a naming convention or a silly question?

[old.student]

Looking at the statement of profit or loss I see the headings:

Distribution COSTS
Administrative EXPENSES
Finance COSTS
Tax EXPENSE

is there a technical difference between a cost and an expense? Are they interchangeable (does it matter?)

cheers

 

[Stuart Underwood]

Cost vs expense

Hi old.student

Is there a difference?

Yes, though the differences are very technical. There are lots of articles online that explain the differences, see for example: http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-cost-and-expense.

Are they used interchangeably?

In the real world, yes.

Does it matter?

For accountants, probably yes. In Subject CT2, not so much!

 

[old.student]

thanks again - very helpful