1.3.3

Business Revenues & Costs

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Revenue

Revenue is the income earned by a business from the sale of its goods and services.

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Revenue

  • Revenue = number of sales x sales price.
    • E.g. if a stationary store sells 500 pens for £2 each, then the revenue is £1000 (500 x £2).

Costs

Costs are all of the expenses that a business incurs (pays). This involves everything from wages paid to employees to the electricity bills at the business’ premises. The total costs are calculated as the sum of the fixed costs and the variable costs.

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Fixed costs

  • Fixed costs don't vary as the company changes its output.
    • So whether a company produces 10,000 units of a product or 2 units of a product, its fixed costs will be the same.
    • Snapchat registering as a business would cost the same regardless of how many adverts they sold or how many users they had.
    • Examples include office rent, insurance, and fixed employee salaries.
  • Note that fixed costs can increase as the company grows.
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Variable costs

  • Variable costs are the costs that change directly with output (they change as a company changes output).
  • Examples include the wages paid for factory labour, raw materials and transport costs.

Jump to other topics

1Enterprise & Entrepreneurship

1.1The Dynamic Nature of Businesses

1.2Spotting a Business Opportunity

1.3Putting a Business Idea into Practice

1.4Making the Business Effective

1.5Business Stakeholders

2Building a Business

2.1Growing the Business

2.2Making Marketing Decisions

2.3Making Operational Decisions

2.4Making Financial Decisions

2.5Making Human Resource Decisions

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