Accounting (Text Only)
26th Edition
ISBN: 9781285743615
Author: Carl Warren, James M. Reeve, Jonathan Duchac
Publisher: Cengage Learning
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Videos
Textbook Question
Chapter 21, Problem 21.5CP
Variable costs and activity bases in decision making
Sales volume has been dropping at Mumford Industries. During this time, however, the Shipping Department manager has been under severe financial constraints. The manager knows that most of the Shipping Department's effort is related to pulling Inventory from the warehouse for each order and performing the paperwork. The paperwork involves preparing shipping documents for each order. Thus, the pulling and paperwork effort associated with each sales order is essentially the same, regardless of the size of the order. The Shipping Department manager has discussed the financial situation with senior management. Senior management has responded by pointing out that because sales volume has been dropping, the amount of work in the Shipping Department also should be dropping. Thus, senior management told the Shipping Department manager that costs should be decreasing in the department.
The Shipping Department manager prepared the following information:
Given tills information, how would you respond to senior management?
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solution
Students have asked these similar questions
Data Screen Corporation is a highly automated manufacturing firm. The vice president of finance has decided that traditional standards are inappropriate for performance measures in an automated environment. Labor is insignificant in terms of the total cost of production and tends to be fixed, material quality is considered more important than minimizing material cost, and customer satisfaction is the number one priority. As a result, production and delivery performance measures have been chosen to evaluate performance. The following information is considered typical of the time involved to complete and ship orders.
Waiting time:From order being placed to start of production ..................................... 8.0 daysFrom start of production to completion ..................................................... 7.0 daysInspection time ....................................................................... .............................. 1.5 daysProcessing time…
The following are some quotes provided by a number of managers at Hawkeye Machining Company regarding the company’s planned move toward a lean manufacturing system: Director of Sales: I’m afraid we’ll miss some sales if we don’t keep a large stock of items on hand just in case demand increases. It only makes sense to me to keep large inventories in order to ensure product availability for our customers.Director of Purchasing: I’m very concerned about moving to a lean system for materials. What would happen if one of our suppliers were unable to make a shipment? A supplier could fall behind in production or have a quality problem. Without some safety stock in our materials, our whole plant would shut down.Director of Manufacturing: If we go to lean manufacturing, I think our factory output will drop. We need in-process inventory in order to “smooth out” the inevitable problems that occur during manufacturing. For example, if a machine that is used to process a product breaks down, it…
Wolk Corporation is a highly automated manufacturing firm. The vice president of finance has decided that traditional standards are inappropriate for performance measures in an automated environment. Labor for this company is insignificant in terms of the total cost of production and tends to be fixed, material quality is considered more important than minimizing material cost, and customer satisfaction is the number one priority. As a result, delivery performance measures have been chosen to evaluate performance. The following information is considered typical of the time involved to complete customer orders.
From time order is placed to time order received by manufacturing
18.0
days
From time order is received by manufacturing to time production begins
9.0
days
Inspection time
3.5
days
Process (manufacturing) time
7.0
days
Move time
4.5
days
What is the production (manufacturing) lead time for this order?
Multiple Choice
34 days.
16…
Chapter 21 Solutions
Accounting (Text Only)
Ch. 21 - Describe how total variable costs and unit...Ch. 21 - How would the following costs be classified...Ch. 21 - Describe how total fixed costs and unit fixed...Ch. 21 - In applying the high-low method of cost estimation...Ch. 21 - If fixed costs Increase, what would be the impact...Ch. 21 - An examination of the accounting records of...Ch. 21 - Prob. 7DQCh. 21 - Both Austin Company and Hill Company had the same...Ch. 21 - How does the sales mix affect the calculation of...Ch. 21 - What does operating leverage measure, and how is...
