Answered: A sales manager is proud of having…

A sales manager is proud of having doubled sales in the past four years. What questions should be asked before praising the manager?

Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Series)

4th Edition

ISBN:9781305970663

Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. Mowen

Publisher:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. Mowen

Chapter16: Cost-volume-profit Analysis

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 8DQ: Suppose a firm with a contribution margin ratio of 0.3 increased its advertising expenses by 10,000...

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Dana Baird was manager of a new Medical Supplies Division. She had just finished her second year and had been visiting with the companys vice president of operations. In the first year, the operating income for the division had shown a substantial increase over the prior year. Her second year saw an even greater increase. The vice president was extremely pleased and promised Dana a 5,000 bonus if the division showed a similar increase in profits for the upcoming year. Dana was elated. She was completely confident that the goal could be met. Sales contracts were already well ahead of last years performance, and she knew that there would be no increases in costs. At the end of the third year, Dana received the following data regarding operations for the first three years: The predetermined fixed overhead rate is based on expected actual units of production and expected fixed overhead. Expected production each year was 10,000 units. Any under-or overapplied fixed overhead is closed to Cost of Goods Sold. Assumes a LIFO inventory flow. Upon examining the operating data, Dana was pleased. Sales had increased by 20 percent over the previous year, and costs had remained stable. However, when she saw the yearly income statements, she was dismayed and perplexed. Instead of seeing a significant increase in income for the third year, she saw a small decrease. Surely, the Accounting Department had made an error. Required: 1. Explain to Dana why she lost her 5,000 bonus. 2. Prepare variable-costing income statements for each of the three years. Reconcile the differences between the absorption-costing and variable-costing incomes. 3. If you were the vice president of Danas company, which income statement (variable-costing or absorption-costing) would you prefer to use for evaluating Danas performance? Why?
Kent Tessman, manager of a Dairy Products Division, was pleased with his divisions performance over the past three years. Each year, divisional profits had increased, and he had earned a sizable bonus. (Bonuses are a linear function of the divisions reported income.) He had also received considerable attention from higher management. A vice president had told him in confidence that if his performance over the next three years matched his first three, he would be promoted to higher management. Determined to fulfill these expectations, Kent made sure that he personally reviewed every capital budget request. He wanted to be certain that any funds invested would provide good, solid returns. (The divisions cost of capital is 10 percent.) At the moment, he is reviewing two independent requests. Proposal A involves automating a manufacturing operation that is currently labor intensive. Proposal B centers on developing and marketing a new ice cream product. Proposal A requires an initial outlay of 250,000, and Proposal B requires 312,500. Both projects could be funded, given the status of the divisions capital budget. Both have an expected life of six years and have the following projected after-tax cash flows: After careful consideration of each investment, Kent approved funding of Proposal A and rejected Proposal B. Required: 1. Compute the NPV for each proposal. 2. Compute the payback period for each proposal. 3. According to your analysis, which proposal(s) should be accepted? Explain. 4. Explain why Kent accepted only Proposal A. Considering the possible reasons for rejection, would you judge his behavior to be ethical? Explain.
If Anna Cullumber, the company’s president, is successful in increasing sales revenue by 5%, by what percent will the company’s operating income increase?
ZNet Co. is a web-based retail company. The company reports the following for the past year. The company’s CEO believes that sales for next year will increase by 20% and both profit margin (%) and the level of average invested assets will be the same as for the past year. 1. Compute return on investment for the past year. 2. Compute profit margin for the past year. 3. If the CEO’s forecast is correct, what will return on investment equal for next year? 4. If the CEO’s forecast is correct, what will investment turnover equal for next year? Sales . $5,000,000 Operating income . $1,000,000 Average invested assets . $12,500,000
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1. EGGS presented its quarterly report in terms of performance. Indicators such as Revenue have increased by 10% and material purchase cost have decreased by 10%. According to this outcome the CEO of the company should be happy. However ,CEO’s main concern was that the company didn’t have enough money on hand when it wanted to invest. Explain what KPI they should measure in order to see a complete picture and how they can improve this KPI.
Payback, NPV, Managerial Incentives, Ethical Behavior Kent Tessman, manager of a Dairy Products Division, was pleased with his division's performance over the past three years. Each year, divisional profits had increased, and he had earned a sizable bonus. (Bonuses are a linear function of the division's reported income.) He had also received considerable attention from higher management. A vice president had told him in confidence that if his performance over the next three years matched his first three, he would be promoted to higher management. Determined to fulfill these expectations, Kent made sure that he personally reviewed every capital budget request. He wanted to be certain that any funds invested would provide good, solid returns. (The division's cost of capital is 10 percent.) At the moment, he is reviewing two independent requests. Proposal A involves automating a manufacturing operation that is currently labor intensive. Proposal B centers on developing and marketing a…
The president is considering a proposals prepared by members of his staff. For next year, the sales manager would to increase the unit selling price by 20%, increase the sales commission by 9%, and increase advertising by $100,00. Basaed on marketing studies, he is confident this would increase unit sales by one third. What profits would be under the sales manager's proposal? include both Total and Per Unit columns.
4. 5-23 The sales manager is convinced that a 10% reduction in the selling price, combined with a $30,000 increase in advertising, would increase this year’s unit sales by 25%. If the sales manager is right, what would be this year’s net operating income if his ideas are implemented? Do you recommend implementing the sales manager’s suggestions? Why?
Thom Lutz started a retail clothing business two years ago. Lutz’s first year was very successful, but sales dropped 50 percent in the second year. A friend who is a business consultant analyzed Lutz’s business and came up with two basic reasons for the decline in sales: (1) Lutz has been placing orders late in each season, and (2) shipments of clothing have been arriving late and in poor condition. What measures can Lutz take to improve his business and persuade customers to return?
Ben Johnson is the manager of the jewelry department of a large chain of department stores. Thedepartment store has succeeded on the basis of customer service and quality of merchandise. As amanager, Ben is compensated with a salary of $200,000 and a bonus based on his unit’s income.The bonus pool is 10% of companywide net income. When the unit’s return on invested assetsexceeds the rate of return of the whole company, the unit manager is included in the bonus pool;the bonus pool is divided evenly among the managers that qualify for the bonus. Selected information about the department store and Ben’s performance is as follows. Customer service is measuredon a 6-point scale, with 6 being the highest rating; quality of service is measured on a 10-pointscale, with 10 being the highest rating. In the current period, 25 managers qualified for the bonus,including Ben.JewelryDepartmentWholeCompanyStock price $ 42Net income $ 1,898,000 $ 16,500,000Assets invested $22,500,000…
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