Evaluating Management
SPG Company manufactures and sells metal products that are used in many manufacturing operations. The management at SPG believes strongly in decentralized decision making and using performance evaluation and compensation to encourage high-performing managers. Marilyn Conners is the manager of the manufacturing operations, which produces and transfers the product to the marketing division. Jack Schwartz is the manager of marketing. Marilyn is evaluated on
Information on performance last year follows:
Required
What recommendations would you suggest for changes to the SPG management control system, if any? Discuss the delegation of decision authority, performance evaluation and measurement, and compensation design in your response.
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Fundamentals Of Cost Accounting (6th Edition)
- John Thomas, vice president of Mallett Company (a producer of a variety of plastic products), has been supervising the implementation of an ABC management system. John wants to improve process efficiency by improving the activities that define the processes. To illustrate the potential of the new system to the president, John has decided to focus on two processes: production and customer service. Within each process, one activity will be selected for improvement: materials usage for production and sustaining engineering for customer service (sustaining engineers are responsible for redesigning products based on customer needs and feedback). Value-added standards are identified for each activity. For materials usage, the value-added standard calls for six pounds per unit of output (the products differ in shape and function, but their weight is uniform). The value-added standard is based on the elimination of all waste due to defective molds. The standard price of materials is 5 per pound. For sustaining engineering, the standard is 58% of current practical activity capacity. This standard is based on the fact that about 42% of the complaints have to do with design features that could have been avoided or anticipated by the company. Current practical capacity (at the end of 20X1) is defined by the following requirements: 6,000 engineering hours for each product group that has been on the market or in development for 5 years or less and 2,400 hours per product group of more than 5 years. Four product groups have less than 5 years experience, and 10 product groups have more. Each of the 24 engineers is paid a salary of 60,000. Each engineer can provide 2,000 hours of service per year. No other significant costs are incurred for the engineering activity. Actual materials usage for 20X1 was 25% above the level called for by the value-added standard; engineering usage was 46,000 hours. A total of 80,000 units of output were produced. John and the operational managers have selected some improvement measures that promise to reduce nonvalue-added activity usage by 40% in 20X2. Selected actual results achieved for 20X2 are as follows: The actual prices paid for materials and engineering hours are identical to the standard or budgeted prices. Required: 1. For 20X1, calculate the nonvalue-added usage and costs for materials usage and sustaining engineering. 2. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Using the budgeted improvements, calculate the expected activity usage levels for 20X2. Now, compute the 20X2 usage variances (the difference between the expected and actual values), expressed in both physical and financial measures, for materials and engineering. Comment on the companys ability to achieve its targeted reductions. In particular, discuss what measures the company must take to capture any realized reductions in resource usage.arrow_forwardAnalyze Horsepower Hookup, Inc. Horsepower Hookup, Inc., is a large automobile company that specializes in the production of high-powered trucks. The company is determining cost allocations for purposes of performance evaluation. A portion of company bonuses depends on divisions achieving cost management goals. This necessitates highly accurate support department cost allocation. Management has also stated that it has the means to implement as complex a method as necessary. The general manager over the Mid-Size D wants to get a good idea of what factors are driving the costs of the support departments in order to make accurate cost allocations, so finding accurate support department cost drivers is important. Support department costs include Janitorial (163,100) and Security (285,400). The Janitorial costs vary depending on the number of vehicles produced, increasing with larger production volumes. Security costs are fixed based on the size of the lot, and do not change with respect to how many vehicles are in the lot or warehouse. Joint costs involved in producing the trucks before the split-off point where the various makes, models, and colors are produced are 946,000 for the period. All makes, models, and colors sell at relatively similar margins, but the sports models and metallic colors are normally more difficult to produce during the joint production process. a. Which support department cost allocation method (direct, sequential, or reciprocal services) should be used to allocate support department cost? b. What driver would be best for allocating Janitorial costs? c. What driver would be best for allocating Security costs? d. If Janitorial costs were to be allocated based on square footage, and Security costs based on asset value, what percentage of each support departments costs would be allocated to each production department using the sequential method (allocating Security costs first) given the following: e. Should Janitorial and Security costs be considered when evaluating the performance of cost management employees? f. What joint cost allocation method should be used for performance evaluation purposes?arrow_forwardTom Young, vice president of Dunn