Ch. 21 - High-low method The manufacturing costs of...Ch. 21 - High-low method The manufacturing costs of...Ch. 21 - Contribution margin Michigan Company sells 10,000...Ch. 21 - Contribution margin Weidner Company sells 22,000...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.3APECh. 21 - Prob. 21.3BPECh. 21 - Prob. 21.4APECh. 21 - Prob. 21.4BPECh. 21 - Prob. 21.5APECh. 21 - Prob. 21.5BPECh. 21 - Operating leverage SungSam Enterprises reports the...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.6BPECh. 21 - Prob. 21.7APECh. 21 - Margin of safety Junck Company has sales of...Ch. 21 - Classify costs Following is a list of various...Ch. 21 - Identify cost graphs The following cost graphs...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.3EXCh. 21 - Identify activity bases From the following list of...Ch. 21 - Identify fixed and variable costs Intuit Inc....Ch. 21 - Relevant range and fixed and variable costs...Ch. 21 - High-low method Diamond Inc. has decided to use...Ch. 21 - High-low method for a service company Boston...Ch. 21 - Contribution margin ratio a. Segar Company budgets...Ch. 21 - Contribution margin and contribution margin ratio...Ch. 21 - Break-even sales and sales to realize income from...Ch. 21 - Break-even sales Anheuser-Busch InBev Companies,...Ch. 21 - Break-even sales Currently, the unit selling price...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.14EXCh. 21 - Prob. 21.15EXCh. 21 - Prob. 21.16EXCh. 21 - Prob. 21.17EXCh. 21 - Prob. 21.18EXCh. 21 - Prob. 21.19EXCh. 21 - Prob. 21.20EXCh. 21 - Prob. 21.21EXCh. 21 - Break-even sales and sales mix for a service...Ch. 21 - Margin of safety a. If Canace Company, with a...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.24EXCh. 21 - Operating leverage Beck Inc. and Bryant Inc. have...Ch. 21 - Items on variable costing income statement In the...Ch. 21 - Variable costing income statement On July 31, the...Ch. 21 - Appendix Absorption costing income statement On...Ch. 21 - Classify costs Seymour Clothing Co. manufactures a...Ch. 21 - Break-even sales under present and proposed...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.3APRCh. 21 - Prob. 21.4APRCh. 21 - Sales mix and break-even sales Data related to the...Ch. 21 - Contribution margin, break-even sales,...Ch. 21 - Classify costs Cromwell Furniture Company...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.2BPRCh. 21 - Break-even sales and cost-volume-profit chart For...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.4BPRCh. 21 - Prob. 21.5BPRCh. 21 - Contribution margin, break-even sales,...Ch. 21 - Prob. 21.1CPCh. 21 - Break-even sales, contribution margin For a...Ch. 21 - Break-even analysis Somerset Inc. has finished a...Ch. 21 - Variable costs and activity bases in decision...Ch. 21 - Variable costs and activity bases in decision...
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, accounting and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- Flexible 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_forwardEvaluating selling and administrative cost allocations Gordon Gecco Furniture Company has two major product lines with the following characteristics: Commercial office furniture: Few large orders, little advertising support, shipments in full truckloads, and low handling complexity Home office furniture: Many small orders, large advertising support, shipments in partial truckloads, and high handling complexity The company produced the following profitability report for management: The selling and administrative expenses are allocated to the products on the basis of relative sales dollars. Evaluate the accuracy of this report and recommend an alternative approach.arrow_forwardKimball Company has developed the following cost formulas: Materialusage:Ym=80X;r=0.95Laborusage(direct):Yl=20X;r=0.96Overheadactivity:Yo=350,000+100X;r=0.75Sellingactivity:Ys=50,000+10X;r=0.93 where X=Directlaborhours The company has a policy of producing on demand and keeps very little, if any, finished goods inventory (thus, units produced equals units sold). Each unit uses one direct labor hour for production. The president of Kimball Company has recently implemented a policy that any special orders will be accepted if they cover the costs that the orders cause. This policy was implemented because Kimballs industry is in a recession and the company is producing well below capacity (and expects to continue doing so for the coming year). The president is willing to accept orders that minimally cover their variable costs so that the company can keep its employees and avoid layoffs. Also, any orders above variable costs will increase overall profitability of the company. Required: 1. Compute the total unit variable cost. Suppose that Kimball has an opportunity to accept an order for 20,000 units at 220 per unit. Should Kimball accept the order? (The order would not displace any of Kimballs regular orders.) 2. Explain the significance of the coefficient of correlation measures for the cost formulas. Did these measures have a bearing on your answer in Requirement 1? Should they have a bearing? Why or why not? 3. Suppose that a multiple regression equation is developed for overhead costs: Y = 100,000 + 100X1 + 5,000X2 + 300X3, where X1 = direct labor hours, X2 = number of setups, and X3 = engineering hours. The coefficient of determination for the equation is 0.94. Assume that the order of 20,000 units requires 12 setups and 600 engineering hours. Given this new information, should the company accept the special order referred to in Requirement 1? Is there any other information about cost behavior that you would like to have? Explain.arrow_forward
