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Agent skill

Cost Accounting

by cbrock84 in cbrock84/headcount

Establishes what something actually costs — fixed, variable and mixed cost behavior, absorption versus variable costing, job-order, process and activity-based methods, breakeven and operating…

MITAuto-check passedBusiness, Finance & HR

Install Cost Accounting

skills CLI
$ npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill cost-accounting -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cbrock84/headcount cost-accounting --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cbrock84/headcount.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/finance/skills/cost-accounting .claude/skills/cost-accounting && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
cost-accounting
GitHub stars
2k
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
604 words
Files
2 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
178
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Establishes what something actually costs — fixed, variable and mixed cost behavior, absorption versus variable costing, job-order, process and activity-based methods, breakeven and operating…

  • Tasks that involve Accounting and bookkeeping
  • SKILL.md covers Classify cost behavior before…, Know which costing basis you…, Match the costing method to… and Breakeven, margin of safety,…, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Cost Accounting is an agent skill from cbrock84/headcount. Establishes what something actually costs — fixed, variable and mixed cost behavior, absorption versus variable costing, job-order, process and activity-based methods, breakeven and operating leverage, and price/volume/mix decomposition. Use this to set a price floor, explain why revenue or margin moved, decide make versus buy, judge whether a product line earns its place, or work out how an allocation basis is distorting a reported margin.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including reference files (for example `references/sources.md`).

It sits in Business, Finance & HR, covering Accounting and bookkeeping. The repository describes itself as: An agent organization structured as a company — 15+ departments, 125+ skills, each independently installable, citing the standards and regulators that settle the question. Runs… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Accounting and bookkeeping

Example prompts

  • “Use the cost-accounting skill to establish what something actually costs — fixed, variable and mixed cost behavior, absorption versus variable…”
  • “/cost-accounting”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 98d1c17. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Cost Accounting loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~1.5k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 115 tokens; SKILL.md has 604 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~115
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~1.5k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from cbrock84/headcount at commit 98d1c17, republished under its MIT licence (© cbrock84). 604 words, ~1,130 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/cost-accounting/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
cost-accounting
description
Establishes what something actually costs — fixed, variable and mixed cost behavior, absorption versus variable costing, job-order, process and activity-based methods, breakeven and operating leverage, and price/volume/mix decomposition. Use this to set a price floor, explain why revenue or margin moved, decide make versus buy, judge whether a product line earns its place, or work out how an allocation basis is distorting a reported margin.

Cost accounting

Most bad pricing decisions, bad product-line decisions, and bad margin arguments come from the same place: nobody agrees what the thing costs.

Classify cost behavior before you allocate anything

  • Fixed costs do not move with volume — within a relevant range. Outside that range they step, and the step is usually large: another shift, another facility, another tier of licensing.
  • Variable costs move with each unit: materials, payment processing, per-unit fulfillment, usage-based infrastructure.
  • Mixed costs have both, and most real accounts are mixed. Split them with high-low or a regression on historical volume rather than guessing the proportion.

The split is not academic. Variable cost sets the floor for one more incremental order. Fully loaded cost sets the floor for the business as a whole. Confusing the two is how companies price themselves into volume that loses money.

Know which costing basis you are looking at

Absorption costing puts fixed production overhead into inventory and releases it when the unit sells. Variable costing expenses that overhead as incurred.

Absorption is what external reporting requires. Variable is what decisions want. The consequence worth carrying: under absorption, producing more than you sell moves fixed cost onto the balance sheet and raises reported profit without a single additional sale. When margin improves and inventory grows in the same period, check whether that is what happened.

Match the costing method to how the work actually runs

  • Job-order — distinct, identifiable jobs. Construction, custom manufacture, print runs, agency engagements. Cost accumulates per job.
  • Process — continuous, homogeneous output. Chemicals, food, high-volume components. Cost accumulates per period and divides across equivalent units.
  • Activity-based — worth the overhead when indirect cost is large and consumed unevenly. Its value is rarely precision; it is discovering that a low-volume product consumes a disproportionate share of support, setup, or handling.

