SG&A vs overhead

Hi there,

This is really tricky. I'd honestly try to just think of them seperately because there's overlap in both. I also highly recommend you get googling and reading - this will take a few days for you to process.

Both SG&A and overhead generally fixed costs, not variable costs. However SG&A might directly increase/decrease with sales, depending on the industry, and therefore be variable.

Overhead = "costs required to run a business, but which cannot be directly attributed to any specific business activity, product, or service" As in, just to be open I have to pay x. This means my rent, baseline equipment, back office staff etc.

SG&A is essentially the costs of my back-office/support functions (legal, HR, finance, etc.)

"Selling, general, and administrative expenses also consist of a company's operating expenses that are not included in the direct costs of production or cost of goods sold. In other words, SG&A includes all non-production costs." This means accounting, legal, marketing, rent, etc.