Читать книгу Cost Accounting For Dummies - Kenneth W. Boyd - Страница 70

Contribution margin represents the amount of money you have left after variable costs to cover fixed costs and keep for your profit. Gross margin explains how much of your sales proceeds are left after paying cost of sales.

Cost of sales is the direct costs of creating your product. (See the direct and indirect cost section of Chapter 2.) If you were manufacturing denim jeans, you would have material costs for the denim and thread (and maybe a zipper), as well as the labor costs to sew the jeans. Your gross margin per pair of jeans sold might look like this:

 Gross margin = sale price – cost of sales (material and labor)

 Gross margin = $60 – $25

 Gross margin = $35

Contribution margin (sales less variable costs) is part of the target net income formula. Try to avoid confusing the gross margin with contribution margin. The terms look similar, and both are thrown around in accounting conversations. Contribution margin is sales less variable costs. Gross margin, on the other hand, is sales less cost of sales.