Ethical Dilemma Product cost versus selling and administrative expense Emma Emerson is a proud woman with a problem. Her daughter has been accepted into a prestigious law school. While Ms. Emerson beams with pride, she is worried sick about how to pay for the school; she is a single parent who has worked hard to support herself and her three children. She had to go heavily into debt to finance her own education. Even though she now has a good job, family needs have continued to outpace her income and her debt burden is staggering. She knows she will be unable to borrow the money needed for her daughter’s law school. Ms. Emerson is the chief financial officer (CFO) of a small manufacturing company. She has just accepted a new job offer. Indeed, she has not yet told her employer that she will be leaving in a month. She is concerned that her year-end incentive bonus may be affected if her boss learns of her plans to leave. She plans to inform the company immediately after receiving the bonus. She knows her behavior is less than honorable, but she believes that she has been underpaid for a long time. Her boss, a relative of the company’s owner, makes twice what she makes and does half the work. Why should she care about leaving with a little extra cash? Indeed, she is considering an opportunity to boost the bonus. Ms. Emerson’s bonus is based on a percentage of net income. Her company recently introduced a new product line that required substantial production start-up costs. Ms. Emerson is fully aware that GAAP requires these costs to be expensed in the current accounting period, but no one else in the company has the technical expertise to know exactly how the costs should be treated. She is considering misclassifying the start-up costs as product costs. If the costs are misclassified, net income will be significantly higher, resulting in a nice boost in her incentive bonus. By the time the auditors discover the misclassification, Ms. Emerson will have moved on to her new job. If the matter is brought to the attention of her new employer, she will simply plead ignorance. Considering her daughter’s needs, Ms. Emerson decides to classify the start-up costs as product costs. Required a. Based on this information, indicate whether Ms. Emerson believes the number of units of product sold will be equal to, less than, or greater than the number of units made. Write a brief paragraph explaining the logic that supports your answer. b. Explain how the misclassification could mislead an investor or creditor regarding the company’s financial condition. c. Explain how the misclassification could affect income taxes. d. Review the Statement of Ethical Professional Practice shown in Exhibit 10.19 and identify at least two ethical principles that Ms. Emerson’s misclassification of the start-up costs violated.

Cost Behavior, High-Low Method, Pricing Decision Fonseca, Ruiz, and Dunn is a large, local accounting firm located in a southwestern city. Carlos Ruiz, one of the firms founders, appreciates the success his firm has enjoyed and wants to give something back to his community. He believes that an inexpensive accounting services clinic could provide basic accounting services for small businesses located in the barrio. He wants to price the services at cost. Since the clinic is brand new, it has no experience to go on. Carlos decided to operate the clinic for 2 months before determining how much to charge per hour on an ongoing basis. As a temporary measure, the clinic adopted an hourly charge of 25, half the amount charged by Fonseca, Ruiz, and Dunn for professional services. The accounting services clinic opened on January 1. During January, the clinic had 120 hours of professional service. During February, the activity was 150 hours. Costs for these two levels of activity usage are as follows: Required: 1. Classify each cost as fixed, variable, or mixed, using hours of professional service as the activity driver. 2. Use the high-low method to separate the mixed costs into their fixed and variable components. (Note: Round variable rates to two decimal places and fixed amounts to the nearest dollar.) 3. Luz Mondragon, the chief paraprofessional of the clinic, has estimated that the clinic will average 140 professional hours per month. If the clinic is to be operated as a nonprofit organization, how much will it need to charge per professional hour ? How much of this charge is variable? How much is fixed? (Note: Round answers to two decimal places.) 4. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Suppose the accounting center averages 170 professional hours per month. How much would need to be charged per hour for the center to cover its costs ? Explain why the per-hour charge decreased as the activity output increased. (Note: Round answers to two decimal places.)

Integrative Problem Samantha Sampson retired a few years ago at the age of 55. Because she is bored with retirement and still relatively young, Samantha has considered starting a business of her own. However, she doesn’t know anything about business. As a result, Sam has hired the consulting firm for which you work to give her a brief tutorial on business and finance. To begin her lesson, Ms. Sampson has asked you to answer the following questions: What is lean manufacturing? How is the goal of value maximization related to lean manufacturing?

