How important is it to trace costs appropriately? Explain. As you are beginning to think about the importance of tracing costs appropriately, please consider the differences between variable costing and absorpton costing. What implications do each of these have on such things as financial reporting of profit and pricing your products for the marketplace? You may also want to think about the issues involved with traceable costs as discussed in our text or in articles that you may find online. Later in the week: What are "upstream" and "downstream" costs and what implications do they have on reporting or on product pricing?