Actual Cost

When the period closes, actual spending is allocated to products using calculated rates.

Actual costs are calculated at the end of the period when actual spending amounts are collected and pooled from the general ledger and allocated using the calculated overhead rates. Like standard costs, actual costs are divided into three buckets – Direct Materials, Direct Labor, and Factory Overhead.
 
There’s more than one way companies calculate “actual cost” depending on the data points available.