- Assume you are the warehouse manager for Vinnies Vinyls, a multi-location business specializing in vinyl records. Vinniess operates under a cost-based transfer structure and the warehouse supplies all stores with the records. The stores can purchase records only from the warehouse, and the warehouse can only sell to Vinnies stores. The manager of the West store has some concerns relating to the stores financial performance and has asked for your help analyzing transfer costs. After calculating the operating income in dollars and the operating income percent, analyze the following financial information to determine costs that may need further investigation. (Hint: it may be helpful to perform a vertical analysis.)arrow_forwardIn 20X1, Don Blackburn, president of Price Electronics, received a report indicating that quality costs were 31% of sales. Faced with increasing pressures from imported goods. Don resolved to take measures to improve the overall quality of the companys products. After hiring a consultant in 20X1, the company began an aggressive program of total quality control. At the end of 20X5, Don requested an analysis of the progress the company had made in reducing and controlling quality costs. The accounting department assembled the following data: Required: 1. Compute the quality costs as a percentage of sales by category and in total for each year. 2. Prepare a multiple-year trend graph for quality costs, both by total costs and by category. Using the graph, assess the progress made in reducing and controlling quality costs. Does the graph provide evidence that quality has improved? Explain. 3. Using the 20X1 quality cost relationships (assume all costs are variable), calculate the quality costs that would have prevailed in 20X4. By how much did profits increase in 20X4 because of the quality improvement program? Repeat for 20X5.arrow_forwardRizzo Goal Inc. produces and sells hockey equipment, often custom made for online orders. The company has the following performance metrics on its balanced scorecard: days from ordered to delivered, number of shipping errors, customer retention rate, and market share. A measure map illustrates that the days from ordered to delivered and the number of shipping errors are both expected to directly affect the customer retention rate, which affects market share. Additional internal analysis finds that: Every shipping error over three shipping errors per month reduces the customer retention rate by 1.5%. On average, each day above three days from ordered to delivered yields a reduction in the customer retention rate of 1%. Each day before three days from order to delivery yields an increase in the customer retention rate of 1%, on average. Rizzo Goal Inc.s current customer retention rate is 60%. The company estimates that for every 1% increase or decrease in the customer retention rate, market share changes 0.5% in the same direction. Rizzo Goal Inc.s current market share is 21.4%. Ignoring any other factors, if the company has six shipping errors this month and an average of 3.5 days from ordered to delivered, determine (a) the new customer retention rate and (b) the new market share that Rizzo Goal Inc. expects to have.arrow_forward
- Suspicious Acquisition of Data, Ethical Issues Bill Lewis, manager of the Thomas Electronics Division, called a meeting with his controller, Brindon Peterson, and his marketing manager, Patty Fritz. The following is a transcript of the conversation that took place during the meeting: Bill: Brindon, the variable costing system that you developed has proved to be a big plus for our division. Our success in winning bids has increased, and as a result our revenues have increased by 25%. However, if we intend to meet this years profit targets, we are going to need something extraam I right, Patty? Patty: Absolutely. While we have been able to win more bids, we still are losing too many, particularly to our major competitor, Kilborn Electronics. If we knew more about their bidding strategy, we could be more successful at competing with them. Brindon: Would knowing their variable costs help? Patty: Certainly. It would give me their minimum price. With that knowledge, Im sure that we could find a way to beat them on several jobs, particularly on those jobs where we are at least as efficient. It would also help us to identify where we are not cost competitive. With this information, we might be able to find ways to increase our efficiency. Brindon: Well, I have good news. Ive been talking with Carl Penobscot, Kilborns assistant controller. Carl doesnt feel appreciated by Kilborn and wants to make a change. He could easily fit into our team here. Plus, Carl has been preparing for a job switch by quietly copying Kilborns accounting files and records. Hes already given me some data that reveal bids that Kilborn made on several jobs. If we can come to a satisfactory agreement with Carl, hell bring the rest of the information with him. Well easily be able to figure out Kilborns prospective bids and find ways to beat them. Besides, I could use another accountant on my staff. Bill, would you authorize my immediate hiring of Carl with a favorable compensation package? Bill: I know that you need more staff, Brindon, but is this the right thing to do? It sounds like Carl is stealing those files, and surely Kilborn considers this information confidential. I have real ethical and legal concerns about this. Why dont we meet with Laurie, our attorney, and determine any legal problems? Required: 1. Is Carls behavior ethical? What would Kilborn think? 