Total absorption costing

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Total absorption costing (TAC) is a method of Accounting cost which entails the full cost of manufacturing or providing a service. This includes not just the costs of materials and labour, but also of all manufacturing overheads (whether ‘fixed’ or ‘variable’).

Traditional TAC was developed in the age of manufacturing and mostly used to arrive at the full manufacturing cost of producing goods; an alternative method of arriving at full cost known as activity-based costing (ABC) is often thought to be more appropriate for services.