Use the following information to answer the next five questions: A small business called The Grandmother Calendar Company began selling personalized photo calendar kits. The kits were a hit, and sales soon sharply exceeded
14. Cash Flow Which was the biggest culprit here: Too many orders, too little cash, or too little production capacity?
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- Bannister Company, an electronics firm, buys circuit boards and manually inserts various electronic devices into the printed circuit board. Bannister sells its products to original equipment manufacturers. Profits for the last two years have been less than expected. Mandy Confer, owner of Bannister, was convinced that her firm needed to adopt a revenue growth and cost reduction strategy to increase overall profits. After a careful review of her firms condition, Mandy realized that the main obstacle for increasing revenues and reducing costs was the high defect rate of her products (a 6 percent reject rate). She was certain that revenues would grow if the defect rate was reduced dramatically. Costs would also decline as there would be fewer rejects and less rework. By decreasing the defect rate, customer satisfaction would increase, causing, in turn, an increase in market share. Mandy also felt that the following actions were needed to help ensure the success of the revenue growth and cost reduction strategy: a. Improve the soldering capabilities by sending employees to an outside course. b. Redesign the insertion process to eliminate some of the common mistakes. c. Improve the procurement process by selecting suppliers that provide higher-quality circuit boards. Required: 1. State the revenue growth and cost reduction strategy using a series of cause-and-effect relationships expressed as if-then statements. 2. Illustrate the strategy using a strategy map. 3. Explain how the revenue growth strategy can be tested. In your explanation, discuss the role of lead and lag measures, targets, and double-loop feedback.arrow_forwardInfinity Designs, an interior design company,has experienced a drop in business due toan increase in interest rates and acorresponding slowdown in remodelingprojects. To smulate business, thecompany is considering exhibing at theHome and Garden Expo. The exhibit willcost the company $12,000 for space. At theshow, Infinity Designs will present a slideshow on a PC, pass out brochures that areprinted previously, (the company printedmore than needed), and show its porolio ofpreviousjobs.The companyesmates thatrevenue will increaseby $36,000 over thenext year as a resultof the exhibit. For theprevious year, profitwas as follows:Revenue $201,000Less:Design supplies (variable cost) $15,000Salary of Samantha Spade (owner) 80,000Salary of Kim Bridesdale (full meemployee)55,000Rent 18,000Ulies 6,000Depreciaon of office equipment 3,600Prinng of adversing materials 700Adversing in Middleton Journal 2,500Travel expenses other than depreciaonof autos (variable cost)$3,000Depreciaon of company cars…arrow_forwardConsider the following conversation between Leonard Bryner, president and manager of a firm engaged in job manufacturing, and Chuck Davis, certified management accountant, the firms controller. Leonard: Chuck, as you know, our firm has been losing market share over the past 3 years. We have been losing more and more bids, and I dont understand why. At first, I thought that other firms were undercutting simply to gain business, but after examining some of the public financial reports, I believe that they are making a reasonable rate of return. I am beginning to believe that our costs and costing methods are at fault. Chuck: I cant agree with that. We have good control over our costs. Like most firms in our industry, we use a normal job-costing system. I really dont see any significant waste in the plant. Leonard: After talking with some other managers at a recent industrial convention, Im not so sure that waste by itself is the issue. They talked about activity-based management, activity-based costing, and continuous improvement. They mentioned the use of something called activity drivers to assign overhead. They claimed that these new procedures can help to produce more efficiency in manufacturing, better control of overhead, and more accurate product costing. A big deal was made of eliminating activities that added no value. Maybe our bids are too high because these other firms have found ways to decrease their overhead costs and to increase the accuracy of their product costing. Chuck: I doubt it. For one thing, I dont see how we can increase product-costing accuracy. So many of our costs are indirect costs. Furthermore, everyone uses some measure of production activity to assign overhead costs. I imagine that what they are calling activity drivers is just some new buzzword for measures of production volume. Fads in costing come and go. I wouldnt worry about it. Ill bet that our problems with decreasing sales are temporary. You might recall that we experienced a similar problem about 12 years agoit was 2 years before it straightened out. Required: 1. Do you agree or disagree with Chuck Davis and the advice that he gave Leonard Bryner? Explain. 2. Was there anything wrong or unethical in the behavior that Chuck Davis displayed? Explain your reasoning. 3. Do you think that Chuck was well informedthat he was aware of the accounting implications of ABC and that he knew what was meant by cost drivers? Should he have been well informed? Review (in Chapter 1) the first category of the Statement of Ethical Professional Practice for management accountants. Do any of these standards apply in Chucks case?arrow_forward
