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Is Cost of Goods Sold an Expense?

Is Cost of Goods Sold an Expense

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Is Cost of Goods Sold an Expense

Yes, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is considered an expense. It represents the direct costs associated with producing the goods sold by a business. This includes both direct labor costs used to produce the good and the cost of raw materials used in producing the good.

COGS is an important item on the income statement. It is subtracted from a company’s revenues to calculate its gross profit. Since COGS is directly tied to product production and sales, it’s considered a variable cost, changing in direct proportion to the volume of goods produced and sold.

Here’s a simple example of how it looks on an income statement:

Sales Revenue: $1,000,000
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): $600,000
Gross Profit: $400,000 (Sales Revenue – COGS)

COGS is considered an operating expense, as it directly relates to the company’s primary activities of producing and selling goods. But it’s often listed separately from operating expenses on an income statement because of its importance in calculating gross profit, which is a significant measure of a company’s profitability.

Example of: Is Cost of Goods Sold an Expense

Let’s look at an example of how Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) works:

Imagine that a company called XYZ Manufacturing produces wooden tables. Here’s a simplified calculation of their COGS:

So, the total Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) per table would be $160 ($100 for raw materials + $50 for direct labor + $10 for manufacturing overhead).

If XYZ Manufacturing sells 1,000 tables in a year, their total COGS for the year would be $160,000 ($160 COGS per table x 1,000 tables).

When XYZ Manufacturing sells a table, they would record the revenue from the sale, and they would also record the $160 cost in their COGS. The COGS is subtracted from sales revenue in their income statement to calculate gross profit.

Here’s a simplified income statement for XYZ Manufacturing:

Sales Revenue: $300,000 (assuming they sell each table for $300 and they sold 1,000 tables)
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): $160,000
Gross Profit: $140,000 (Sales Revenue – COGS)

So, in this example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is the total cost incurred to produce the tables that were sold during the year. It’s considered an expense and is subtracted from revenue to calculate gross profit.

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