Cost refers to the monetary value or financial pricing of a specific project activity. This cost includes all anticipated expenditures that are expected to be part of the entire project, as well as the monetary value of the total sum of resources to be expended during the process. A specific cost can be broken down into sub costs, which can be made up of a number of unique categories. These can include direct labor hours, indirect labor hours, other direct costs, and other indirect costs. These can also include the purchased price of any specific materials and/or equipment. It is important to keep in mind that in the methodology of earned value management, in some cases the term cost represents labor hours but does not factor in a conversion to monetary value. See also actual cost and estimate.
This term is defined in the 3rd edition of the PMBOK but not in the 4th.