1.
Discuss the reason for which the target costing is essential to (a) focus on the customer, and (b) have a marketing team become involved with product design.
1.
Explanation of Solution
Target costing: In a competitive market, companies cannot set prices based on cost alone, because the supply and demand factors affect the product price. The companies should therefore, control costs, in order to earn a desired profit. Therefore, the cost which should be controlled and fixed by companies to earn a desired profit over the market price, is referred to as target cost.
Target costing is done based on the market study, where selling prices are determined first on the basis of the customer willingness to pay. Target costing requires marketing team’s process, because customer’s feedback is very much important for product design.
2.
Rank the popularity of the 5 modifications using the weighted-average rating approach.
2.
Explanation of Solution
Step 1: First determine weighted average rating for all the 5 modifications.
Step 2: Now rank the five proposed modifications from strongest to weakest based on the above determined weighted average ratings.
Ranking | Proposed modifications |
1 | Add cabinet doors (3.900) |
2 | New appearance for table top (3.700) |
3 | Expand storage area (3.250) |
4 | Add security lock (2.800) |
5 | Extend warranty (2.675) |
Table (1)
3. a.
Determine the highest cost of the modified table, if Company DF uses target costing to meet the current competitive selling price.
3. a.
Explanation of Solution
Company DF earns a profit of $16
3.b.
Identify the modification which should be considered by Company DF.
3.b.
Explanation of Solution
Determine the cost to additional features.
Particulars | Cost |
Maximum allowable cost | $76.00 |
Less: Current cost | $64.00 |
Cost of additional features | $12.00 |
Table (2)
Identify the modifications which can be afford at the maximum allowable cost.
Particulars | Cost |
1. Add cabinet doors | $6.00 |
2. New appearance for table top | $4.25 |
Subtotal | $10.25 |
4. Add security lock | $1.65 |
Total | $11.90 |
Table (3)
Company DF cannot afford to add third and fifth modifications (that is expanded storage area and extended warranty), as it is too costly. Whereas customers feel good in adding cabinet doors and giving the table top a new appearance. Moreover, management can add a lock to the storage area, if it desires.
4.
Identify the process which might the company should be allowed to adopt by the management to make its target profit for the table.
4.
Explanation of Solution
As per ranking no. 3, an expanded storage area would be the most reasonable additional feature for the table, which is excluded in requirement 3.b. Company DF can use value engineering concept to study the design and production process of both the table as currently manufactured as well as the proposed new features. The objective is to identify improvements and associated reductions in cost that may permits the company to add formerly rejected features.
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Chapter 15 Solutions
MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING-ACCESS
- Colin OShea has a carpentry shop that employs 4 carpenters. Colin received an order for 1,000 coffee tables. The coffee tables have a round table top and four decorative legs. An offer for $500 per table was received. Colin found an unfinished round table top that he could buy for $50 each. A. Using this quantitative cost data to make the table top, should Colin buy the table top or make it? B. What qualitative factors would be included in your decision. B. Can the vendor make it to the same quality standards? Can it be completed on time? Is there idle capacity in the factory that could be used?arrow_forwardLizzys is a retail clothing store, specializing in formal wear for weddings. They purchase their clothing for resale from specialty distributors and manufacturers. Recently the owners of Lizzys have noted an increased interest in costume jewelry and fashion accessories among their clientele. If the owners of Lizzys decide to expand their business to include these products, what cost data would they need to collect and analyze prior to expanding the business?arrow_forwardKeith Golding has decided to purchase a personal computer. He has narrowed his choices to two: Brand A and Brand B. Both brands have the same processing speed, hard disk capacity, RAM, graphics card memory, and basic software support package. Both come from companies with good reputations. The selling price for each is identical. After some review, Keith discovers that the cost of operating and maintaining Brand A over a three-year period is estimated to be 200. For Brand B, the operating and maintenance cost is 600. The sales agent for Brand A emphasized the lower operating and maintenance cost. She claimed that it was lower than any other PC brand. The sales agent for Brand B, however, emphasized the service reputation of the product. She provided Keith with a copy of an article appearing in a PC magazine that rated service performance of various PC brands. Brand B was rated number one. Based on all the information, Keith decided to buy Brand B. Required: 1. What is the total product purchased by Keith? 2. Is the Brand A company pursuing a cost leadership or differentiation strategy? The Brand B company? Explain. 3. When asked why he purchased Brand B, Keith replied, I think Brand B offered more value than Brand A. What are the possible sources of this greater value? If Keiths reaction represents the majority opinion, what suggestions could you offer to help improve the strategic position of Brand A?arrow_forward