Company (a producer of plastic products), has been supervising the implementation of an activity-based cost management system. One of Toms objectives is to improve process efficiency by improving the activities that define the processes. To illustrate the potential of the new system to the president, Tom has decided to focus on two processes: production and customer service. Within each process, one activity will be selected for improvement: molding for production and sustaining engineering for customer service. (Sustaining engineers are responsible for redesigning products based on customer needs and feedback.) Value-added standards are identified for each activity. For molding, the value-added standard calls for nine pounds per mold. (Although the products differ in shape and function, their size, as measured by weight, is uniform.) The value-added standard is based on the elimination of all waste due to defective molds (materials is by far the major cost for the molding activity). The standard price for molding is 15 per pound. For sustaining engineering, the standard is 60 percent of current practical activity capacity. This standard is based on the fact that about 40 percent of the complaints have to do with design features that could have been avoided or anticipated by the company. Current practical capacity (the first year) is defined by the following requirements: 18,000 engineering hours for each product group that has been on the market or in development for five years or less, and 7,200 hours per product group of more than five years. Four product groups have less than five years experience, and 10 product groups have more. There are 72 engineers, each paid a salary of 70,000. Each engineer can provide 2,000 hours of service per year. There are no other significant costs for the engineering activity. For the first year, actual pounds used for molding were 25 percent above the level called for by the value-added standard; engineering usage was 138,000 hours. There were 240,000 units of output produced. Tom and the operational managers have selected some improvement measures that promise to reduce non-value-added activity usage by 30 percent in the second year. Selected actual results achieved for the second year are as follows: The actual prices paid per pound and per engineering hour are identical to the standard or budgeted prices. Required: 1. For the first year, calculate the non-value-added usage and costs for molding and sustaining engineering. Also, calculate the cost of unused capacity for the engineering activity. 2. Using the targeted reduction, establish kaizen standards for molding and engineering (for the second year). 3. Using the kaizen standards prepared in Requirement 2, compute the second-year usage variances, expressed in both physical and financial measures, for molding and engineering. (For engineering, explain why it is necessary to compare actual resource usage with the kaizen standard.) Comment on the companys ability to achieve its targeted reductions. In particular, discuss what measures the company must take to capture any realized reductions in resource usage.arrow_forward
- 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. In addition, the controller interviewed the vice president of marketing, who provided the following insight into the companys 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 launched. 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 operating income to sales for each product. 2. Write a brief (one-page) memo using the product profitability report and the calculations in (a) to make recommendations to management with respect to strategies for the three products.arrow_forwardTwo departments within Cougar Gear Inc. are Production and Sales. Each department has a unique scorecard, as follows: The Production Department scorecard focuses on the learning and growth and internal processes perspectives. The Sales Department scorecard focuses on the learning and growth and customer perspectives. Both scorecards have the learning and growth performance metrics of median training hours per employee and average employee tenure. The Production scorecard has the unique metrics of production time per unit and number of production shutdowns. The Sales scorecard has the unique metrics of percentage of customers who shop again and online customer satisfaction rating. The performance targets for each metric are shown in the tan boxes just under the performance metrics. The actual achieved metrics are shown in the red boxes just below the tan boxes. When evaluating both departments, Cougar Gears management looks at the median training hours per employee and average employee tenure metrics and subsequently decides to give the Sales Department a large bonus while giving the Production Department a minimal bonus. a. Determine and define the type of cognitive bias Cougar Gears management has exhibited in this instance. b. Determine which department would have received the larger bonus had the companys management not been biased in the evaluation. c. Discuss one advantage and one disadvantage of using unique balanced scorecards for different departments or divisions of a company.arrow_forwardThe 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.arrow_forward
