Traceability to the object being costed: There are two types of costs, you have direct costs or indirect costs. Direct costs are traceable to specific product, service, or department, such as radiology, the ER, surgery supplies and so on. Indirect costs are not easily linked to specific products, services, and departments. These indirect costs are things like the facilities utilities. Being able to track organizational costs can better help a facility to manage their finances, make decisions, and reach their goals. Behavior of cost relative to output or activity: Costs behave and can be put into categories based on their activity level. There are three categories, fixed costs, mixed costs, and variable costs. Fixed costs remain constant no matter the activity level, such as salaries. Mixed costs have parts of both fixed and variable costs. Variable costs change when activity levels change. It is important to know the differences between these costs because it will help a company to prepare for the future and potential changes in the budget/finances. Management responsibility for control: Some costs are controlled by a certain manager(s) and some are uncontrollable. Controllable costs are the costs that a manager can change and influence, such as office