- At the beginning of the last quarter of 20x1, Youngston, Inc., a consumer products firm, hired Maria Carrillo to take over one of its divisions. The division manufactured small home appliances and was struggling to survive in a very competitive market. Maria immediately requested a projected income statement for 20x1. In response, the controller provided the following statement: After some investigation, Maria soon realized that the products being produced had a serious problem with quality. She once again requested a special study by the controllers office to supply a report on the level of quality costs. By the middle of November, Maria received the following report from the controller: Maria was surprised at the level of quality costs. They represented 30 percent of sales, which was certainly excessive. She knew that the division had to produce high-quality products to survive. The number of defective units produced needed to be reduced dramatically. Thus, Maria decided to pursue a quality-driven turnaround strategy. Revenue growth and cost reduction could both be achieved if quality could be improved. By growing revenues and decreasing costs, profitability could be increased. After meeting with the managers of production, marketing, purchasing, and human resources, Maria made the following decisions, effective immediately (end of November 20x1): a. More will be invested in employee training. Workers will be trained to detect quality problems and empowered to make improvements. Workers will be allowed a bonus of 10 percent of any cost savings produced by their suggested improvements. b. Two design engineers will be hired immediately, with expectations of hiring one or two more within a year. These engineers will be in charge of redesigning processes and products with the objective of improving quality. They will also be given the responsibility of working with selected suppliers to help improve the quality of their products and processes. Design engineers were considered a strategic necessity. c. Implement a new process: evaluation and selection of suppliers. This new process has the objective of selecting a group of suppliers that are willing and capable of providing nondefective components. d. Effective immediately, the division will begin inspecting purchased components. According to production, many of the quality problems are caused by defective components purchased from outside suppliers. Incoming inspection is viewed as a transitional activity. Once the division has developed a group of suppliers capable of delivering nondefective components, this activity will be eliminated. e. Within three years, the goal is to produce products with a defect rate less than 0.10 percent. By reducing the defect rate to this level, marketing is confident that market share will increase by at least 50 percent (as a consequence of increased customer satisfaction). Products with better quality will help establish an improved product image and reputation, allowing the division to capture new customers and increase market share. f. Accounting will be given the charge to install a quality information reporting system. Daily reports on operational quality data (e.g., percentage of defective units), weekly updates of trend graphs (posted throughout the division), and quarterly cost reports are the types of information required. g. To help direct the improvements in quality activities, kaizen costing is to be implemented. For example, for the year 20x1, a kaizen standard of 6 percent of the selling price per unit was set for rework costs, a 25 percent reduction from the current actual cost. To ensure that the quality improvements were directed and translated into concrete financial outcomes, Maria also began to implement a Balanced Scorecard for the division. By the end of 20x2, progress was being made. Sales had increased to 26,000,000, and the kaizen improvements were meeting or beating expectations. For example, rework costs had dropped to 1,500,000. At the end of 20x3, two years after the turnaround quality strategy was implemented, Maria received the following quality cost report: Maria also received an income statement for 20x3: Maria was pleased with the outcomes. Revenues had grown, and costs had been reduced by at least as much as she had projected for the two-year period. Growth next year should be even greater as she was beginning to observe a favorable effect from the higher-quality products. Also, further quality cost reductions should materialize as incoming inspections were showing much higher-quality purchased components. Required: 1. Identify the strategic objectives, classified by the Balanced Scorecard perspective. Next, suggest measures for each objective. 