Which of the following is a fixed cost?

a. payments to a electric utility

b. cost of raw materials

c. wages to hire assembly line workers

d. payment to hire a security worker to guard the gate to the factory around the clock

The answer is d. payment to hire a security worker to guard the gate to the factory around the clock.

Explanation:

Let re-visit to the concept of Fixed cost before applying to the questions.

Fixed costs are costs which are unchanged given changes in production level.

a. payment to a electric utility is not fixed cost because higher level of production required higher electricity consumption which leads to higher cost of electricity.

b. cost of raw material is not fixed cost because the higher the production level, the higher the raw material required for production.

c. wages to hire assembly line workers is not fixed cost because the higher the production level, the more workers required and the higher the wages will be.

d. payment to hire a security worker to guard the gate to the factory around the clock is fixed cost because regardless of the production level, the security worker will work for the same amount of time and receive the same level of payment as his workload is much likely to remain the same.

So, d is the correct choice.