The three general categories of costs included in manufacturing processes are direct materials, direct labor, and overhead. Note that there are a few exceptions, since some service industries do not have direct material costs, and some automated manufacturing companies do not have direct labor costs.
(b) Contract costing is a form of specific order costing which applies where work is undertaken to customer's special requirements and each order is of a long duration. Period of Contract. (a) Contract costing is a specialized system of Job costing applies to long-term contracts. as distinct from short-term jobs.