2. Using the results from Requirement 1, describe Marias strategy using a series of if-then statements. Next, prepare a strategy map. 3. Explain how you would evaluate the success of the quality-driven turnaround strategy. What additional information would you like to have for this evaluation? 4. Explain why Maria felt that the Balanced Scorecard would increase the likelihood that the turnaround strategy would actually produce good financial outcomes. 5. Advise Maria on how to encourage her employees to align their actions and behavior with the turnaround strategy.arrow_forwardPocket Umbrella, Inc. is considering producing a new type of umbrella. This new pocket-sized umbrella would fit into a coat pocket or purse. Classify the following costs of this new product as direct materials, direct labor, manufacturing overhead, or selling and administrative. Cost of advertising the product Fabric used to make the umbrellas Maintenance of cutting machines used to cut the umbrella fabric so it will fit the umbrella frame Wages of workers who assemble the product Presidents salary The salary of the supervisor of the people who assemble the product Wages of the product tester who stands in a shower to make sure the umbrellas do not leak Cost of market research survey Salary of the companys sales managers Depreciation of administrative office buildingarrow_forwardSalem Electronics currently produces two products: a programmable calculator and a tape recorder. A recent marketing study indicated that consumers would react favorably to a radio with the Salem brand name. Owner Kenneth Booth was interested in the possibility. Before any commitment was made, however, Kenneth wanted to know what the incremental fixed costs would be and how many radios must be sold to cover these costs. In response, Betty Johnson, the marketing manager, gathered data for the current products to help in projecting overhead costs for the new product. The overhead costs based on 30,000 direct labor hours follow. (The high-low method using direct labor hours as the independent variable was used to determine the fixed and variable costs.) All depreciation. The following activity data were also gathered: Betty was told that a plantwide overhead rate was used to assign overhead costs based on direct labor hours. She was also informed by engineering that if 20,000 radios were produced and sold (her projection based on her marketing study), they would have the same activity data as the recorders (use the same direct labor hours, machine hours, setups, and so on). Engineering also provided the following additional estimates for the proposed product line: Upon receiving these estimates, Betty did some quick calculations and became quite excited. With a selling price of 26 and just 18,000 of additional fixed costs, only 4,500 units had to be sold to break even. Since Betty was confident that 20,000 units could be sold, she was prepared to strongly recommend the new product line. Required: 1. Reproduce Bettys break-even calculation using conventional cost assignments. How much additional profit would be expected under this scenario, assuming that 20,000 radios are sold? 2. Use an activity-based costing approach, and calculate the break-even point and the incremental profit that would be earned on sales of 20,000 units. 3. Explain why the CVP analysis done in Requirement 2 is more accurate than the analysis done in Requirement 1. What recommendation would you make?arrow_forward
- Leather Works is a family-owned maker of leather travel bags and briefcases located in the northeastern part of the United States. Foreign competition has forced its owner, Heather Gray, to explore new ways to meet the competition. One of her cousins, Wallace Hayes, who recently graduated from college with a major in accounting, told her about the use of cost variance analysis to learn about efficiencies of production. In May of last year, Heather asked Matt Jones, chief accountant, and Alfred Prudest, production manager, to implement a standard costing system. Matt and Alfred, in turn, retained Shannon Leikam, an accounting professor at Hardings College, to set up a standard costing system by using information supplied to her by Matts and Alfreds staff. To verify that the information was accurate, Shannon visited the plant and measured workers output using time and motion studies. During those visits, she was not accompanied by either Matt or Alfred, and the workers knew about Shannons schedule in advance. The cost system was implemented in June of last year. Recently, the following dialogue took place among Heather, Matt, and Alfred: HEATHER: How is the business performing? ALFRED: You know, we are producing a lot more than we used to, thanks to the contract that you helped obtain from Lean, Inc., for laptop covers. (Lean is a national supplier of computer accessories.) MATT: Thank goodness for that new product. It has kept us from sinking even more due to the inroads into our business made by those foreign suppliers of leather