Final answer:
Costs in business are categorized as either explicit, which are out-of-pocket expenses, or implicit, representing opportunity costs. Examples of explicit costs include executive compensation, accounting, secretarial work, and public relations.
Step-by-step explanation:
When considering what constitutes a cost in the context of a business, it's important to recognize both explicit and implicit costs. Examples of explicit costs are straightforward and include actual out-of-pocket payments like executive compensation, general accounting fees, secretarial expenses, and costs related to public relations. These expenses are easily quantifiable and are part of the company's financial outflows. On the other hand, implicit costs are not directly paid or seen as expenses, yet they represent the opportunity costs connected to the resources that a business already owns, such as the owner's own time or property used for the business without formal compensation.