Return on costs (ROC) is one of profitability indicators. It expresses the amount of profit attributable to unit total cost.
Calculation formula

Comparison
- it is particularly suitable for comparison within the company - especially as an indicator of changes in costs over time as reduction of the ratio can indicate rising costs, and vice versa
- comparisons between companies makes sense only if they are very similar businesses in the same industry where we can expect similar cost level and gross margin %
- appropriate comparison is with the industry average