- Pareto chart and cost of quality report for a manufacturing company The president of Mission Inc. has been concerned about the growth in costs over the last several years. The president asked the controller to perform an activity analysis to gain a better insight into these costs. The activity analysis revealed the following: The production process is complicated by quality problems, requiring the production manager to expedite production and dispose of scrap. Instructions 1. Prepare a Pareto chart of the company activities. 2. Classify the activities into prevention, appraisal, internal failure, external failure, and not costs of quality (producing product). Classify the activities into value-added and non-value-added activities. 3. Use the activity cost information to determine the percentages of total costs that are prevention, appraisal, internal failure, external failure, and not costs of quality. 4. Determine the percentages of total costs that are value-added and non-value-added. 5. Interpret the information.arrow_forwardCoulson and Company is a large retail business that has a firm-wide balanced scorecard. Recently, management has discussed the need for the balanced scorecard to be more relevant to each individual department of the company. Specifically, management wants to come up with unique scorecards for its Public Relations and Inventory Management departments. For both departments, management recognizes that properly and efficiently training employees is important. For these purposes, management gathers data on the median training hours per employee and new employee performance review ratings. For the Inventory Management Department, management is focused on reducing stockouts (running out of certain inventory items) and keeping accurate inventory counts. For these purposes, the company tracks the number of back orders and discrepancies between the physical and record counts of inventory, respectively. For the Public Relations Department, management is focused on improving the publics CSR image of the company and attracting new customers. Management measures these objectives using Forbes CSR Rating of Coulson and Company and the number of new customers, respectively. a. Identify the term for Coulson and Companys plan to create unique balanced scorecards for its individual departments. b. Draw the unique balanced scorecards of each department. Identify the departments common and unique measures, and include all the elements of the balanced scorecard that you can in your drawings, given the information provided.arrow_forwardLean manufacturing is characterized by all but one of the following: a. Employee empowerment b. Total quality management c. Inventories of goods awaiting further processing or consumption d. Elimination of wastearrow_forward
- Joseph Fox, controller of Thorpe Company, has been in charge of a project to install an activity-based cost management system. This new system is designed to support the companys efforts to become more competitive. For the past six weeks, he and the project committee members have been identifying and defining activities, associating workers with activities, and assessing the time and resources consumed by individual activities. Now, he and the project committee are focusing on three additional implementation issues: (1) identifying activity drivers, (2) assessing value content, and (3) identifying cost drivers (root causes). Joseph has assigned a committee member the responsibilities of assessing the value content of five activities, choosing a suitable activity driver for each activity, and identifying the possible root causes of the activities. Following are the five activities with possible activity drivers: The committee member ran a regression analysis for each potential activity driver, using the method of least squares to estimate the variable and fixed cost components. In all five cases, costs were highly correlated with the potential drivers. Thus, all drivers appeared to be good candidates for assigning costs to products. The company plans to reward production managers for reducing product costs. Required: 1. What is the difference between an activity driver and a cost driver? In answering the question, describe the purpose of each type of driver. 2. For each activity, assess the value content and classify each activity as value-added or non-value-added (justify the classification). Identify some possible root causes of each activity, and describe how this knowledge can be used to improve activity performance. For purposes of discussion, assume that the value-added activities are not performed with perfect efficiency. 3. Describe the behavior that each activity driver will encourage, and evaluate the suitability of that behavior for the companys objective of becoming more competitive.arrow_forwardFlexible budgeting, performance measurement, and ethics Montevideo Manufacturing, Inc. produces a single type of small motor. The bookkeeper who does not have an in-depth understanding of accounting principles prepared the following performance report with the help of the production manager. In a conversation with the sales manager, the production manager was overheard saying, You sales guys really messed up our May performance, and it is only because production did such a great job controlling costs that we arent in even worse shape. Required: 1. Do you agree with the production manager that the manufacturing area did a good job of controlling costs? 2. Prepare a flexible budget for Montevideo Manufacturings expenses at the following activity levels: 45,000 units, 50,000 units, and 55,000 units. 3. Prepare a revised performance report, using the most appropriate flexible budget from (2) above. 4. Now what is your response to the production managers claim? 5. Assume that you have just been hired as the new accountant. You observe that the production manager is about to receive a large bonus based on the favorable materials, labor, and factory overhead variances indicated in the flexible budget prepared by the bookkeeper. Using the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice as your guide, what standards, if any, apply to your responsibilities in this matter?arrow_forwardAs manager of department B in MarIeys Manufacturing, based on the costs you identified in the previous exercise for further research, how does this impact the financial performance of your department, and what might be some questions you want to ask or solutions you might propose to Marleys management?arrow_forward
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