Allocation of common costs. Gordon Grimes, a self-employed consultant near Atlanta, received an invitation to visit a prospective client in Seattle. A few days later, he received an invitation to make a presentation to a prospective client in Denver. He decided to combine his visits, traveling from Atlanta to Seattle, Seattle to Denver, and Denver to Atlanta.
Grimes received offers for his consulting services from both companies. Upon his return, he decided to accept the engagement in Denver. He is puzzled over how to allocate his travel costs between the two clients. He has collected the following data for regular round-trip fares with no stopovers:
Atlanta to Seattle | $600 |
Atlanta to Denver | $400 |
Grimes paid $900 for his three-leg flight (Atlanta–Seattle, Seattle–Denver, Denver–Atlanta). In addition, he paid $45 each way ($90 total) for limousines from his home to Atlanta Airport and back when he returned.
- 1. How should Grimes allocate the $900 airfare between the clients in Seattle and Denver using (a) the stand-alone cost-allocation method, (b) the incremental cost-allocation method, and (c) the Shapley value method?
Required
- 2. Which method would you recommend Grimes use and why?
- 3. How should Grimes allocate the $90 limousine charges between the clients in Seattle and Denver?
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COST ACCOUNTING
- Aaron McKinney is a cost accountant for Majik Systems Inc. Martin Dodd, Vice President of Marketing, has asked Aaron to meet with representatives of Majik Systems major competitor to discuss product cost data. Martin indicates that the sharing of these data will enable Majik Systems to determine a fair and equitable price for its products. Would it be ethical for Aaron to attend the meeting and share the relevant cost data? Explain your answer.arrow_forwardConsumer Focus is a marketing research firm that organizes focus groups for consumerproduct companies. A Consumer Focus Staff member attends each session to ensure that all the logistical aspects run smoothly”In light to the above statement, classify each of the following cost items as:a. Direct or Indirect (D or I) costs with respect to each individual focus group.b. Variable or Fixed (V or F) costs with respect to how the total costs of Consumer Focus change as the number of focus groups conducted changes. (If in doubt, select on the basis of whether the total costs will change substantially if there is a large change in the number of groups conducted.)You will have two answers (D or I; V or F) for each of the following items followed by a short interpretation note. Use the sample answer table and continue from Cost Item BCost ItemA. Payment to individual in each focus group to provide comments on new products.B. Annual subscription of Consumer Focus to Consumer Reports magazine.C.…arrow_forwardTed Lozano is a cost accountant for Company C. Fred Lopez, Vice President of Marketing, has asked Ted to meet with representatives of Company C’s major competitor to discuss product cost data. Fred indicates that the sharing of these data will enable Company C to determine a fair and equitable price for its products. Instructions: Would it be ethical for Ted to attend the meeting and share the relevant cost data? Explain your answer.arrow_forward
- Aaron is a cost accountant for Majik Systems Inc. Martin the VP of marketing has asked Aaron to meet with the represenatives of Majik Systems major competitor to discuss product cost data. Martin indicates that the sharing of data will enable Majik Systems to determin a fair and equitable price for its products. Would it be ethical for Aaron to attend the meeting and share the relevant cost data? Why or Why not?arrow_forwardIt is your first day at a new job and you talk about the themes of cost system design. One of your new colleagues asks, “If different cost information is used for different purposes, does that mean we do not know what something costs? I thought that was what a cost system reported.” How would you respond?arrow_forwardVariable and Fixed Costs, Cost Formula, High-Low MethodLi Ming Yuan and Tiffany Shaden are the department heads for the accounting department andhuman 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 wellas his own staff members, Li Ming discovered that there were a number of costs associated withthe claims processing activity. These costs included the salaries of the two paralegals who workedfull time on claims processing, the salary of the accountant who cut the checks, the cost of claimsforms, checks, envelopes, and postage, and depreciation on the office equipment dedicated to theprocessing. Some of the paralegals’ time appears to vary with the routine processing of uncontestedclaims, but considerable time also appears to be spent on the claims that…arrow_forward
