In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. In this case, money is the input that is gone in order to acquire the thing. This acquisition cost may be the sum of the cost of production as incurred by the original producer, and further costs of transaction as incurred by the acquirer over and above the price paid to the producer. Usually, the price also includes a mark-up for profit over the cost of production.
More generalized in the field of economics, cost is a metric that is totaling up as a result of a process or as a differential for the result of a decision. Hence cost is the metric used in the standard modeling paradigm applied to economic processes.
Costs (pl.) are often further described based on their timing or their applicability.
Read more about Cost: Types of Accounting Costs, Comparing Private, External, Social, and Psychic Costs, Cost Estimation, Path Cost, Manufacturing Costs VS. Non-manufacturing Costs
Other articles related to "cost, costs":
... It is estimated that the basic cost of the car, without registration or tax, will be around five million Danish kroner, which is approximately $850,000 US dollars ... The cost of putting the car on the road in Denmark would be around 16 million kroner as a result of registration expenses, but Zenvo is aiming at the export market alone ...
... tax systems allow a tax deduction for recovery of the cost of assets used in a business or for the production of income ... Where the assets are consumed currently, the cost may be deducted currently as an expense or treated as part of cost of goods sold ... The cost of assets not currently consumed generally must be deferred and recovered over time, such as through depreciation ...
... Cost of Barber School—Many states require a barber license in order to practice barbering professionally ... The cost of barber school varies from state to state, and also from metro area to metro area ... Schools in larger metropolitan areas tend to cost more than those located in more rural towns ...
... medium sized country towns in Australia have benefited from the cost-effective approach of using low powered FM transmitters ... The setup cost is achievable for most communities ... The ongoing cost is minimal due to low maintenance equipment with low power consumption - some stations in remote areas even use solar power ...
... Each time cumulative volume doubles, value added costs (including administration, marketing, distribution, and manufacturing) fall by a constant percentage ... A curve showing a 15% cost reduction for every doubling of output is called an “85% experience curve”, indicating that unit costs drop to 85% of their original level ... by a power law function sometimes referred to as Henderson's Law where is the cost of the first unit of production is the cost of the nth unit of production is the cumulative volume of ...
Famous quotes containing the word cost:
“Mining today is an affair of mathematics, of finance, of the latest in engineering skill. Cautious men behind polished desks in San Francisco figure out in advance the amount of metal to a cubic yard, the number of yards washed a day, the cost of each operation. They have no need of grubstakes.”
—Merle Colby, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Now that is the wisdom of a man, in every instance of his labor, to hitch his wagon to a star, and see his chore done by the gods themselves. That is the way we are strong, by borrowing the might of the elements. The forces of steam, gravity, galvanism, light, magnets, wind, fire, serve us day by day and cost us nothing.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)