Final answer:
Standard costs should be charged to operating departments instead of actual costs as they help in effective budgeting and controlling operations. They serve as benchmarks for evaluating performance.
Step-by-step explanation:
The standard costs instead of actual costs of a service should be charged to operating departments. The use of standard costs helps in budgeting and controlling the efficiency of operations. Standard costs are predetermined or estimated amounts that are often used for planning and control purposes in a business. They serve as targets or benchmarks and are used instead of actual costs to identify variances between actual performance and what should have occurred according to the standards. These variances can then be analyzed to aid in performance improvement.