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":
... 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 ...
... 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 ...
... Many small to 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 ... produced on the horizontal axis and unit cost on the vertical axis ... 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 ...
... 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 ... 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 ...
Famous quotes containing the word cost:
“This people must cease to hold slaves, and to make war on Mexico, though it cost them their existence as a people.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Each is under the most sacred obligation not to squander the material committed to him, not to sap his strength in folly and vice, and to see at the least that he delivers a product worthy the labor and cost which have been expended on him.”
—Anna Julia Cooper (1859–1964)
“Oh high is the price of parenthood,
And daughters may cost you double.
You dare not forget, as you thought you could,
That youth is a plague and a trouble.”
—Phyllis McGinley (20th century)