Cost Management: The process of planning, controlling, and monitoring costs within an organization.

Fixed Costs: Costs that remain constant regardless of the level of production or sales.

Variable Costs: Costs that fluctuate in direct proportion to changes in production or sales.

Direct Costs: Expenses directly attributed to a specific product, service, or project.

Indirect Costs: Costs not directly tied to a particular product or service, often incurred at the organizational level.

Overhead Costs: Indirect costs associated with running the day-to-day operations of a business.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): The direct costs associated with producing or purchasing goods sold by a company.

Marginal Cost: The additional cost incurred by producing one more unit of a product.

Sunk Costs: Costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered.

Opportunity Cost: The potential value lost when one alternative is chosen over another.

Life Cycle Costing: Calculating the total cost of owning and operating a product throughout its life cycle.

Activity-Based Costing (ABC): Assigning costs to activities based on their consumption of resources.

Break-even Point: The level of sales or production at which total revenues equal total costs.

Economies of Scale: Cost advantages achieved when production increases, resulting in lower average costs.

Cost Control: The process of managing and reducing costs to achieve budgetary targets.

Cost Reduction: Intentional efforts to decrease the overall expenses of a business.

Lean Management: A methodology focused on eliminating waste and improving efficiency.

Cost Allocation: Distributing indirect costs to specific cost centers or products.

Cost Estimation: Predicting the expenses associated with a project, product, or service.

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA): Evaluating the benefits of an action or decision compared to its costs.

Standard Costing: Establishing predetermined costs for products or services and comparing them to actual costs.

Variance Analysis: Examining the differences between planned and actual costs.

Cost Driver: A factor that causes a change in the cost of an activity or process.

Target Costing: Determining the desired profit margin and setting a target cost based on market conditions.

Cost of Quality (COQ): The total cost incurred by a company to ensure the quality of its products or services.