Introduction and Overview › Glossary for the Networking Language · 4 min read
True Cost Accounting – also known as full cost accounting – describes the attempt to capture all real costs incurred by a product: from ecological impacts to social conditions and long-term effects on health, biodiversity, and society.
In theory, this sounds convincing: prices should not only be based on production costs but also reflect the true social and ecological costs. In practice, however, this is an enormously complex matter. A complete true cost accounting is hardly feasible, as it would require a highly resource-intensive system of data collection, indicators, weighting, and global justice logic – something that simply cannot be implemented in the daily operations of a solidarity-based, decentralized network like TEIKEI.
Instead, TEIKEI takes a pragmatic and honest approach:
This form of full cost accounting is a solidarity-based act: it emerges from the collaboration between farmers, organizers, logistics partners, developers, and everyone involved in the system. Prices are determined through genuine communication – not market observation.
Instead of abstract market prices, TEIKEI bases its pricing on concrete, real costs. The following are considered:
The key point is: All cost items are disclosed openly and calculated collectively – with the goal of enabling a solidarity-based, sustainable economy.
TEIKEI deliberately avoids classic margin models. Instead, we ask: What is needed to ensure that all stakeholders can work well in the long term? This leads to prices that are not artificially inflated – but correspond to real needs.
This approach is central to TEIKEI’s understanding of economics: The focus is not on maximizing profit, but on real needs.
TEIKEI’s current practice in full cost accounting is the result of an in-depth examination conducted as part of a master’s thesis (external), carried out in collaboration with the network. In this process, not only was the concept of True Cost Accounting thoroughly explored, but TEIKEI’s practices were also critically examined.
The result: TEIKEI’s model – particularly the TEIKEI Agora – performs very well in terms of transparency, fairness, and clarity in pricing. It demonstrates that a common good-oriented system, based on real needs rather than margins, is capable of implementing the core idea of True Cost Accounting in a practical and effective way.
At the same time, the thesis made it clear that a complete True Cost Accounting system – with all its ecological, social, and economic variables – is methodologically extremely complex and not feasible in everyday practice. The required data collection and evaluation would go far beyond what is practicable in a dynamic network like TEIKEI.
Therefore, TEIKEI follows the path of simplified but honest full cost accounting:
Not as a scientific ideal, but as a viable tool – with the clarity that this approach has emerged from a well-founded development process and has proven itself in practice.
The analysis conducted as part of the master’s thesis confirms that the TEIKEI model – exemplified by TEIKEI olive oil – generates a measurable ecological net benefit. According to the available calculations, regenerative agriculture and the fair, transparent value chain create an ecological benefit of 13 cents per liter of olive oil. This result underscores that TEIKEI contributes to the common good economy not only on an ideological level but also based on robust indicators. At the same time, the study shows that a complete True Cost Accounting system is too complex for everyday use – TEIKEI therefore consciously chooses a pragmatic path: a simplified but well-founded full cost accounting that reflects real needs and remains manageable in practice.
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By Felix Schröder, with support from AI (ChatGPT)
Created on March 31, 2025 · Last updated on October 11, 2026
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