- Wright Plastic Products is a small company that specialized in the production of plastic dinner plates until several years ago. Although profits for the company had been good, they have been declining in recent years because of increased competition. Many competitors offer a full range of plastic products, and management felt that this created a competitive disadvantage. The output of the companys plants was exclusively devoted to plastic dinner plates. Three years ago, management made a decision to add additional product lines. They determined that existing idle capacity in each plant could easily be adapted to produce other plastic products. Each plant would produce one additional product line. For example, the Atlanta plant would add a line of plastic cups. Moreover, the variable cost of producing a package of cups (one dozen) was virtually identical to that of a package of plastic plates. (Variable costs referred to here are those that change in total as the units produced change. The costs include direct materials, direct labor, and unit-based variable overhead such as power and other machine costs.) Since the fixed expenses would not change, the new product was forecast to increase profits significantly (for the Atlanta plant). Two years after the addition of the new product line, the profits of the Atlanta plant (as well as other plants) had not improvedin fact, they had dropped. Upon investigation, the president of the company discovered that profits had not increased as expected because the so-called fixed cost pool had increased dramatically. The president interviewed the manager of each support department at the Atlanta plant. Typical responses from four of those managers are given next. Materials handling: The additional batches caused by the cups increased the demand for materials handling. We had to add one forklift and hire additional materials handling labor. Inspection: Inspecting cups is more complicated than plastic plates. We only inspect a sample drawn from every batch, but you need to understand that the number of batches has increased with this new product line. We had to hire more inspection labor. Purchasing: The new line increased the number of purchase orders. We had to use more resources to handle this increased volume. Accounting: There were more transactions to process than before. We had to increase our staff. Required: 1. Explain why the results of adding the new product line were not accurately projected. 2. Could this problem have been avoided with an activity-based cost management system? If so, would you recommend that the company adopt this type of system? Explain and discuss the differences between an activity-based cost management system and a traditional cost management system.arrow_forwardPosavek is a wholesale supplier of building supplies building contractors, hardware stores, and home-improvement centers in the Boston metropolitan area. Over the years, Posavek has expanded its operations to serve customers across the nation and now employs over 200 people as technical representatives, buyers, warehouse workers, and sales and office staff. Most recently, Posavek has experienced fierce competition from the large online discount stores. In addition, the company is suffering from operational inefficiencies related to its archaic information system. Posavek revenue cycle procedures are described in the following paragraphs. Revenue Cycle Posaveks sales department representatives receive orders via traditional mail, e-mail, telephone, and the occasional walk-in customer. Because Posavek is a wholesaler, the vast majority of its business is conducted on a credit basis. The process begins in the sales department, where the sales clerk enters the customers order into the centralized computer sales order system. The computer and file server are housed in Posaveks small data processing department. If the customer has done business with Posavek in the past, his or her data are already on file. If the customer is a first-time buyer, however, the clerk creates a new record in the customer account file. The system then creates a record of the transaction in the open sales order file. When the order is entered, an electronic copy of it is sent to the customers e-mail address as confirmation. A clerk in the warehouse department periodically reviews the open sales order file from a terminal and prints two copies of a stock release document for each new sale, which he uses to pick the items sold from the shelves. The warehouse clerk sends one copy of the stock release to the sales department and the second copy, along with the goods, to the shipping department. The warehouse clerk then updates the inventory subsidiary file to reflect the items and quantities shipped. Upon receipt of the stock release document, the sales clerk accesses the open sales order file from a terminal, closes the sales order, and files the stock release document in the sales department. The sales order system automatically posts these transactions to the sales, inventory control, and cost-of-goods-sold accounts in the general ledger file. Upon receipt of the goods and the stock release, the shipping department clerk prepares the goods for shipment to the customer. The clerk prepares three copies of the bill of lading. Two of these go with the goods to the carrier and the third, along with the stock release document, is filed in the shipping department. The billing department clerk reviews the closed sales orders from a terminal and prepares two copies of the sales invoice. One copy is mailed to the customer, and the other is filed in the billing department. The clerk then creates a new record in the accounts receivable subsidiary file. The sales order system automatically updates the accounts receivable control account in the general ledger file. CASH RECEIPTS PROCEDURES Mail room clerks open customer cash receipts, reviews the check and remittance advices for completeness, and prepares two copies of a remittance list. One copy is sent with the checks to the cash receipts department. The second copy of the remittance advices are sent to the billing department. When the cash receipts clerk receives the checks and remittance list, he verifies the checks received against those on the remittance list and signs the checks For Deposit Only. Once the checks are endorsed, he records the receipts in the cash receipts journal from his terminal. The clerk then fills out a deposit slip and deposits the checks in the bank. Upon receipt of the remittances, the billing department clerk records the amounts in the accounts receivable subsidiary ledger from the department terminal. The system automatically updates the AR control account in the general ledger Posavek has hired your public accounting firm to review its sales order procedures for internal control compliance and to make recommendations for changes. Required a. Create a data flow diagram of the current system. b. Create a system flowchart of the existing system. c. Analyze the physical internal control weaknesses in the system. d. (Optional) Prepare a system flowchart of a redesigned computer-based system that resolves the control weaknesses that you identified. Explain your solution.arrow_forwardYour family started a new manufacturing business making outdoor benches for use in parks and outdoor venues two years ago. The business has been very successful, and sales are soaring. Because of this success, your family realizes that the equipment purchased to start the business will not last as long as expected because the company has needed to run twenty-four-hour production shifts for most of the past year. There has been a lot of wear and tear on the equipment. The original useful lives and salvage values are not as accurate as your family had hoped. Your aunt, who is the production manager for the family business, has approached you because she is concerned about this issue, and she knows you have had an accounting class. What advice do you have for her? How should the company readjust given the realities of the last few years?arrow_forward
