Concept explainers
Whitestone Company produces two subassemblies, JR-14 and RM-13, used in manufacturing trucks. The company is currently using an absorption costing system that applies
Mark Ward, Whitestone’s president, has been reading about a product-costing method called activity-based costing. Ward is convinced that activity-based costing will cast a new light on future profits. As a result, Brian Walters, Whitestone’s director of cost management, has accumulated cost pool information for this year shown on the following chart. This information is based on a product mix of 5,000 units of JR-14 and 5,000 units of RM-13.
In addition, the following information is projected for the next calendar year, 20x2.
On January 1, 20x2, Whitestone is planning to increase the prices of JR-14 to $355 and RM-13 to $455. Material costs are not expected to increase in 20x2, but direct labor will increase by 8 percent, and all
Whitestone uses a just-in-time inventory system and has materials delivered to the production facility directly from the vendors. The raw-material inventory at both the beginning and the end of the month is immaterial and can be ignored for the purposes of a
Required:
- 1. Explain how activity-based costing differs from traditional product-costing methods.
- 2. Using activity-based costing, calculate the total cost for the following activity cost pools: machining, assembly, material handling, and inspection. (Round to the nearest dollar.) Then, calculate the pool rate per unit of the appropriate cost driver for each of the four activities. (Hint: Refer to Exhibit 5–6, regarding calculation of the pool rate.)
- 3. Prepare a table showing for each product line the estimated 20x2 cost for each of the following cost elements: direct material, direct labor, machining, assembly, material handling, and inspection. (Round to the nearest dollar.)
- 4. Prepare a budgeted statement showing the gross margin for Whitestone Company for 20x2, using activity-based costing. The statement should show each product and a total for the company. Be sure to include detailed calculations for the cost of goods manufactured and sold. (Round each amount in the statement to the nearest dollar.)
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Managerial Accounting: Creating Value in a Dynamic Business Environment
- Young Company is beginning operations and is considering three alternatives to allocate manufacturing overhead to individual units produced. Young can use a plantwide rate, departmental rates, or activity-based costing. Young will produce many types of products in its single plant, and not all products will be processed through all departments. In which one of the following independent situations would reported net income for the first year be the same regardless of which overhead allocation method had been selected? a. All production costs approach those costs that were budgeted. b. The sales mix does not vary from the mix that was budgeted. c. All manufacturing overhead is a fixed cost. d. All ending inventory balances are zero.arrow_forwardAdam Corporation manufactures computer tables and has the following budgeted indirect manufacturing cost information for the next year: If Adam uses the step-down (sequential) method, beginning with the Maintenance Department, to allocate support department costs to production departments, the total overhead (rounded to the nearest dollar) for the Machining Department to allocate to its products would be: a. 407,500. b. 422,750. c. 442,053. d. 445,000.arrow_forwardEvans, Inc., has a unit-based costing system. Evanss Miami plant produces 10 different electronic products. The demand for each product is about the same. Although they differ in complexity, each product uses about the same labor time and materials. The plant has used direct labor hours for years to assign overhead to products. To help design engineers understand the assumed cost relationships, the Cost Accounting Department developed the following cost equation. (The equation describes the relationship between total manufacturing costs and direct labor hours; the equation is supported by a coefficient of determination of 60 percent.) Y=5,000,000+30X,whereX=directlaborhours The variable rate of 30 is broken down as follows: Because of competitive pressures, product engineering was given the charge to redesign products to reduce the total cost of manufacturing. Using the above cost relationships, product engineering adopted the strategy of redesigning to reduce direct labor content. As each design was completed, an engineering change order was cut, triggering a series of events such as design approval, vendor selection, bill of materials update, redrawing of schematic, test runs, changes in setup procedures, development of new inspection procedures, and so on. After one year of design changes, the normal volume of direct labor was reduced from 250,000 hours to 200,000 hours, with the same number of products being produced. Although each product differs in its labor content, the redesign efforts reduced the labor content for all products. On average, the labor content per unit of product dropped from 1.25 