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 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 adecision.[1] 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.
Contents
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1 Types of accounting costs

2 Comparing private, external, and social costs

3 Cost estimation

4 Manufacturing Costs vs. Non-manufacturing Costs

5 Other costs

6 See also

7 References

8 Further reading

Types of accounting costs[edit]

Main articles: accounting cost, opportunity cost, historical cost, marginal cost, sunk
cost and transaction cost
In accounting, costs are the monetary value of expenditures for supplies, services, labor, products,
equipment and other items purchased for use by a business or other accounting entity. It is the

amount denoted on invoices as the price and recorded in bookkeeping records as an expense or
asset cost basis.
Opportunity cost, also referred to as economic cost is the value of the best alternative that was not
chosen in order to pursue the current endeavori.e., what could have been accomplished with the
resources expended in the undertaking. It represents opportunities forgone.