a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be changed is called a(n)
sunk cost
title: Sunk cost text: hard-headed calculation of the extra costs one will incur and weigh these against its extra advantages. Sunk cost In economics and business decision-making, a sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered (also known as retrospective cost). Sunk costs are sometimes contrasted with "prospective costs", which are future costs that may be incurred or changed if an action is taken. In that regard, both retrospective and prospective costs could be either fixed costs (continuous for as long as the business is in operation and unaffected by output volume) or variable costs (dependent on volume). title: Sunk cost text: Sunk cost In economics and business decision-making, a sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered (also known as retrospective cost). Sunk costs are sometimes contrasted with "prospective costs", which are future costs that may be incurred or changed if an action is taken. In that regard, both retrospective and prospective costs could be either fixed costs (continuous for as long as the business is in operation and unaffected by output volume) or variable costs (dependent on volume). However, many economists consider it a mistake to classify sunk costs as "fixed" or "variable." For title: Cost text: Cost In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. In this case, money is the input that is gone in order to acquire the thing. This acquisition cost may be the sum of the cost of production as incurred by the original producer, and further costs of transaction as incurred by title: Cost text: other items purchased for use by a business or other accounting entity. It is the amount denoted on invoices as the price and recorded in bookkeeping records as an expense or asset cost basis. Opportunity cost, also referred to as "economic cost" is the value of the best alternative that was not chosen in order to pursue the current endeavor—i.e., what could have been accomplished with the resources expended in the undertaking. It represents opportunities forgone. In theoretical economics, cost used without qualification often means opportunity cost. When a transaction takes place, it typically involves both private costs and external title: Non-recurring engineering text: Non-recurring engineering Non-recurring engineering (NRE) refers to the one-time cost to research, design, develop and test a new product or product enhancement. When budgeting for a new product, NRE must be considered to analyze if a new product will be profitable. Even though a company will pay for NRE on a project only once, NRE costs can be prohibitively high and the product will need to sell well enough to produce a return on the initial investment. NRE is unlike production costs, which must be paid constantly to maintain production of a product. It is a form of fixed cost