Complete and Variable Costing. Antagonism or Complementarity?

Abstract

This article works on a proposal that seeks to overcome the old controversy regarding “Complete or Variable Costing”, arguing that there is no incompatibility between both models and that, on the contrary, they should both be interpreted as complementary, with different purposes. Consequently, their respective designs can be adapted perfectly to the objectives for which they were created. This idea is based on the acceptance of two aspects of Accounting: Patrimonial Accounting (or financial, or for others) and Management Accounting (or for internal use). It is hereby concluded that each one of the models can be adapted perfectly and that they successfully meet thetargets of each one of the mentioned branches. Therefore, the only problem that can be found is the incorrect employment of these models; that is to say, applying the Full Costing model in Management Accounting and, conversely, applying the Variable Costing in Financial Accounting.