1. Lean Principles The chief executive officer (CEO) of Platnum Inc. has just returned from a management seminar describing the benefits of the lean philosophy. The CEO issued the following statement after returning from the conference: This company will become a lean manufacturing company. Presently, we have too much inventory. To become lean, we need to eliminate the excess inventory. Therefore, I want all employees to begin reducing inventories until we make products "just-in-time". Thank you for your cooperation. To implement lean, a company must first remove the reasons for excess inventory. All of the following are reasons except: a.poor quality b.large setup times c.unreliable equipment d.poor employee relationships e.worker's unions

Case 2 Ethics and a Cost-Volume-Profit Application Danna Lumus, the marketing manager for a division that produces a variety of paper products, is considering the divisional manager's request for a sales forecast for a new line of paper napkins. The divisional manager has been gathering data so that he can choose between two different production processes. The first process would have a variable cost of $10 per case produced and total fixed cost of $100,000. The second process would have a variable cost of $6 per case and total fixed cost of $200,000. The selling price would be $30 per case. Danna had just completed a marketing analysis that projects annual sales of 30,000 cases. Danna is reluctant to report the 30,000 forecast to the divisional manager. She knows that the first process would be labor intensive, whereas the second would be largely automated with little labor and no requirement for an additional production supervisor. If the first process is chosen, Jerry Johnson, a…

2 Uma has heard about cost-volume-profit analysis and wants to know how it applies to her business. The cost accountant at the soda factory is constantly rambling about break-even and margin of safety. Uma wants comprehensive analysis and recommendations on how her business can be run as effectively as possible.

Ethics in Action Danielle Hastings was recently hired as a cost analyst by CareNet Medical Supplies Inc. One of Danielles first assignments was to perform a net present value analysis for a new warehouse. Danielle performed the analysis and determined a present value index of 0.75. The plant manager, Jerrod Moore, is very intent on purchasing the warehouse because he believes that more storage space is needed. Jerrod asks Danielle into his office and the following conversation takes place: Jerrod: Danielle, youre new here, arent you? Danielle: Yes, I am. Jerrod: Well, Danielle, Im not at all pleased with the capital investment analysis that you performed on this new warehouse. I need that warehouse for my production. If I dont get it, where am I going to place our output? Danielle: Well, we need to get product into our customers hands. Jerrod: I agree, and we need a warehouse to do that. Danielle: My analysis does not support constructing a new warehouse. The numbers dont lie; the warehouse does not meet our investment return targets. In fact, it seems to me that purchasing a warehouse does not add much value to the business. We need to be producing product to satisfy customer orders, not to fill a warehouse. Jerrod: The headquarters people will not allow me to build the warehouse if the numbers dont add up. You know as well as I that many assumptions go into your net present value analysis. Why dont you relax some of your assumptions so that the financial savings will offset the cost? Danielle: Im willing to discuss my assumptions with you. Maybe I overlooked something. Jerrod: Good. Heres what I want you to do. I see in your analysis that you dont project greater sales as a result of the warehouse. It seems to me that if we can store more goods, then we will have more to sell. Thus, logically, a larger warehouse translates into more sales. If you incorporate this into your analysis, I think youll see that the numbers will work out. Why dont you work it through and come back with a new analysis. Im really counting on you on this one. Lets get off to a good start together and see if we can get this project accepted. What is your advice to Danielle?

Extreme Sports sells logo sports merchandise. The company is contemplating whether or not to continue its custom embroidery service. All of the companys direct fixed costs can be avoided if a segment is dropped. This information is available for the segments. A. What will be the impact on net income if the embroidery segment is dropped? B. Assume that if the embroidery segment is dropped, apparel sales will increase 10%. What is the impact on the contribution margin and net income solely for the apparel? C. Identify one cost that is not relevant in this analysis.