goods. HEATHER: What about the standard costing system? MATT: The variances are mostly favorable, except for the first few months when the supplier of leather started charging more. HEATHER: How did the union members take to the standards? ALFRED: Not bad. They grumbled a bit at first, but they have taken it in stride. Weve consistently shown favorable direct labor efficiency variances and direct materials usage variances. The direct labor rate variance has been flat. MATT: It should be since direct labor rates are negotiated by the union representative at the start of the year and remain the same for the entire year. HEATHER: Matt, would you send me the variance report for laptop covers immediately? The following chart summarizes the direct materials and direct labor variances from November of last year through April of this year (extracted from the report provided by Matt). Standards for each laptop cover are as follows: a. Three feet of direct materials at 7.50 per foot b. Forty-five minutes of direct labor at 14 per hour In addition, the data for May of this year, but not the variances for the month, are as follows: Actual direct labor cost per hour exceeded the budgeted rate by 0.10 per hour. Required: 1. For May of this year, calculate the price and quantity variances for direct labor and direct materials. 2. Discuss the trend of the direct materials and labor variances. 3. What type of actions must the workers have taken during the period they were being observed for the setting of standards? 4. What can be done to ensure that the standards are set correctly? (CMA adapted)arrow_forwardMoisha is developing material standards for her company. The operations manager wants grade A widgets because they are the easiest to work with and are the quality the customers want. Grade B will not work because customers do not want the lower grade, and it takes more time to assemble the product than with grade A materials. Moisha calls several suppliers to get prices for the widget. All are within $0.05 of each other. Since they will use millions of widgets, she decides that the $0.05 difference is important. The supplier who has the lowest price is known for delivering late and low-quality materials. Moisha decides to use the supplier who is $0.02 more but delivers on time and at the right quality. This supplier charges $0.48 per widget. Each unit of product requires four widgets. What is the standard cost per unit for widgets?arrow_forwardMantenga Company provides routine maintenance services for heavy moving and transportation vehicles. Although the vehicles vary, the maintenance services provided follow a fairly standard pattern. Recently, a potential customer has approached the company, requesting a new maintenance service for a radically different type of vehicle. New servicing equipment and some new labor skills will be needed to provide the maintenance service. The customer is placing an initial order to service 150 vehicles and has indicated that if the service is satisfactory, several additional orders of the same size will be placed every 3 months over the next 3 to 5 years. Mantenga uses a standard costing system and wants to develop a set of standards for the new vehicle. The usage standards for direct materials such as oil, lubricants, and transmission fluids were easily established. The usage standard is 25 quarts per servicing, with a standard cost of 4 per quart. Management has also decided on standard rates for labor and overhead. The standard labor rate is 15 per direct labor hour, the standard variable overhead rate is 8 per direct labor hour, and the standard fixed overhead rate is 12 per direct labor hour. The only remaining decision is the standard for labor usage. To assist in developing this standard, the engineering department has estimated the following relationship between units serviced and average direct labor hours used: As the workers learn more about servicing the new vehicles, they become more efficient, and the average time needed to service one unit declines. Engineering estimates that all of the learning effects will be achieved by the time that 320 units are produced. No further improvement will be realized past this level. Required: 1. Assume that the average labor time is 0.768 hour per unit after the learning effects are achieved. Using this information, prepare a standard cost sheet that details the standard service cost per unit. (Note: Round costs to two decimal places.) 2. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Given the per-unit labor standard set, would you expect a favorable or an unfavorable labor efficiency? Explain. Calculate the labor efficiency variance for servicing the first 320 units. 3. CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Assuming no further improvement in labor time per unit is possible past 320 units, explain why the cumulative average time per unit at 640 units is lower than the time at 320 units. Show that the standard labor time should be 0.768 hour per unit. Explain why this value is a good choice for the per-unit labor standard.arrow_forward
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