Costing involves identifying, measuring, and analyzing costs associated with a product or service. The main types of costs involved are:
1. **Direct Costs**: Costs that can be directly traced to a specific product (e.g., raw materials, labor).
2. **Indirect Costs**: Costs that cannot be directly traced to a single product (e.g., utilities, rent).
3. **Fixed Costs**: Costs that remain constant regardless of production levels (e.g., salaries, lease payments).
4. **Variable Costs**: Costs that vary with production volume (e.g., materials, direct labor).
5. **Semi-Variable Costs**: Costs that have both fixed and variable components (e.g., utility bills with a base charge plus usage).
6. **Opportunity Costs**: The cost of forgoing the next best alternative when making a decision.
To perform costing, gather data on these costs, categorize them, and apply costing methods like job costing, process costing, or activity-based