3.2.1
Costs & Revenues
After reading these notes, test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
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.

Fixed costs
- Fixed costs don't vary as the business changes its output.
- So whether a business 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 business grows.

Variable costs
- Variable costs are the costs that change directly with output (they change as a business changes output).
- Examples include the wages paid for factory labour, raw materials and transport costs.
1Business Organisation & Environment
1.1Introduction to Business Management
1.2Types of Organisation
1.3Organisational Objectives
1.4Stakeholders
1.5External Environment
1.6Growth & Evolution
1.7HL Only: Organisational Planning Tools
2Human Resource Management
2.1Functions & Evolution of Human Resource Management
2.2Organisational Structure
2.3Leadership & Management
2.4Motivation
2.5Organisational (Corporate) Culture
2.6HL Only: Industrial/Employee Relations
3Finance & Accounts
3.1Sources of Finance
3.2Costs & Revenues
3.3Break-Even Analysis
3.4Profitability & Liquidity Ratio Analysis
3.6HL Only: Investment Appraisal
3.7HL Only: Budgets
4Marketing
4.1The Role of Marketing
4.2Marketing Planning
4.3Market Research
4.4The 4 Ps
4.4.1Product Decisions4.4.2Pricing Decisions & Price Skimming4.4.3Pricing Decisions & Price Penetration4.4.4End of Topic Test - Pricing & Competition4.4.5Promotional Decisions4.4.6Promotional Decisions 24.4.7Promotional Decisions 34.4.8Digital Marketing4.4.9Evaluating Digital Marketing4.4.10Case Study - The Marketing Mix & Promotion4.4.11Place & Distribution
4.5HL Only: The Extended Marketing Mix
4.6HL Only: International Marketing
4.7E-Commerce
5Operations Management
5.1The Role of Operations Management
5.2Production Methods
5.3HL Only: Lean Prodution & Quality Management
5.4HL Only: Production Planning
5.5HL Only: Research & Development
Jump to other topics
1Business Organisation & Environment
1.1Introduction to Business Management
1.2Types of Organisation
1.3Organisational Objectives
1.4Stakeholders
1.5External Environment
1.6Growth & Evolution
1.7HL Only: Organisational Planning Tools
2Human Resource Management
2.1Functions & Evolution of Human Resource Management
2.2Organisational Structure
2.3Leadership & Management
2.4Motivation
2.5Organisational (Corporate) Culture
2.6HL Only: Industrial/Employee Relations
3Finance & Accounts
3.1Sources of Finance
3.2Costs & Revenues
3.3Break-Even Analysis
3.4Profitability & Liquidity Ratio Analysis
3.6HL Only: Investment Appraisal
3.7HL Only: Budgets
4Marketing
4.1The Role of Marketing
4.2Marketing Planning
4.3Market Research
4.4The 4 Ps
4.4.1Product Decisions4.4.2Pricing Decisions & Price Skimming4.4.3Pricing Decisions & Price Penetration4.4.4End of Topic Test - Pricing & Competition4.4.5Promotional Decisions4.4.6Promotional Decisions 24.4.7Promotional Decisions 34.4.8Digital Marketing4.4.9Evaluating Digital Marketing4.4.10Case Study - The Marketing Mix & Promotion4.4.11Place & Distribution
4.5HL Only: The Extended Marketing Mix
4.6HL Only: International Marketing
4.7E-Commerce
5Operations Management
5.1The Role of Operations Management
5.2Production Methods
5.3HL Only: Lean Prodution & Quality Management
5.4HL Only: Production Planning
5.5HL Only: Research & Development
Practice questions on Costs & Revenues
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1Which of the following is NOT an example of a fixed cost?Multiple choice
- 2Types of costs:Fill in the list
- 3Which of the following is true about costs?Multiple choice
- 4
- 5
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