To Study the Behavior of Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A) Costs and Cost of Goods Sold in Manufacturing Firms Accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange

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.

  • Receive Date 22 June 2006
  • Revise Date 23 July 2006
  • Accept Date 23 September 2006