ABSTRACT
It is interesting and perhaps significant that cost accounting is commonly thought of as appertaining to the affairs of manufacturers only. It is, however, apparent that the principles governing the correct determination of the costs of manufacturers and other producers who must meet open competition also operate in ascertaining the cost of services rendered to the public by utility corporations, and the need for a knowledge of costs is substantially the same in both classes. The determination of a proper selling price or rate depends for its successful accomplishment upon several things, of which cost of production is only one, although a highly important one. The correct basis for inventory valuations is universally admitted to be that of the cost to produce the goods in the stage or condition in which they are when taken in the inventory.
