1. Pam Kelly says she has no faith in budgets. Her company, Kelly Manufacturing Corporation, spent thousands of dollars to install a sophisticated budget system. One year later the company’s expenses are still out of control. She believes budgets simply do not work. How would you respond to Ms. Kelly’s beliefs?
Explain the importance of budgets to Person P that makes the employees responsible to control costs.
Explanation of Solution
Budget: Budget is a formal statement of a company’s future plans expressed in monetary terms that are established by the management to fulfill the financial objectives.
Importance of budgets in controlling costs: Budgets are prepared by people to plan the revenue and expenses. But if the budgeting system is not followed by people, the preparation of budgets is a mere paper work. Person P should train the employees to use the budgeting system and make them responsible for the costs under their control.
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Chapter 15 Solutions
SURVEY OF ACCOUNTING-ACCESS
- Dorothy Koehl recently leased space in the Southside Mall and opened a new business, Koehl’s Doll Shop. Business has been good, but Koehl frequently runs out of cash. This has necessitated late payment on certain orders, which is beginning to cause a problem with suppliers. Koehl plans to borrow from the bank to have cash ready as needed, but first she needs a forecast of how much she should borrow. Accordingly, she has asked you to prepare a cash budget for the critical period around Christmas, when needs will be especially high. Sales are made on a cash basis only. Koehl’s purchases must be paid for during the following month. Koehl pays herself a salary of $4,800 per month, and the rent is $2,000 per month. In addition, she must make a tax payment of $12,000 in December. The current cash on hand (on December 1) is $400, but Koehl has agreed to maintain an average bank balance of $6,000—this is her target cash balance. (Disregard the amount in the cash register, which is insignificant because Koehl keeps only a small amount on hand in order to lessen the chances of robbery.) The estimated sales and purchases for December, January, and February are shown in the following table. Purchases during November amounted to $140,000. Prepare a cash budget for December, January, and February. Suppose that Koehl starts selling on a credit basis on December 1, giving customers 30 days to pay. All customers accept these terms, and all other facts in the problem are unchanged. What would the company’s loan requirements be at the end of December in this case? (Hint: The calculations required to answer this part are minimal.)arrow_forwardDuring lunch, the director of the Streets and Parkways Department of the city Torrance made the following comment: “For the past 10 years, I have deliberately overstated my labor and equipment needs by 20 percent when preparing my budget request. I figure that the city council will cut it by 10 percent, and I can use the other 10 percent as slack. If there is money left over, I can always find a way to spend it.” Do you consider this behavior to be ethical? If not, what steps might you, as budget director, take to cut down on this “padding”?arrow_forwardThe director of marketing for Starr Computer Co., Megan Hewitt, had the following discussion with the company controller, Cam Morley, on July 26 of this year: Megan: Cam, It looks like I am going to spend much less than indicated on my July budget. Cam: I'm glad to hear it. Megan: Well, I'm not so sure it's good news. I'm concerned that the president will see that I'm under budget and reduce my budget in the future. The only reason that I look good in that we've delayed an advertising campaign. Once the campaign hits in September, I'm sure my actual expenditures will go up. You see, we are also having our sales convention in September. Having the advertising campaign and the convention at the same time is going to kill my September numbers. Cam: I don't think that's anything to worry about. We all expect some variation in actual spending month to month. What's really important is staying within the budgeted targets for the year. Does that look as if it's going to be a problem? Megan: I…arrow_forward
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