Case 2: The Construction Company A construction company specializes in pouring foundations for housing units. It also has a division performing masonry work. In the last several years masonry work has become unprofitable because of a recession. The head of the masonry unit says: 1. We need to bid low for jobs in order to keep a cadre of skilled masons. When the recession ends, we will not have the capability of getting back into doing skilled masonry work if we don't have a viable group of masons. If necessary, we should accept modest losses on the job and not cover direct costs. 2. We should be evaluated as a service unit. We do work for the construction company clients keeping other construction companies out of our market area. Evaluate the masonry managers claims. Is the masonry department a service department? Should the company continue to keep a masonry unit if it is not turning a profit?

Case 2: The Construction Company A construction company specializes in pouring foundations for housing units. It also has a division performing masonry work. In the last several years masonry work has become unprofitable because of a recession. The head of the masonry unit says: 1. We need to bid low for jobs in order to keep a cadre of skilled masons. When the recession ends, we will not have the capability of getting back into doing skilled masonry work if we don't have a viable group of masons. If necessary, we should accept modest losses on the job and not cover direct costs. 2. We should be evaluated as a service unit. We do work for the construction company clients keeping other construction companies out of our market area. Evaluate the masonry managers claims. Is the masonry department a service department? Should the company continue to keep a masonry unit if it is not turning a profit?

Managerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Business Decision-Making

7th Edition

ISBN:9781337115773

Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. Heitger

Publisher:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. Heitger

Chapter10: Standard Costing And Variance Analysis

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 51E: Jackie Iverson was furious. She was about ready to fire Tom Rich, her purchasing agent. Just a month...

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Thus, Maria decided to pursue a quality-driven turnaround strategy. Revenue growth and cost reduction could both be achieved if quality could be improved. By growing revenues and decreasing costs, profitability could be increased. After meeting with the managers of production, marketing, purchasing, and human resources, Maria made the following decisions, effective immediately (end of November 20x1): a. More will be invested in employee training. Workers will be trained to detect quality problems and empowered to make improvements. Workers will be allowed a bonus of 10 percent of any cost savings produced by their suggested improvements. b. Two design engineers will be hired immediately, with expectations of hiring one or two more within a year. These engineers will be in charge of redesigning processes and products with the objective of improving quality. They will also be given the responsibility of working with selected suppliers to help improve the quality of their products and processes. Design engineers were considered a strategic necessity. c. Implement a new process: evaluation and selection of suppliers. This new process has the objective of selecting a group of suppliers that are willing and capable of providing nondefective components. d. Effective immediately, the division will begin inspecting purchased components. According to production, many of the quality problems are caused by defective components purchased from outside suppliers. Incoming inspection is viewed as a transitional activity. Once the division has developed a group of suppliers capable of delivering nondefective components, this activity will be eliminated. e. Within three years, the goal is to produce products with a defect rate less than 0.10 percent. By reducing the defect rate to this level, marketing is confident that market share will increase by at least 50 percent (as a consequence of increased customer satisfaction). Products with better quality will help establish an improved product image and reputation, allowing the division to capture new customers and increase market share. f. Accounting will be given the charge to install a quality information reporting system. Daily reports on operational quality data (e.g., percentage of defective units), weekly updates of trend graphs (posted throughout the division), and quarterly cost reports are the types of information required. g. To help direct the improvements in quality activities, kaizen costing is to be implemented. For example, for the year 20x1, a kaizen standard of 6 percent of the selling price per unit was set for rework costs, a 25 percent reduction from the current actual cost. To ensure that the quality improvements were directed and translated into concrete financial outcomes, Maria also began to implement a Balanced Scorecard for the division. By the end of 20x2, progress was being made. Sales had increased to 26,000,000, and the kaizen improvements were meeting or beating expectations. For example, rework costs had dropped to 1,500,000. At the end of 20x3, two years after the turnaround quality strategy was implemented, Maria received the following quality cost report: Maria also received an income statement for 20x3: Maria was pleased with the outcomes. Revenues had grown, and costs had been reduced by at least as much as she had projected for the two-year period. Growth next year should be even greater as she was beginning to observe a favorable effect from the higher-quality products. Also, further quality cost reductions should materialize as incoming inspections were showing much higher-quality purchased components. Required: 1. Identify the strategic objectives, classified by the Balanced Scorecard perspective. Next, suggest measures for each objective. 2. Using the results from Requirement 1, describe Marias strategy using a series of if-then statements. Next, prepare a strategy map. 3. Explain how you would evaluate the success of the quality-driven turnaround strategy. What additional information would you like to have for this evaluation? 4. Explain why Maria felt that the Balanced Scorecard would increase the likelihood that the turnaround strategy would actually produce good financial outcomes. 5. Advise Maria on how to encourage her employees to align their actions and behavior with the turnaround strategy.