Discretionary fixed costs and Semi variable costs

Discretionary fixed costs are those which are incurred as a result of management discretion. These costs have two important features viz.

They arise from periodic (usually yearly) decisions regarding the maximum outlay to be incurred, and they are not tied to a clear cause and effect relationship b/w inputs and outputs. For examples of discretionary fixed costs includes advertising public relations, executives training, teaching, research, health care etc. these costs are controllable.

Semi variable costs: those costs which are partly fixed and partly variable are called semi variable costs. These costs are very with the level of production but not in direct proportion to the level of production. The examples of such costs are depreciation of machinery, maintenance of equipment, administrative costs, etc.