- ENVIRO-WEAR had reached $25,000,000 in sales in its sixth year, when a disastrous set of events put the firm and its prospects in a tailspin. One of the key sales managers was overheard by a news reporter telling jokes about the poor quality of the firm’s clothing, and the news of it spread quickly. Also, rumors (largely unfounded) spread at the same time that the firm was not really as environmentally conscious in its manufacturing and packaging as it claimed. The result was an immediate falloff in sales, and some retailers were returning the goods. Mike intends to fire the manager and deny publicly any association with the manager’s comments, as well as to defend the firm’s environmental record. Required What are the ethical issues involved in the case, and how would you resolve them?arrow_forwardTwo years ago the manager of a large department store purchased new bar code scanners costing $39,000. A salesperson recently tried to sell the manager a new computer-integrated checkout system for the store. Thenew system would save the store a substantial amount of money each year. The recently purchased scanners could be sold in the secondhand market for $19,000. The store manager refused to listen to the salesperson,saying, “I just bought those scanners. I can’t get rid of them until I get my money’s worth out of them.” (a) What type of cost is the cost of purchasing the old bar code scanners? (b) What common behavioral tendencyis the manager exhibiting?arrow_forwardA successful franchise owner of a prestigious sporting goods chain is feeling the effects of technology, with more and more online sales and less and less customers in the shops. Locally there are three stores, and typically each store needs the following positions staffed for optimum profitability and success: a store manager an assistant manager five department managers and 20 customer service representatives, Averaging $1 200 000 in annual revenue. However, there has been a trend of 20 percent sales decline in stores, with an increase of 30 percent sales online (last year the online revenue stream was $300 000). The franchise owner was able to handle all of the online sales with a team of five full-time remote workers (working from home) last year. The owner wants each store to maintain its productivity, which he measures as the revenue per employee. He also thinks that there is potential to grow the online business. Please help the owner by answering the following questions.…arrow_forward
- Thai manufacturing Inc. began operations five years ago producing a new diagnostic instrument, it hoped to sell to doctors, dentists, and hospitals. The demand for the instrument far exceeded initial expectations, and the company was unable to produce enough of the instrument to meet the demand. Thai was manufacturing the instrument using equipment itbuilt at the start of the operations, but it needed more efficient equipment to meet demand.Company management decided to design and build the equipment, because no equipment currently available on the market was suitable for producing the instrument.In 2018, a section of the plant was devoted to development of the new equipment and a special staff of personnel was hired. Within six months, a machine was developed at a cost of $170,000 that increased production and reduced labour cost substantially. Sparked by the success of thenew machine, the company built three more machines of the same type at a cost of $80,000 each.Required:1) In…arrow_forwardConsider each of the following independent scenarios:a. Terrin Belson, plant manager for the laser printer factory of Compugear Inc., brushed hishair back and sighed. December had been a bad month. Two machines had broken down,and some factory production workers (all on salary) were idled for part of the month.Materials prices increased, and insurance premiums on the factory increased. No way outof it; costs were going up. He hoped that the marketing vice president would be able topush through some price increases, but that really wasn’t his department.b. Joanna Pauly was delighted to see that her ROI figures had increased for the third straightyear. She was sure that her campaign to lower costs and use machinery more efficiently(enabling her factories to sell several older machines) was the reason why. Joanna plannedto take full credit for the improvements at her semiannual performance review.c. Gil Rodriguez, sales manager for ComputerWorks, was not pleased with a memo…arrow_forwardOne of the major advantages of small businesses is that the investment for running the business is not a major issue this statement is a.Fully false b.Partly false c.Fully true d. Partly true In one of the reputed firm total number of employees were more than 150 and the annual sales in 2019 was around 5 million OMR. In 2020 the company had a huge crisis because of the Corona pandemic which leads them to decrease their number of workers to 55, as a cosuquance their annual sales drop to 723,000 OMR. Based on last year data and according to the Ministry of commerce and industry the business will be categorized under a.None of the given options b.Micro business enterprise c.Small business enterprise d.Medium business enterprise Which of the following Statement(s) is/are Correct? Statement 1: Entrepreneurship is a systematic process of applying creativity and innovation to needs and opportunities in the marketplace Statement2: Entrepreneurship involves using old ideas to create a product…arrow_forward
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