Introduction The managing director of Gouna Limited, Andy Birk, relies on shareholders’ requests and his own interests when making decisions on new ventures or the development of a new product/service. This means that the Director does not consider other factors that may be influential in the decision making process. Making decisions based on his own interests makes the situation worse as there is no consultation with the rest of the shareholders or any expert that can offer valuable advice. Besides, the decisions are made without proper understanding of the costs associated with different business activities. This manner of decision making is bound to have detrimental effects on the company especially in its finances. This report discusses the need for proper understanding of cost behaviour at Gouna Limited. It also examines two of the methods used in deriving a cost function, and explains the Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) analysis method.
Issue 3
a) The benefits to Gouna arising from having a good understanding of how costs behave, and two (2) commonly-used methods to derive a cost function
Cost behaviour is the manner in which different costs respond to variations in volume or activity (Crosson, 2014). Effective cost control is impossible without proper understanding of cost behaviour. These costs could be variable, fixed, or mixed. Gouna Limited therefore needs to understand how certain costs behave in order to control them well for a positive outcome. Through the
The purpose of this report is discussing the case of Wilkerson Company that confronting tough competition in price cutting in pumps which caused to a big drop of pre-tax operating income from 10% to 3%. After observing the existing costing allocation, we found out there is an issue on the existing costing report that the manager could not be able to see the real situation. In light of this, there will be brought to the discussion on the feasibility of using an alternative costing method – Activity based costing (ABC) in the latter paragraphs.
Overhead costs are not in proportion to the production output because of the method they are using. This leads to inaccurate pricing and costing decisions. An Activity Based Costing System would help find the real relationship between the products produced and overhead.
While we are performing our analysis on different aspects of the company, we look at the three main types of cost. When we remain devoted to improving our costs, and the faults related, we show our same devotion to our consumers. This is portrayed by the quality of products we put on the shelves. Prevention costs, appraisal costs and Failure costs are areas
One of the most important parts of a business is the financial management. Each and every other company always strives to have the best management when it comes to its finances. Most organizations have come up with plans and marketing strategies. This is due to the fact tat when companies finances are poorly managed then definitely the whole company is likely to be in trouble or even come down. The financial techniques and principles in most cases comprise of quite a number of aspect for instance those that we intend to look at in this paper-the financial reporting. This will basically comprise of the quality of data and information that the company produced to some of the various stakeholders. Other than that, the paper will also analyze the financial position and performance of the organization using accounting ratios. Another important aspect of financial principles is costing. This basically entails the cost of producing goods and services in the company and how it generally affects the overall performance of the company. The paper will also delve into how important costs in the pricing strategy of the business are. It will further come up with a costing and pricing system that can help the company improve. Last but not least, we focus on the company's budgets and budgetary control. Here there are very important areas that have to be looked into, for
Glaser Health Products manufactures medical items for the health care industry. Production involves machining, assembly and painting. Finished units are then packed and shipped. The financial controller is interested to introduce an activity-based costing (ABC) system to allocate (or distribute) indirect costs to products. Indirect costs, as distinct from direct costs, cannot be unambiguously linked to specific products. The controller would like to calculate product costs based on ABC for planning and control, not inventory valuation.
This paper provides a brief presentation of Activity-Based Costing methodology, how is used as well as its short comings.
In May 2006, Westmount Retirement Residence was having very low profitability. Its very simple pricing model essentially charged each resident the same price per month regardless of their needs. This was due to a change in the patients´ demands. In the past, patients´ demands were similar and therefore the company´s pricing and costing system was appropriate. But changes in the population and in the requirements of the residents caused that the pricing model remained out of date and the costing system inappropriate. One of the problems observed when analyzing the company´s situation was that due to the costing system used it was not possible to have a clear picture of how much each of the services offered were costing. Consequently, it was clearly very difficult being able to define a pricing system that will give the shareholders the desired profit. The first step was to design a new costing system adequate for the company
Essentially, with the current cost system, the managerial analysis is highly flawed due to a lack of crucial in-depth cost information, as indicated by:
Cost of Equity is the return that stockholders require for a company. A company’s cost of equity represents the compensation that the market demands in exchange for owning the assets and bearing the risk of ownership. Based on capital markets the cost of equity varies in direct relation to the assumed risk in that specific market. The distinctive of the firm is the sensitivity to market risk (β) which depends on everything from management to its business and capital structure. Therefore past performances and present conditions have a direct effect on the overall value. Applying calculations at a divisional level allows specified markets to be analysis based on present market conditions for that service or product. The formula used to calculate Cost of Equity is:
I have been asked to produce a report for management of Matteck plc in which I will evaluate the financial viability of the investment proposal. The company is considering expanding into Asia. This operation would involve the acquisition of a factory, a purchase of several new motor vehicles and a new distribution unit. The following are the estimated costs of the planned investment:
Businesses – from manufacturing, merchandising and service industries alike – take careful considerations for their costing systems. Setting-up competitive prices in the market can be a result of proper costing methods. Misallocation of costs may lead to incorrect price estimates, continuous production of unprofitable products, and ineffective processing schedules. In this case study, we will discuss the costing methods Zauner Ornaments are currently using and upon conclusion, it will enable us to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of each costing method.
INTRODUCTION Businesses – from manufacturing, merchandising and service industries alike – take careful consideration in the analysis of their costing systems in order to be able to set up competitive prices in the market. Misallocation of costs may lead to incorrect price estimates, continuous production of unprofitable products, and ineffective processing schedules. In this case study, we will discuss the costing methods which Zauner Ornaments have used or is currently using and, in conclusion, be able to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of each costing method. CASE CONTEXT The case seeks to assist Zauner’s comptroller, Yu Chia-yi, in determining the best costing method for their overhead costs. In addition we also aim to
This makes the company look good and they can afford to do this from good financial skills. Decisions like this make a good profit in the long run and all in all this is why it is so important to have a good management team.
Based on the real world functioning of businesses, every organization that deals with the process of manufacturing of certain products operates in accordance with the main principle of maximizing its profits. During the performance of daily activities, many business managers face a series of questions related to planning, control and decision making. In order to give answers to all these questions, an additional analysis needs to be considered. It is very important for managers to plan carefully how they are going to generate sufficient money to pay down costs and, in this way to result with a profit. As managers are interested in having the adequate information about the influence that certain actions might have on the profitability of the business, "Cost Volume and Profit" analysis plays a significant role by being a potential tool in facilitating the process of making the right decisions regarding planning and control in order to add value to the company. (Trifan and Anton, 2011). To further illustrate the essential impact that CVP analysis has on management authorities in making better decisions, I will refer to and analyze the case of the Hampshire Company which follows as below.
The purpose of this paper is to answer a few important questions: Why do companies allocate costs? How do companies allocate costs? And how this cost allocation can affect the decision making of the company. It is important for the companies to find the proper method to allocate the costs. Cost allocation is an important issue in many companies because many of the costs associated with designing, producing and distributing products and services are not easily identified with the products and services that are created. It would have been easier for companies to allocate cost if costs were directly traceable with the products and the cost allocation would have been minor issue for the company. The decision-making