Fixed costs include all costs independent of the volume of production.
These are the costs, which must be met irrespective of the level of production.
Variable costs include all costs which vary more or less directly with the
volume of production: These costs include such things as direct labour costs
and raw material costs that tend to rise as the number of units produced goes
up. It may be difficult to discover just exactly how variable costs do 'vary with
the level of production. Further, costs which are fixed in the short run may not
be fixed in the long run. For example, if production is stopped, the enterprise may
meet its fixed expenses for a short period in anticipation of renewed activity,
however, this can not go on for long without resulting in liquidation or some other
drastic modification of the cost structure. In spite of these difficulties, these cost
classifications are sufficiently suggestive to give some important insights. To
clarify these, let