Finance team setting a budget and comparing actual results against the plan
Accounting

Quick answer: A budget is a financial or quantitative plan for a future period, and budgetary control is the process

Accountant comparing standard and actual cost bars, illustrating standard costing variances
Accounting

Quick answer: Standard costing sets a predetermined cost for each product, records the actual cost, and studies the difference, called

Accountant pointing to the break-even point on a cost and sales chart
Accounting

Quick answer: Marginal costing separates costs into fixed and variable and treats only variable cost as product cost. Cost-volume-profit analysis

Accountant comparing two ledgers with a balance scale
Accounting

Quick answer: Cost and financial accounts show different profits because some items appear in only one set of books (income

Bus and truck on a route map with a cost accountant calculating per-km cost, illustrating operating costing
Accounting

Quick answer: Operating costing finds the cost of a service, such as transport, hotels, hospitals or power supply, per unit

Raw material flowing through three process tanks while an accountant records costs
Accounting

Quick answer: Process costing is used where materials pass through several processes, such as chemicals, dairy or oil refining. Each

Contractor and client reviewing progress and payments at a construction site
Accounting

Quick answer: Contract costing finds the cost and profit of each long-term contract, such as building or civil engineering work.

Brick factory with a layered cost tower to cost per unit, illustrating unit costing
Accounting

Quick answer: Unit (output) costing finds the cost per unit when a business makes one identical product in a continuous

Payroll clerk with a time clock and wage envelopes, illustrating labour cost accounting
Accounting

Quick answer: Labour cost is the wages paid to workers who make the product. Key ideas are the types of

Storekeeper checking sorted stock bins with a reorder alert light
Accounting

Quick answer: Material costing controls how materials are bought, stored, issued and valued. Key tools are codification, bin cards and