The portion of a firm or industry's cost that changes with output, in contrast to fixed cost.
Any expense, which varies directly with production, revenue, or other measurement of business volume. The variable costs of book production include the expense of paper, ink, and binding. The fixed costs include rent, heat, electricity, and maintenance expense for the printing plant and binding department, In contrast to variable costs, fixed costs are relatively firm or unchanging in amount and are incurred regardless of the level of volume or income. See also BREAK-EVEN POINT; DIRECT COSTS; FIXED COSTS; UNIT COST
A cost that varies in relation to the level of operational activity.
Cost that changes in direct proportion to the number of units made.
The total cost of operating a machine ($/unit) attributable to actual work, such as fuel, track wear, etc. Back to Glossary Index
Any costs which change significantly with the level of output. The obvious example is cost of materials.
Those components of total farm costs that are variable in the sense of changing according to the scale of the activity or enterprise in which they are incurred. They may be in the form of either direct costs or indirect costs.
Operating costs which, in the aggregate, vary either directly or indirectly in relation to any change in the volume of gas sold and/or transported; i.e., compressor station fuel and expenses. See FIXED COST.
Any costs, which change significantly with the level of output. For example, the cost of materials.
any costs that change significantly with the level of output eg. cost of materials.
a cost that is only met when you produce a new item
A cost that varies with the level of output.
Business expense that varies in proportion to the amount of products sold or created.
Any costs that vary with the level of production. For example, materials directly used to produce a product are variable costs. The more product produced, the more materials needed to produce the product.
Operating costs that vary as production increases. E.g., electricity for machines increases in relation to the output of the machine (in units).
The total costs incurred to produce energy, excluding fixed costs which are incurred regardless of whether the resource is operating. Variable costs usually include fuel, maintenance and labor.
A cost that changes proportionally with the level of production and sales (i.e. materials, labor).
Costs that fluctuate in direct proportion to the volume of units produced.
Costs that vary directly with the level of activity within a short time. Examples include costs of moving cargo inland on trains or trucks, stevedoring in some ports, and short-term equipment leases. For business analysis, all costs are either defined as variable or fixed. For a business to break even, all fixed costs must be covered. To make a profit, all variable and fixed costs must be recovered plus some extra amount.
a cost that changes as sales or production change. If a business is producing nothing and selling nothing, the variable cost should be zero. However, there will probably be fixed costs.
The total cost per period of time of the variable inputs.
A cost that fluctuates with the volume or activity level of business.
a cost of production that is directly proportional to the number of units produced
A cost that changes with the production quantity or the performance of services. This contrasts with fixed costs that do not change with production quantity or services performed.
A cost that varies with changes in the quantity of output produced when other factors are held constant. The cost of material handling to an activity, for example, varies according to the number of material deliveries and pickups to and from that activity.
A cost that varies directly with sales, such as raw materials, labor and sales commissions.
A business cost that changes in direct response to changes in the level of operating activity. Contrast with fixed cost.
unit cost which depends on total volume. See Also fixed cost, break-even analysis
a cost of production that changes when there is a change in the amount produced. Variable costs in the printing process include paper and ink.
A cost or expense that increases in total as volume or an activity increases. (Or decreases in total as volume or an activity decreases.) For example, if a company pays a sales commission on all of its sales, commission expense is a variable expense. The cost of gasoline is a variable cost in relationship to vehicle miles driven. To Top
the cost associated with using variable inputs, which rises with the quantity of output
Cost that varies with sales volume.
A cost that is directly proportional to the volume of output produced. When production is zero, the variable cost is equal to zero.
A cost element that varies directly with the amount of product or service produced by an activity or cost. Variable costs go to zero if the activity stops.
A cost that changes in proportion to a change in a company's activity or business.
An operating cost that varies directly with a change of one unit in the production volume, e.g., direct materials consumed, sales commissions.
Variable costs are expenses that change in proportion to the activity of a business. Along with fixed costs, variable costs make up the two components of total cost. Direct Costs, however, are costs that can be associated with a particular cost object.