For each of the following, select its best description. A. Provides information used to evaluate the performance of a department. B. Performs an organization's main functions, like manufacturing and selling. C. Costs incurred for the joint benefit of more than one department. D. Holds manager responsible for revenues, costs and major investing decisions. E. Costs that can be readily traced to a department. F. Costs not within a manager's control or influence. 1. Investment center 2. Responsibility accounting system 3. Uncontrollable costs |4. Operating department 5. Direct expenses 6. Indirect expenses

For each of the following, select its best description. A. Provides information used to evaluate the performance of a department. B. Performs an organization's main functions, like manufacturing and selling. C. Costs incurred for the joint benefit of more than one department. D. Holds manager responsible for revenues, costs and major investing decisions. E. Costs that can be readily traced to a department. F. Costs not within a manager's control or influence. 1. Investment center 2. Responsibility accounting system 3. Uncontrollable costs |4. Operating department 5. Direct expenses 6. Indirect expenses

Principles of Accounting Volume 2

19th Edition

ISBN:9781947172609

Author:OpenStax

Publisher:OpenStax

Chapter1: Accounting As A Tool For Managers

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 3MC: Which of the following is a primary aspect of the evaluating function within an organization?...

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An important goal of a responsibility accounting framework is to help ensure which of the following? A. decision-making is made by the top executives. B. investments made by each segment are minimized. C. identification of operating segments that should be closed. D. segment and company financial goals are congruent.
For each of the following situations, two scenarios are described, labeled A and B. Choose which scenario is descriptive of a setting corresponding to activity-based responsibility accounting and which is descriptive of financial-based responsibility accounting. Provide a brief commentary on the differences between the two systems for each situation, addressing the possible advantages of the activity-based view over the financial-based view. Situation 1 A: The purchasing manager, receiving manager, and accounts payable manager are given joint responsibility for procurement. The charges given to the group of managers are to reduce costs of acquiring materials, decrease the time required to obtain materials from outside suppliers, and reduce the number of purchasing mistakes (e.g., wrong type of materials or the wrong quantities ordered). B: The plant manager commended the manager of the Grinding Department for increasing his departments machine utilization ratesand doing so without exceeding the departments budget. The plant manager then asked other department managers to make an effort to obtain similar efficiency improvements. Situation 2 A: Delivery mistakes had been reduced by 70 percent, saving over 40,000 per year. Furthermore, delivery time to customers had been cut by two days. According to company policy, the team responsible for the savings was given a bonus equal to 25 percent of the savings attributable to improving delivery quality. Company policy also provided a salary increase of 1 percent for every day saved in delivery time. B: Bill Johnson, manager of the Product Development Department, was pleased with his departments performance on the last quarters projects. They had managed to complete all projects under budget, virtually assuring Bill of a fat bonus, just in time to help with this years Christmas purchases. Situation 3 A: Harvey, dont worry about the fact that your department is producing at only 70 percent capacity. Increasing your output would simply pile up inventory in front of the next production department. That would be costly for the organization as a whole. Sometimes, one department must reduce its performance so that the performance of the entire organization can improve. B: Susan, I am concerned about the fact that your departments performance measures have really dropped over the past quarter. Labor usage variances are unfavorable, and I also see that your machine utilization rates are down. Now, I know you are not a bottleneck department, but I get a lot of flack when my managers efficiency ratings drop. Situation 4 A: Colby was muttering to himself. He had just received last quarters budgetary performance report. Once again, he had managed to spend more than budgeted for both materials and labor. The real question now was how to improve his performance for the next quarter. B: Great! Cycle time had been reduced and, at the same time, the number of defective products had been cut by 35 percent. Cutting the number of defects reduced production costs by more than planned. Trends were favorable for all three performance measures. Situation 5 A: Cambry was furious. An across-the-board budget cut! How can they expect me to provide the computer services required on less money? Management is convinced that costs are out of control, but I would like to know whereat least in my department! B: After a careful study of the Accounts Payable Department, it was discovered that 80 percent of an accounts payable clerks time was spent resolving discrepancies between the purchase order, receiving document, and the suppliers invoice. Other activities such as recording and preparing checks consumed only 20 percent of a clerks time. A redesign of the procurement process eliminated virtually all discrepancies and produced significant cost savings. Situation 6 A: Five years ago, the management of Breeann Products commissioned an outside engineering consulting firm to conduct a time-and-motion study so that labor efficiency