Controlling Costs

Abstract

Any business must control all its costs if it wishes to remain competitive. A large business needs to control costs in total as well as the costs of particular departments or activities. It also needs to control the costs of particular products or services. A small business will probably not have separate departments until much later in its development. Its major problem will be controlling costs in total, as well as individual product costs. We have already noted that total costs comprise direct costs, indirect manufacturing costs and administrative costs (see Figure 11.1). The problem, then, is to value these costs and then to assign them to individual products.