CostingAbsorption, marginal and activity-based costing, and when each misleads.Business & ManagementAbsorption costingOverhead allocated to every unitRequired for external reportingCan make low-volume productslook cheapUses a blanket rate — labourhours, oftenMarginal costingOnly variable cost per unitContribution = price − variablecostBetter for short-run decisionsFixed costs treated as periodcostsTHE DIFFERENCE THAT MATTERSActivity-based costing sits between: overhead traced to activitiesand then to products via cost drivers. More accurate, moreUnder absorption costing, producing more units into inventoryincreases reported profit. That incentive is why it is scrutinised.Costinglearnposters.com
Costing — printable business wall chart from LearnPosters. Free vector PDF, US Letter and A4.

What’s on the Costing poster

Absorption costing against Marginal costing, side by side.

Under absorption costing, producing more units into inventory increases reported profit. That incentive is why it is scrutinised.

Questions about the Costing poster

What’s on the Costing poster?
Absorption costing against Marginal costing, side by side. Absorption costing: Overhead allocated to every unit; Absorption costing: Required for external reporting; Absorption costing: Can make low-volume products look cheap; Absorption costing: Uses a blanket rate — labour hours, often; Marginal costing: Only variable cost per unit; Marginal costing: Contribution = price − variable cost; Marginal costing: Better for short-run decisions; Marginal costing: Fixed costs treated as period costs; Activity-based costing sits between: overhead traced to activities and then to produc…. Under absorption costing, producing more units into inventory increases reported profit. That incentive is why it is scrutinised.
Who is the Costing poster for?
Costing belongs to the Business & Management section rather than to a school year, because business is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning business finance can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
When should you use the Costing poster?
How you allocate overhead changes which products look profitable. That is the whole debate. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Costing belongs on the wall where that business work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
What other posters go with Costing?
The Balance Sheet, Break-Even and Budgeting sit alongside Costing in the Business & Management section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.The Balance SheetBreak-EvenBudgeting
Is the Costing poster free to download and print?
Yes. Costing downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Business & Management section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
What size does the Costing poster print at?
Costing is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Costing loses nothing.Printing guide

Related posters

Charts that sit alongside Costing on the same wall.

Browse every Business & Management poster, or start from the full catalogue.