Steven Nickolas is a writer and has 10+ years of experience working as a consultant to retail and institutional investors. Andy Smith is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), licensed realtor and ...

Investopedia contributors come from a range of backgrounds, and over 25 years there have been thousands of expert writers and editors who have contributed. Charlene Rhinehart is a CPA , CFE, chair of ...

In economics, fixed costs and variable costs are two separate components of total cost. Examining the two separately can be useful to demonstrate how much of a company's costs are tied to its level of ...

Budgets are important tools for helping companies analyze their costs and pinpoint ways to maximize their profits. Some companies follow static budgets, which remain constant regardless of sales ...

The high-low method is used in cost accounting to estimate fixed and variable costs based on a business's highest and lowest levels of activity. By focusing on these extremes, the high-low method ...

Direct costs and variable costs are similar in nature and are both types of costs involved in production. Direct costs are expenses that can be directly traced to a product, while variable costs vary ...

Every business owner should understand the cost of production. Whether you manufacture tires, bake cookies or wash windows for a living, you need to know your costs per unit to ensure you are charging ...

Knowing how much it costs to produce an acre of crops is more important than ever as farmers face ever-tightening margins.