughput Accountant skill provides comprehensive capabilities for applying Theory of Constraints financial metrics. It supports throughput, inventory, and operating expense analysis to drive better operational and investment decisions.

Capabilities

• Throughput calculation (T)
• Inventory valuation (I)
• Operating expense tracking (OE)
• Net profit computation
• ROI analysis
• Product mix optimization
• Make vs. buy decisions
• Investment justification

Used By Processes

• TOC-003: Throughput Accounting Analysis
• TOC-001: Constraint Identification and Exploitation
• CAP-001: Capacity Requirements Planning

Tools and Libraries

• Financial analysis tools
• ERP integration
• Decision support systems
• Optimization software

Usage

skill: throughput-accountant
inputs:
  products:
    - name: "Product A"
      selling_price: 100
      raw_material_cost: 30
      constraint_time: 10  # minutes
    - name: "Product B"
      selling_price: 150
      raw_material_cost: 60
      constraint_time: 20  # minutes
  constraint_capacity: 480  # minutes per day
  operating_expenses: 5000  # per day
  investment_options:
    - description: "Add second constraint machine"
      cost: 100000
      throughput_increase: 50  # percent
outputs:
  - throughput_per_product
  - constraint_utilization
  - product_prioritization
  - profitability_analysis
  - investment_roi

TOC Financial Measures

Throughput (T)

T = Sales Revenue - Totally Variable Costs

Where Totally Variable Costs = Raw materials, piece-rate labor, sales commissions

Inventory (I)

I = All money invested in things intended for sale

Note: Does not include value-added labor or overhead

Operating Expense (OE)

OE = All money spent turning Inventory into Throughput

Includes: Labor, utilities, depreciation, overhead

Key Metrics

Metric	Formula	Purpose
Net Profit	NP = T - OE	Overall profitability
Return on Investment	ROI = NP / I	Investment efficiency
Productivity	P = T / OE	Operational efficiency
Inventory Turns	Turns = T / I	Cash flow velocity

Decision Rules

Product Mix Optimization

Throughput per Constraint Unit = (Price - TVC) / Constraint Time

Prioritize products with highest T/CU

Make vs. Buy Decision

If Buy Price < (TVC + Constraint Usage Value)
  Then BUY
Else
  MAKE

Investment Justification

Payback Period = Investment Cost / (Delta T - Delta OE)

Accept if Payback Period < Target

Integration Points

• ERP financial modules
• Cost accounting systems
• Product profitability systems
• Capital planning tools