Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
A fundamental assumption in cost accounting is that the relation between costs and volume is symmetric for volume increases and decreases. In this study, we investigate whether costs are "sticky" that is, whether costs increase more when activity rises than they decrease when activity falls by an equivalent amount. We find, for 77firms over 9 years, that selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs increase on average 0.41 % per 1% increase in sales but decrease only 0.16 % per I % decrease in sales. We find, for 77firms over 9 years, that cost of goods sold increase on average 0.97 % per I % increase in sales but decrease only 0.77 % per I % decrease in sales according to our investigation SG&A costs and cost of goods sold are sticky.
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