there are two ways to measure costs through human resource accounting as historical costs or as replacement costs. the historical approach parallels the accepted accounting practice.People are valued on the basis of their actual acquisition cost. this means keeping track of all the costs associated with recruitment , selection,hiring ,placement,training and orientation , and on-the-job training.Indirect costs such as trainer's time , lost productivity during training , time of managers spent in interviewing and recruitment , and costs involved in promotion or torical from within may also be included.the two basic tyoes of historical costs are thus acquisition costs and learning costs , and each types involves both direct and visible expenditures as well as more subtle indirect costs.the historical cost concept calls for tallying of all costs associated with an investment in human resource and then "depreciating"this investment overtime.The cost of turnover may thus be more comprehensively measured as including all costs incurred in acquiring and developing employees and not merely the cost of replacing them.