Marginal Costing and Marginal Cost

Marginal Costing is an optionally method of costing to absorption costing , In marginal costing, merely variable costs are charged like a cost of sale and a contribution is calculated that is sales revenue minus the variable cost of sales. Closing stocks of work in progress or finished goods are valued on marginal or variable production cost.  Fixed costs are treated like a period cost, and are charged in complete to the loss and profit account of the accounting period whether they are incurred.

Marginal Cost is the cost of a unit of a service or product that would be avoided if such unit were not provided or produced. The marginal production cost per unit of an item generally consists of the given terms:

a. Direct materials,

b. Variable production overheads.

c. Direct labour,

Contribution is the dissimilarity between marginal cost and the sales value of sales. Contribution is of fundamental in marginal costing, and the term 'contribution' is actually short for 'contribution towards covering fixed overheads and creating a profit'.