expense

  

Definition

Money expended or cost incurred in a firm's efforts to generate revenue, representing cost of doing business. Expenses may be in the form of actual cash payments (such as wages and salaries), a computed 'expired' portion (depreciation) of an asset, or an amount taken out of the firm's earnings (such as bad debts). Expenses are summarized and charged in the firm's income statement as deductions from the income before assessing income tax. Whereas all expenses are costs, not all costs (such as those incurred in acquisition of income generating assets) are expenses.

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expense is...

... in the subject
Accounting & Auditing
... an essential investing term.

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