In: Accounting
There are 2 methods of tracing costs of products and services. Name and describe them.
Two methods of tracing costs of products and services are Product Cost and Period Cost
1) Product Cost; Product cost is that cost
which is attributable to product and is a part of cost of
manufacturing and therefore can be regarded as inventory value
cost. Product cost is based on volume and therefore s also called
as variable cost as it changes with the change in the number of
units manufactured. Example of product cost is direct labor cost,
raw material cost etc.
2) Period Cost; period cost is opposite to product
cost and therefore it is not related to cost of product and thus is
not included as a part of inventory value. Period cost is based on
time period cost and therefore is incurred for a particular period
of time therefore it is a fixed cost. selling expenses incurred is
an example of period cost as it does not change with the change in
units manufactured
Thus in order to obtain true and fair view of cost of goods manufactured and profit and loss of the company it is necessary to differentiate between product and period cost.