Activity-based costing in an insurance company Umbrella Insurance Company carries three major lines of insurance: auto, workers' compensation, and homeowners. The company has prepared the following report for 20Y2: Management is concerned that the administrative expenses may make some of the insurance lines unprofitable. However, the administrative expenses have not been allocated to the insurance lines. The controller has suggested that the administrative expenses could be assigned to the insurance lines using activity-based costing. The administrative expenses are comprised of five activities. The activities and their rates are as follows: Activity-base usage data for each line of insurance were retrieved from the corporate records and are shown below. a.Complete the product profitability report through the administrative activities. b.Determine the underwriting income as a percent of premium revenue. C.Determine the Operating income as a percent of premium revenue, rounded to one decimal place. d.Interpret the report.

Communication The controller of New Wave Sounds Inc. prepared the following product profitability report for management, using activity-based costing methods for allocating both the factory overhead and the marketing expenses. As such, the controller has confidence in the accuracy of this report. Home Theater Speakers Wireless Speakers Wireless Headphones Total Sales 1,500,000 1,200,000 900,000 3,600,000 Cost of goods sold 1,050,000 720,000 810,000 2,580,000 Gross profit 450,000 480,000 90,000 1,020,000 Marketing expenses 600,000 120,000 72,000 792,000 Income from operations (150,000) 360,000 18,000 228,000 In addition, the controller interviewed the vice president of marketing, who provided the following insight into the company's three products: The home theater speakers are an older product that is highly recognized in the marketplace. The wireless speakers are a new product that was just recently bunched. The wireless headphones are a new technology that has no competition in the marketplace, and it is hoped that they will become an important future addition to the companys product portfolio. Initial indications are that the product is well received by customers. The controller believes that the manufacturing costs for all three products are in line with expectations. Based on the information provided: 1. Calculate the ratio of gross profit to sales and the ratio of income from operations to sales for each product. 2. Write a brief (one page) memo using the product profitability report and the calculations in (1) to make recommendations to management with respect to strategies for the three products.

(Appendix 3A) Separating Fixed and Variable Costs, Service Setting Louise McDermott, controller for the Galvin plant of Veromar Inc., wanted to determine the cost behavior of moving materials throughout the plant. She accumulated the following data on the number of moves (from 100 to 800 in increments of 100) and the total cost of moving materials at those levels of moves: Required: 1. Prepare a scattergraph based on these data. Use cost for the vertical axis and number of moves for the horizontal axis. Based on an examination of the scattergraph, does there appear to be a linear relationship between the total cost of moving materials and the number of moves? 2. Compute the cost formula for moving materials by using the high-low method. Calculate the predicted cost for a month with 550 moves by using the high-low formula. (Note: Round the answer for the variable rate to three decimal places and the answer for total fixed cost and total cost to the nearest dollar.) 3. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Compute the cost formula for moving materials using the method of least squares. (Note: For the method of least squares, round the variable rate to two decimal places and total fixed cost and total cost to the nearest dollar.) Using the regression cost formula, what is the predicted cost for a month with 550 moves? What does the coefficient of determination tell you about the cost formula computed by regression? 4. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Evaluate the cost formula using the least squares coefficients. Could it be improved? Try dropping the third data point (300, 3,400), and rerun the regression.