2. Is Bill correct in supposing that there are ethical and/or legal problems involved with the hiring of Carl? (Reread the section on corporate codes of conduct in Chapter 1.) What would you do if you were Bill? Explain.arrow_forwardJolene Askew, manager of Feagan Company, has committed her company to a strategically sound cost reduction program. Emphasizing life-cycle cost management is a major part of this effort. Jolene is convinced that production costs can be reduced by paying more attention to the relationships between design and manufacturing. Design engineers need to know what causes manufacturing costs. She instructed her controller to develop a manufacturing cost formula for a newly proposed product. Marketing had already projected sales of 25,000 units for the new product. (The life cycle was estimated to be 18 months. The company expected to have 50 percent of the market and priced its product to achieve this goal.) The projected selling price was 20 per unit. The following cost formula was developed: Y=200,000+10X1 where X1=Machinehours(Theproductisexpectedtouseonemachinehourforeveryunitproduced.) Upon seeing the cost formula, Jolene quickly calculated the projected gross profit to be 50,000. This produced a gross profit of 2 per unit, well below the targeted gross profit of 4 per unit. Jolene then sent a memo to the Engineering Department, instructing them to search for a new design that would lower the costs of production by at least 50,000 so that the target profit could be met. Within two days, the Engineering Department proposed a new design that would reduce unit-variable cost from 10 per machine hour to 8 per machine hour (Design Z). The chief engineer, upon reviewing the design, questioned the validity of the controllers cost formula. He suggested a more careful assessment of the proposed designs effect on activities other than machining. Based on this suggestion, the following revised cost formula was developed. This cost formula reflected the cost relationships of the most recent design (Design Z). Y=140,000+8X1+5,000X2+2,000X3 where X1=MachinehoursX2=NumberofbatchesX3=Numberofengineeringchangeorders Based on scheduling and inventory considerations, the product would be produced in batches of 1,000; thus, 25 batches would be needed over the products life cycle. Furthermore, based on past experience, the product would likely generate about 20 engineering change orders. This new insight into the linkage of the product with its underlying activities led to a different design (Design W). This second design also lowered the unit-level cost by 2 per unit but decreased the number of design support requirements from 20 orders to 10 orders. Attention was also given to the setup activity, and the design engineer assigned to the product created a design that reduced setup time and lowered variable setup costs from 5,000 to 3,000 per setup. Furthermore, Design W also creates excess activity capacity for the setup activity, and resource spending for setup activity capacity can be decreased by 40,000, reducing the fixed cost component in the equation by this amount. Design W was recommended and accepted. As prototypes of the design were tested, an additional benefit emerged. Based on test results, the post-purchase costs dropped from an estimated 0.70 per unit sold to 0.40 per unit sold. Using this information, the Marketing Department revised the projected market share upward from 50 percent to 60 percent (with no price decrease). Required: 1. Calculate the expected gross profit per unit for Design Z using the controllers original cost formula. According to this outcome, does Design Z reach the targeted unit profit? Repeat, using the engineers revised cost formula. Explain why Design Z failed to meet the targeted profit. What does this say about the use of unit-based costing for life-cycle cost management? 2. Calculate the expected profit per unit using Design W. Comment on the value of activity information for life-cycle cost management. 3. The benefit of the post-purchase cost reduction of Design W was discovered in testing. What direct benefit did it create for Feagan Company (in dollars)? Reducing post-purchase costs was not a specific design objective. Should it have been? Are there any other design objectives that should have been considered?arrow_forwardJane Erickson, manager of an electronics division, was not pleased with the results that had recently been reported concerning the divisions activity-based management implementation project. For one thing, the project had taken eight months longer than projected and had exceeded the budget by nearly 35 percent. But even more vexatious was the fact that after all was said and done, about three-fourths of the plants were reporting that the activity-based product costs were not much different for most of the products than those of the old costing system. Plant managers were indicating that they were continuing to use the old costs as they were easier to compute and understand. Yet, at the same time, they were complaining that they were having a hard time meeting the bids of competitors. Reliable sources