Ethics and professional conduct in business Erin Haywood was recently hired as a cost analyst by Wind River Medical Supplies Inc. Oneof Erin’s first assignments was to perform a net present value analysis for a new warehouse.Et-in performed the analysis and calculated a present value index of 0.8. The plant manager.ZuhairBarbat, is very intent on purchasing the warehouse because he believes that more storage space is needed. Zuhair asks Erín into his office and the following conversation takes place: ZubairErín, you’re new here, aren’t you? EHii: Yes, sir. Zubair: V.dl, Erin, let me tell you something. ¡m not at all pleased with the capital investment analysis that you performed on this new warehouse. T need that warehouse for my production. If I dont get it, where am I going to place our output? Erín: Hopefully with the customer, sir. Zithair: Now don’t get smart with me. Erín: No, really. I was being serious. My analysis does not support constructing a new ware- house. The numbers don’t lie: the warehouse does not meet our investment return targets. In fact, it seems to me that purchasing a warehouse dots not add much value to the business. We need to be producing product to satisfy customer orders, not to fill a warehouse. Zubair Listen, you need to understand sonwthing. The headquarters people will not allow mv to build the warehouse if the numbers dont add up. You know as well as I that many assump tions go into your net present value analysis. Why don’t you relax some of your assumptions so that the f́nancial savings will offset the cost? Erín: I’m willing to discuss my assumptions with you. Maybe I overlooked something. Zubafr Good. Here’s what I want you to do. 1 see in your analysis tha you don’t project greater sales as a result of the warehouse. It seems to me, if we can store more goxLs, then will have more to sell. Thus, logically, a larger warehouse translates into more sales. If you incorporate this into your analysis, I think you’ll see that the numbers will work out. Why don’t you work it through and come back with a new analysis? I’m really counting on you on this one. Let’s get off to a good start together and see if we can get this project accepted. What is your advice to Erin?

Variable and Fixed Costs, Cost Formula, High-Low Method Li Ming Yuan and Tiffany Shaden are the department heads for the accounting department and human resources department, respectively, at a large textile firm in the southern United States. They have just returned from an executive meeting at which the necessity of cutting costs and gaining efficiency has been stressed. After talking with Tiffany and some of her staff members, as well as his own staff members, Li Ming discovered that there were a number of costs associated with the claims processing activity. These costs included the salaries of the two paralegals who worked full time on claims processing, the salary of the accountant who cut the checks, the cost of claims forms, checks, envelopes, and postage, and depreciation on the office equipment dedicated to the processing. Some of the paralegals time appears to vary with the routine processing of uncontested claims, but considerable time also appears to be spent on the claims that have incomplete documentation or are contested. The accountants time appears to vary with the number of claims processed. Li Ming was able to separate the costs of processing claims from the costs of running the departments of accounting and human resources. He gathered the data on claims processing cost and the number of claims processed per month for the past 6 months. These data are as follows: Required: 1. Classify the claims processing costs that Li Ming identified as variable and fixed. 2. What is the independent variable? The dependent variable? 3. Use the high-low method to find the fixed cost per month and the variable rate. What is the cost formula? 4. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Suppose that an outside company bids on the claims processing business. The bid price is 4.60 per claim. If Tiffany expects 75,600 claims next year, should she outsource the claims processing or continue to do it in-house?

Saifi halwa is running a successful business in Nizwa. They are supplying halwa to different suppliers in Dakhliya Region. They want to be economical and efficient in their business. It means they have to Decrease non-productive work within the organization Increase non-productive activities within the organization Decrease production of the product Increase production without considering the quantity

Lean Principles The chief executive officer (CEO) of Cobalt Inc. just read an article written by a business professor at Harvard University describing the benefits of the lean philosophy. The CEO issued the following statement after reading the article: This company will become a lean manufacturing company. Presently, we have too much inventory. To become lean, we need to eliminate the excess inventory. Therefore, I want all employees to begin reducing inventories until we make products “just-in-time. ” Thank you for your cooperation. a. Lean manufacturing is ____. Identify the statement that suits the above situation. A philosophy that focuses on reducing time, cost, poor quality and uncertainty from a process. An inventory reduction method. Producing based on the sales. Improving productivity ignoring the quality and other aspects. b. A CEO of a company suddenly commands that the company will become lean manufacturing company due to increased inventory. Identify the statement…

Break-Even Analysis for Individual Products in a Multiproduct Company Cheryl Montoya picked up the phone and called her boss, Wes Chan, the vice president of marketing at Piedmont Fasteners Corporation: “Wes, I’m not sure how to go about answering the questions that came up at the meeting with the president yesterday.” “What’s the problem?” “The president wanted to know the break-even point for each of the company’s products, but I am having trouble figuring them out.” “I’m sure you can handle it, Cheryl. And, by the way, I need your analysis on my desk tomorrow morning at 8:00 sharp in time for the follow-up meeting at 9:00.” Piedmont Fasteners Corporation makes three different clothing fasteners in its manufacturing facility in North Carolina. Data concerning these products appear below: Total fixed expenses are $400,000 per year. All three products are sold in highly competitive markets, so the company is unable to raise prices without losing an unacceptable numbers of customers.…

Solution Summary: The author explains the logic behind Person E's beliefs that the product sold will be equal to, less than, or greater than the number of units sold.

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Chapter 10 Solutions