One are the fixed indirect costs, which are unchanged for a particular project or company, like transportation of labor to the working site, building temporary roads, etc.
The other are recurring indirect costs, which repeat for a particular company, like maintenance of records or the payment of salaries.
In manufacturing, costs not directly assignable to the end product or process are indirect.
Their precise benefits to a specific project are often difficult or impossible to trace.
For example, it may be difficult to determine precisely how the activities of the director of an organization benefit a specific project.
[3] It is possible to justify the handling of almost any kind of cost as either direct or indirect.
Similarly, materials such as miscellaneous supplies purchased in bulk—pencils, pens, paper—are typically handled as indirect costs, while materials required for specific projects are charged as direct costs.