cost (noun, cost, \ kɒːst \) center (noun, cen-ter, \ ˈsentər \)
Definition:
- a) is a specified location, machine or individual chosen by a company to whom all direct and indirect business-related costs are sent to and stored. A cost center is responsible for indirectly helping a business increase its profitability by acting as a control mechanism.
- b) is a clearly defined business unit or department within an enterprise whose supervisors are directly accountable for its associated costs as well as for guarantying that it stays within its allocated budget. Alternatively, such an entity can be called an expense center.
In a Sentence:
- The employee acting as the company’s cost center contacted the manager to ask him about a few missing transactions.
- Once Michael was appointed in charge of his department’s cost center, he began attentively tracking all expenses made by employees under his control.
- The manager sent me to the cost center to explain my predicament there. I can’t believe I have to go through so much trouble just to get my salary.
Synonyms and related words: profit center, distribution center, service center, revenue center, fulfillment center
