Every business leader should probably have at least a rudimentary understanding of accounting. It’s not about becoming an accountant; it’s just about knowing enough not to get fooled or fool yourself.

Allocating direct costs to production is pretty straightforward -- you know what the materials and direct labor costs. The hard part is determining the amount of overhead to allocate to finished goods ...

Activity-based costing is an improved method for allocating overhead costs. Instead of using one factor for cost allocation, this new method focuses on different aspects of the production process and ...

Overhead allocation in construction is a way to share costs across multiple jobs. Why on earth would you do that? Simple: these are the costs your projects share responsibility for anyway — they’re ...

We lost a little bit, but the job still made money.” As a construction business owner, you know that “making money” at the project level does not necessarily equate to a profit on the project after ...

There are many costs associated with running a business, but all of those costs don’t fall into the same bucket. One type is overhead costs, which are expenses not tied directly to the production of a ...

Daniel Liberto is a journalist with over 10 years of experience working with publications such as the Financial Times, The Independent, and Investors Chronicle. Stella Osoba is the Senior Editor of ...

Suzanne is a content marketer, writer, and fact-checker. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance degree from Bridgewater State University and helps develop content strategies. Investopedia / Paige ...

Overhead rate is a measure of a company's indirect costs relative to another input or metric. Learn how overhead rate is calculated and why it's important to track. Overhead rate is a ratio of a ...

Welcome back to the Cost Corner, where we provide practical insight into the complex cost and pricing requirements that apply to Government contractors. This is the second article in a multi-part ...