A unit cost is the total expenditure incurred by a company to produce, store and sell one unit of a particular product or service. Unit costs include all fixed costs, or overhead costs, and all variable costs, or direct material costs and direct labor costs, involved in production.
A period cost is any cost that cannot be capitalized into prepaid expenses, inventory, or fixed assets. A period cost is more closely associated with the passage of time than with a transactional event. Since a period cost is essentially always charged to expense at once, it may more appropriately be called a period expense.
passage