La formulación empírica de costos puede dar respuestas a las urgencias de información en materia de costos y sirve de sustento circunstancial a las decisiones gerenciales, sin embargo, esto no significa que se dispone de los medios idóneos para determinar de forma lógica y efectiva los resultados de los mataderos y frigoríficos industriales. En la industria cárnica, las alternativas de dirección de la producción deben estudiarse diariamente, por lo que es imprescindible definir un sistema de acumulación de costos que refleje su ciclo operativo completo. Por tanto, el propósito de esta investigación es presentar los lineamientos de un sistema de acumulación de costos para las empresas del sector agroindustrial frigorífico, que les permita el costeo adecuado de sus productos y, a su vez, la adopción de decisiones más informadas y acertadas. Las técnicas de recolección de datos utilizadas fueron la observación directa, la observación documental y las entrevistas no estructuradas aplicadas a los jefes de producción y contabilidad de los Frigoríficos Industriales del Estado Mérida (Venezuela). Los resultados evidencian que los registros contables tradicionales poco satisfacen las exigencias informativas que plantea el mercado dinámico del sector agroindustrial frigorífico. Se concluye, que el sistema de acumulación de costos por procesos con la aplicación de métodos de asignación de costos conjuntos basados en los precios de mercado es el apropiado para las empresas de este tipo de industria.

 The empirical costs formulation can provide answers to the urgencies of information on costs and serves as circumstantial support to management decisions, however, this does not mean that you have the appropriate means to determine logical and effective results on slaughterhouses and industrial refrigerators. In the meat industry, alternatives of production management should be studied daily, so it is essential to define a cost accumulation system that reflects its full operating cycle. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to present the outlines of a cost accumulation system for the refrigeration agribusinesses sector, allowing them proper costing of their products and, in turn, get more informed and accurate decision-making. The data collection techniques used were direct observation, documentary observation and not structured interviews applied to accounting and production managers from the industrial refrigeration sector from the state of Merida (Venezuela). The results show that traditional accounting records little satisfy the information requirements posed by the refrigeration agribusiness sector dynamic market. It is concluded that the per process costs accumulation system with the joint costs allocation method application based on market prices is appropriate for companies in this field of industry.  The empirical costs formulation can provide answers to the urgencies of information on costs and serves as circumstantial support to management decisions, however, this does not mean that you have the appropriate means to determine logical and effective results on slaughterhouses and industrial refrigerators. In the meat industry, alternatives of production management should be studied daily, so it is essential to define a cost accumulation system that reflects its full operating cycle. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to present the outlines of a cost accumulation system for the refrigeration agribusinesses sector, allowing them proper costing of their products and, in turn, get more informed and accurate decision-making. The data collection techniques used were direct observation, documentary observation and not structured interviews applied to accounting and production managers from the industrial refrigeration sector from the state of Merida (Venezuela). The results show that traditional accounting records little satisfy the information requirements posed by the refrigeration agribusiness sector dynamic market. It is concluded that the per process costs accumulation system with the joint costs allocation method application based on market prices is appropriate for companies in this field of industry.