were also revealing that the divisions product costs were higher than many competitors. This outcome perplexed plant managers because their control system still continued to report favorable materials and labor efficiency variances. They complained that ABM had failed to produce any significant improvement in cost performance. Jane decided to tour several of the plants and talk with the plant managers. After the tour, she realized that her managers did not understand the concept of non-value-added costs nor did they have a good grasp of the concept of kaizen costing. No efforts were being made to carefully consider the activity information that had been produced. One typical plant manager threw up his hands and said: This is too much data. Why should I care about all this detail? I do not see how this can help me improve my plants performance. They tell me that inspection is not a necessary activity and does not add value. I simply cant believe that inspecting isnt value-added and necessary. If we did not inspect, we would be making and sending more bad products to customers. Required: Explain why Janes division is having problems with its ABM implementation.arrow_forward
- Discuss how, as warehouse manager for Vinnies Vinyls, you view the different rate of allocated costs the warehouse is being charged compared to the West store. Describe the implications of this. What steps could you take to solve this discrepancy? What alternatives would you consider, assuming management is willing to consider making changes in the rate?arrow_forwardThe controller for Muir Companys Salem plant is analyzing overhead in order to determine appropriate drivers for use in flexible budgeting. She decided to concentrate on the past 12 months since that time period was one in which there was little important change in technology, product lines, and so on. Data on overhead costs, number of machine hours, number of setups, and number of purchase orders are in the following table. Required: 1. Calculate an overhead rate based on machine hours using the total overhead cost and total machine hours. (Round the overhead rate to the nearest cent and predicted overhead to the nearest dollar.) Use this rate to predict overhead for each of the 12 months. 2. Run a regression equation using only machine hours as the independent variable. Prepare a flexible budget for overhead for the 12 months using the results of this regression equation. (Round the intercept and x-coefficient to the nearest cent and predicted overhead to the nearest dollar.) Is this flexible budget better than the budget in Requirement 1? Why or why not?arrow_forwardDepartmental Cost Allocation; Outsourcing McKeoun Enterprises is a large machine toolcompany now experiencing alarming increases in maintenance expense in each of its four productiondepartments. Maintenance costs are currently allocated to the production departments on the basisof direct labor hours incurred in the production department. To provide pressure for the productiondepartments to use less maintenance, and to provide an incentive for the maintenance department tobecome more efficient, McKeoun has decided to investigate new methods of allocating maintenancecosts. One suggestion now being evaluated is a form of outsourcing. The producing departmentscould purchase maintenance service from an outside supplier. That is, they could choose either touse an outside supplier of maintenance or to be charged an amount based on their use of direct laborhours. The following table shows the direct labor hours in each department, the allocation of maintenance cost based on labor hours, and…arrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337912020Author:Carl Warren, Ph.d. Cma William B. TaylerPublisher:South-Western College Pub
Financial And Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337902663Author:WARREN, Carl S.Publisher:Cengage Learning,
Principles of Accounting Volume 2AccountingISBN:9781947172609Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax College
Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage Learning
Principles of Cost AccountingAccountingISBN:9781305087408Author:Edward J. Vanderbeck, Maria R. MitchellPublisher:Cengage Learning
Managerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Busines...AccountingISBN:9781337115773Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. HeitgerPublisher:Cengage Learning
Managerial Accounting
Accounting
ISBN:9781337912020
Author:Carl Warren, Ph.d. Cma William B. Tayler
Publisher:South-Western College Pub
Financial And Managerial Accounting
Accounting
ISBN:9781337902663
Author:WARREN, Carl S.
Publisher:Cengage Learning,
Principles of Accounting Volume 2
Accounting
ISBN:9781947172609
Author:OpenStax
Publisher:OpenStax College
Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...
Accounting
ISBN:9781305970663
Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. Mowen
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Principles of Cost Accounting
Accounting
ISBN:9781305087408
Author:Edward J. Vanderbeck, Maria R. Mitchell
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Managerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Busines...
Accounting
ISBN:9781337115773
Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. Heitger
Publisher:Cengage Learning
HR Basics: Compensation; Author: HR Basics: Compensation;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoRId6ADuo;License: Standard Youtube License