When you create a material cost estimate, you always specify a costing variant. The costing variant contains all the information needed to execute the material cost estimate. You define and check costing variants in Customizing for Product Cost Planning.

The following graphic gives you an overview of the customizing parameters for material costing.

You enter the following parameters in the costing variant:

• Costing type

The cost estimate also receives the following information from the costing variant (costing type and valuation variant):

The costing variant also contains additional settings for material costing, as shown below:

You can make settings such as the following:

• Whether the costing results can be saved
• Whether system messages are collected in a log and saved
• Whether additive costs are included in material costing
• Which lot size is used in the cost estimate
• Whether the current standard cost estimate should be used when materials are costed with errors
• Whether users can change the transfer control when they create a cost estimate

You define the costing variants and the various control keys in Customizing for Product Cost Controlling.

You can check the customizing settings for a costing variant for material costing under Accounting ® Controlling ® Product Cost Planning ® Tools ® Material Costing ® Check Costing Variant.

For more information about the relevant customizing settings, see:

• The Implementation Guide (IMG) for Product Cost Controlling
• The SAP Library under the following: