Various Mehtods of Costing. Different industries follow different methods for ascertaining cost of their products.

The method to be adopted by business organisation will depend on the nature of the production and the type of out put. The following are the important methods of costing.

Job Costing: Job costing is concerned with the finding of the cost of each job or work order. This method is followed by these concerns when work is carried on by the customers request, such as printer general engineering work shop etc. under this system a job cost sheet is required to be prepared find out profit or losses for each job or work order. Contract Costing: Contract costing is applied for contract work like construction of dam building civil engineering contract etc. each contract or job is treated as separate cost unit for the cost ascertainment and control. Batch Costing: A batch is a group of identical products. Under batch costing a batch of similar products is treated as a separate unit for the purpose of ascertaining cost. The total costs of a batch is divided by the total number of units in a batch to arrive at the costs per unit. This type of costing is generally used in industries like bakery, toy manufacturing etc. Process Costing: This method is used in industries where production is carried on through different stages or processes before becoming a finished product. Costs are determined separately for each process. The main feature of process costing is that output of one process becomes the raw materials of another process until final product is obtained. This type of costing is generally used in industries like textile, chemical paper, oil refining etc. Service (Operating) Costing: This method is used in those industries which rendered services instead of producing goods. Under this method cost of providing a service is also determined. It is also called service costing. The organisation like water supply department, electricity department etc. are the examples of using operating costing. Operation Costing: This is suitable for industries where production is continuous and units are exactly identical to each other. This method is applied in industries like mines or drilling, cement works etc. Under this system cost sheet is prepared to find out cost per unit and profits or loss on production. Multiple Costing: It means combination of two or more of the above methods of costing. Where a product comprises many assembled parts or components (as in case of motor car) costs have to be ascertained for each component as well as for the finished product for different components, different methods of costing may be used. It is also known as composite costing. This type of costing is applicable to industries producing motor vehicle, aeroplane radio, T.V. etc.

Classification of costs
Classification of cost means, the grouping of costs according to their common characteristics. The important ways of classification of costs are:

By nature or element: materials, labor, expenses By functions: production, selling, distribution, administration, R&D, development, By traceability: direct and indirect By variability: fixed, variable, semi-variable By controllability: controllable, uncontrollable By normality: normal, abnormal