standards could be developed and used in production. These labor efficiency standards are still in use today and are viewed by management as an important indicator of productive efficiency. B: Janet was quite satisfied with this quarters labor performance. When compared with the same quarter of last year, labor productivity had increased by 23 percent. Most of the increase was due to a new assembly approach suggested by production line workers. She was also pleased to see that materials productivity had increased. The increase in materials productivity was attributed to reducing scrap because of improved quality. Situation 7 A: The system converts materials into products, not people at work stations. Therefore, process efficiency is more important than labor efficiencybut we also must pay particular attention to those who use the products we produce, whether inside or outside the firm. B: I was quite happy to see a revenue increase of 15 percent over last year, especially when the budget called for a 10 percent increase. However, after reading the recent copy of our trade journal, I now wonder whether we are doing so well. I found out that the market expanded by 30 percent, and our leading competitor increased its sales by 40 percent.
The actions listed next are associated with either an activity-based operational control system or a traditional operational control system: a. Budgeted costs for the maintenance department are compared with the actual costs of the maintenance department. b. The maintenance department manager receives a bonus for beating budget. c. The costs of resources are traced to activities and then to products. d. The purchasing department is set up as a responsibility center. e. Activities are identified and listed. f. Activities are categorized as adding or not adding value to the organization. g. A standard for a products material usage cost is set and compared against the products actual materials usage cost. h. The cost of performing an activity is tracked over time. i. The distance between moves is identified as the cause of materials handling cost. j. A purchasing agent is rewarded for buying parts below the standard price set by the company. k. The cost of the materials handling activity is reduced dramatically by redesigning the plant layout. l. An investigation is undertaken to find out why the actual labor cost for the production of 1,000 units is greater than the labor standard allowed. m. The percentage of defective units is calculated and tracked over time. n. Engineering has been given the charge to find a way to reduce setup time by 75 percent. o. The manager of the receiving department lays off two receiving clerks so that the fourth-quarter budget can be met. Required: Classify the preceding actions as belonging to either an activity-based operational control system or a traditional control system. Explain why you classified each action as you did.
When the manager has the responsibility and authority to make decisions that affect Costs and revenues but no responsibility for or authority over assets invested in the department, the department is called: A. A cost center B. A profit center C. An investment center D. A service department
When managerial accountants design an evaluation system that is based on criteria for which a manager is responsible, and it is structured to encourage managers to make decisions that will meet the goals of the company as well as their own personal job goals, the framework used is _______. A. a controllable factors framework B. an uncontrollable factors framework C. a strategic plan framework D. a responsibility accounting framework
A responsibility center in which managers are held accountable for both revenues and expenses is called a ______. A. discretionary cost center B. revenue center C. cost center D. profit center
An effective managerial accounting system should track information about an organizations activities in which of the following areas? a. Development b. Marketing c. Production d. Design e. All of these.
Which of the following does not describe a management control system? A. establishes a companys strategic goals B. implements a companys strategic goals C. monitors a companys strategic goals D. a system that only measures profitability
Assume you have been hired by Cabelas Sporting Goods. As part of your new role in the accounting department, you have been tasked to set up a responsibility accounting structure for the company. As your first task, your supervisor has asked you to give an example of a cost center, profit center, and an investment center within the Cabelas organization. Your supervisor is a little unsure of the difference between a profit center and investment center and would like you to explain the difference.
Classify each of the following performance measures into the balanced scorecard perspective to which it relates: financial perspective, internal operations perspective, learning and growth perspective, or customer perspective. A. Employee satisfaction surveys B. Units of waste per production process, uniformity of products and inventory control C. Number of energy-efficient bulbs replaced D. Management training course certificates awarded E. Divisional profit F. Number of customer referrals
The managers of an organization are responsible for performing several broad functions. They are ____________________________. planning, controlling, and selling directing, controlling, and evaluating planning, evaluating, and manufacturing planning, controlling, and evaluating
Which of the following is a primary aspect of the evaluating function within an organization? comparing actual results against expected results for products, departments, divisions, or the company as a whole reviewing only the quantitative or financial results of the company setting goals putting controls in place for the upcoming year