- Discuss how allocation of customer-related overhead cost can lead to better decision making within firms with reference to the case below. ‘An insurance company, A-Insure Limited, decided to use CPA to identify profitable and non-profitable customers after it grew concerned about the poor financial performance of one of its policy options. A-Insure collected customer data through original policy proposal forms which were stored electronically in a customer database. It was able to conduct a complex cross correlation between known cost drivers and the demographic and other characteristics of policy holders. The cost drivers were: • commission payments to financial advisers who sold the policy • early surrender of the policy by the policy holder • changing of bank details and consequent chasing of missed premiums • responding to customer queries. The analysis identified that the policy was unprofitable when sold to recently retired clients but was profitable when sold to other client…arrow_forwardDifferential Costing As pointed out earlier in Heres the Real Kicker, Kicker changed banks a couple of years ago because the loan officer at its bank moved out of state. Kicker saw that as an opportunity to take bids for its banking business and to fine-tune the banking services it was using. This problem uses that situation as the underlying scenario but uses three banks: FirstBank, Community Bank, and RegionalOne Bank. A set of representative data was presented to each bank for the purpose of preparing a bid. The data are as follows: Checking accounts needed: 6 Checks per month: 2,000 Foreign debits/credits on checking accounts per month: 200 Deposits per month: 300 Returned checks: 25 per month Credit card charges per month: 4,000 Wire transfers per month: 100, of which 60 are to foreign bank accounts Monthly credit needs (line of credit availability and cost): 100,000 average monthly usage These are overall totals for the six accounts during a month. Internet banking services? Knowledgeable loan officer? Responsiveness of bank? FirstBank Bid: Checking accounts: 5 monthly maintenance fee per account 0.10 foreign debit/credit 0.50 earned for each deposit 3 per returned check Credit card fees: 0.50 per item Wire transfers: 15 to domestic bank accounts, 50 to foreign bank accounts Line of credit: Yes, this amount is available, interest charged at prime plus 2%, subject to a 6% minimum interest rate Internet banking services? Yes, full online banking available: 15 one-time setup fee for each account 20 monthly fee for software module The loan officer assigned to the potential Kicker account had 10 years of experience with medium to large business banking and showed an understanding of the audio industry. Community Bank Bid: Checking accounts: No fees for the accounts, and no credits earned on deposits 2.00 per returned check Credit card fees: 0.50 per item, 7 per batch processed. Only manual processing was available, and Kicker estimated 20 batches per month Wire transfers: 30 per wire transfer Line of credit: Yes, this amount is available: interest charged at prime plus 2% subject to a 7% minimum interest rate Internet banking services? Not currently, but within the next 6 months The loan officer assigned to the potential Kicker account had 4 years of experience with medium to large business banking, none of which pertained to the audio industry. RegionalOne Bank Bid: Checking accounts: 5 monthly maintenance fee per account to be waived for Kicker 0.20 foreign debit/credit 0.30 earned for each deposit 3.80 per returned check Credit card fees: 0.50 per item Wire transfers: 10 to domestic bank accounts, 55 to foreign bank accounts Line of credit: Yes, this amount is available: interest charged at prime plus 2% subject to a 6.5% minimum interest rate Internet banking services? Yes, full online banking available: one-time setup fee for each account waived for Kicker 20 monthly fee for software module The loan officer assigned to the potential Kicker account had 2 years of experience with large business banking. Another branch of the bank had expertise in the audio industry and would be willing to help as needed. This bank was the first one to submit a bid. Required: 1. Calculate the predicted monthly cost of banking with each bank. Round answers to the nearest dollar. 2. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Suppose Kicker felt that full online Internet banking was critical. How would that affect your analysis from Requirement 1? How would you incorporate the subjective factors (e.g., experience, access to expertise)?arrow_forwardVariable 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?arrow_forward
- As 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_forwardCost 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.)arrow_forwardIn a team of two or three students, interview the manager/owner of a local business. In this interview, ask the manager/owner the following questions: A. Does the business collect and use cost information to make decisions? B. Does it have a specialist in cost estimation who works with this cost data? If not, who is responsible for the collection of cost information? Be as specific as possible. C. What type of cost information does the business collect and how is each type of information used? D. How important does the owner/manager believe cost information is to the success of the business? Then, write a report to the instructor summarizing the results of the interview. Content of the memo must include date of the interview, the name and title of the person interviewed, name and location of the business, type of business (service, merchandising, manufacturing) and brief description of the goods/services provided by the business, and responses to questions A-D.arrow_forward
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