In simple words cost can be defined as those the total money, time and resources associated with a purchase or activity.

To ascertain those costs following techniques are used:

1. Historical costing : In this technique actual costs are ascertained after they have incurred hence in this method there is no scope for control of costs.
2. Absorption costing: This approach considers all indirect manufacturing costs (fixed and variable) and treats them as expenditure only when the products are sold.
3. Marginal costing : Marginal costing differentiates between fixed and variable costs. Under marginal costing fixed costs are not treated as part of the product cost but are treated as period costs and are written off against the revenues of that period.
4. Direct costing : The ascertainment of direct costs in respect of department, process or product. This is marginal costs plus fixed cost which is directly chargeable to the department, process or product. Under absorption costing, all fixed costs are charged to the department, product, and process, which complicates the decision making and hence accountant tend to use direct costing over absorption costing.
5. Standard costing : Standard cost is a scientifically predetermined cost which is fixed in advance of production for each element of costs that is material, labor and overheads and actual costs are compared against the standard costs to measure the variances so that it can be controlled.

Hence above were the various techniques for costing and are not exhaustive and it depends upon the company which method it want to make use of.

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