Choose an allocation driver that causes the cost. Allocating overhead on revenue is not costing, it is redistribution — it guarantees the largest product looks worst and tells you nothing.

Show full SKILL.md (277 more words)Show less

Breakeven, margin of safety, and operating leverage

Contribution margin is revenue less variable cost. Breakeven volume is fixed cost divided by contribution per unit; margin of safety is how far current volume sits above it.

Operating leverage follows from the mix: a high fixed-cost structure amplifies profit on the way up and losses on the way down. It is a deliberate choice about how much volatility the business can absorb, and it should be made deliberately rather than accumulated.

Decompose price, volume and mix

Revenue moved for three reasons and you cannot manage any of them until they are separated.

  • Price — the change in realized price applied at actual volume.
  • Volume — the change in units applied at the original price.
  • Mix — the shift in what sold, toward or away from higher-margin items.

This is the single most useful technique here and the one most often skipped. Without it, a mix shift toward an expensive product gets reported as a pricing win, and a discount gets buried under volume growth.

Sources

references/sources.md in this skill lists the outside authorities that settle the questions here — what each one is authoritative for, and what you may do with it. Check them before answering on anything they cover, and cite what you used. Most are free to read and not free to reproduce; the use note on each is binding.

Never

  • Allocate overhead on revenue and present the result as a product margin.
  • Quote a long-term price off variable cost. It covers the incremental order and nothing else.
  • Compare absorbed unit cost across periods without checking whether production volume changed.
  • Attribute a revenue change to price without separating volume and mix.

© cbrock84, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in plugins/finance/skills/cost-accounting of cbrock84/headcount.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/sources.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 98d1c17

Compare with similar skills

Cost Accounting next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Cost Accounting compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Cost Accounting this skillcbrock84/headcount2k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Sync Upstreamnyaruka/phonenumbers1.6k—~2.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Radiology Tablehuang-sir1/radiology-skills1.9k—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
ERPClaw ERP Controlleravansaber/erpclaw116—~18kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Odoo Agency Fleet Reviewerpipe-org/mcp-odoo421—~699Automated safety check: PassMIT
Beancount Closebex-co/beancount-io297—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Cost Accounting

What does Cost Accounting do?

Establishes what something actually costs — fixed, variable and mixed cost behavior, absorption versus variable costing, job-order, process and activity-based methods, breakeven and operating…. Cost Accounting is an agent skill from cbrock84/headcount. Establishes what something actually costs — fixed, variable and mixed cost behavior, absorption versus variable costing, job-order, process and activity-based methods, breakeven and operating leverage, and price/volume/mix decomposition.

When should I use Cost Accounting?

Cost Accounting fits situations like: tasks that involve Accounting and bookkeeping.

How do I install Cost Accounting in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill cost-accounting -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/finance/skills/cost-accounting in cbrock84/headcount) into .claude/skills/cost-accounting in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Cost Accounting in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill cost-accounting -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/finance/skills/cost-accounting in cbrock84/headcount) into .agents/skills/cost-accounting in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Cost Accounting in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill cost-accounting -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/cost-accounting, .gemini/skills/cost-accounting, .github/skills/cost-accounting and .opencode/skills/cost-accounting in your project.

What does Cost Accounting need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Cost Accounting is instructions for the agent only.

Does Cost Accounting access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Cost Accounting safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Cost Accounting use?

Cost Accounting is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Cost Accounting use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 371 tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Cost Accounting?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Cost Accounting: Sync Upstream (nyaruka/phonenumbers, 1.6k stars), Radiology Table (huang-sir1/radiology-skills, 1.9k stars), ERPClaw ERP Controller (avansaber/erpclaw, 116 stars) and Odoo Agency Fleet Review (erpipe-org/mcp-odoo, 421 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Cost Accounting?

cbrock84 (a GitHub user) maintains it in cbrock84/headcount, which has 2,022 GitHub stars. The repository holds 178 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 17, 2026.

Source: cbrock84/headcount on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.