Cost centers are divisions that add to the cost of the organization,

but only indirectly add to the profit of the company.

Typical examples include Research and Development, Marketing and Customer service

Cost Element
Basically, cost element are carriers of costs.

Primary cost elements are like material costs, personnel costs, energy costs...
where a corresponding GL account exists in FI..to allow costs to flow...
Secondary cost elements are like production costs, material overheads, production overheads,
they can be created and administered in only CO. These are used in internal cost allocation,
overhead calculation, settlement transactions., it does not flow to FI...