hours per unit to one hour per unit. Fixed overhead, however, increased from 5,000,000 to 6,600,000 per year. Suppose that a consultant was hired to explain the increase in fixed overhead costs. The consultants study revealed that the 30 per hour rate captured the unit-level variable costs; however, the cost behavior of other activities was quite different. For example, setting up equipment is a step-fixed cost, where each step is 2,000 setup hours, costing 90,000. The study also revealed that the cost of receiving goods is a function of the number of different components. This activity has a variable cost of 2,000 per component type and a fixed cost that follows a step-cost pattern. The step is defined by 20 components with a cost of 50,000 per step. Assume also that the consultant indicated that the design adopted by the engineers increased the demand for setups from 20,000 setup hours to 40,000 setup hours and the number of different components from 100 to 250. The demand for other non-unit-level activities remained unchanged. The consultant also recommended that management take a look at a rejected design for its products. This rejected design increased direct labor content from 250,000 hours to 260,000 hours, decreased the demand for setups from 20,000 hours to 10,000 hours, and decreased the demand for purchasing from 100 component types to 75 component types, while the demand for all other activities remained unchanged. Required: 1. Using normal volume, compute the manufacturing cost per labor hour before the year of design changes. What is the cost per unit of an average product? 2. Using normal volume after the one year of design changes, compute the manufacturing cost per hour. What is the cost per unit of an average product? 3. Before considering the consultants study, what do you think is the most likely explanation for the failure of the design changes to reduce manufacturing costs? Now use the information from the consultants study to explain the increase in the average cost per unit of product. What changes would you suggest to improve Evanss efforts to reduce costs? 4. Explain why the consultant recommended a second look at a rejected design. Provide computational support. What does this tell you about the strategic importance of cost management?arrow_forward
- The 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_forwardEclipse Motor Company manufactures two types of specialty electric motors, a commercial motor and a residential motor, through two production departments, Assembly and Testing. Presently, the company uses a single plantwide factory overhead rate for allocating factory overhead to the two products. However, management is considering using the multiple production department factory overhead rate method. The following factory overhead was budgeted for Eclipse: Direct machine hours were estimated as follows: In addition, the direct machine hours (dmh) used to produce a unit of each product in each department were determined from engineering records, as follows: a. Determine the per-unit factory overhead allocated to the commercial and residential motors under the single plantwide factory overhead rate method, using direct machine hours as the allocation base. b. Determine the per-unit factory overhead allocated to the commercial and residential motors under the multiple production department factory overhead rate method, using direct machine hours as the allocation base for each department. c. Recommend to management a product costing approach, based on your analyses in (a) and (b). Support your recommendation.arrow_forwardDouglas Davis, controller for Marston, Inc., prepared the following budget for manufacturing costs at two different levels of activity for 20X1: During 20X1, Marston worked a total of 80,000 direct labor hours, used 250,000 machine hours, made 32,000 moves, and performed 120 batch inspections. The following actual costs were incurred: Marston applies overhead using rates based on direct labor hours, machine hours, number of moves, and number of batches. The second level of activity (the right column in the preceding table) is the practical level of activity (the available activity for resources acquired in advance of usage) and is used to compute predetermined overhead pool rates. Required: 1. Prepare a performance report for Marstons manufacturing costs in the current year. 2. Assume that one of the products produced by Marston is budgeted to use 10,000 direct labor hours, 15,000 machine hours, and 500 moves and will be produced in five batches. A total of 10,000 units will be produced during the year. Calculate the budgeted unit manufacturing cost. 3. One of Marstons managers said the following: Budgeting at the activity level makes a lot of sense. It really helps us manage costs better. But the previous budget really needs to provide more detailed information. For example, I know that the moving materials activity involves the use of forklifts and operators, and this information is lost when only the total cost of the activity for various levels of output is reported. We have four forklifts, each capable of providing 10,000 moves per year. We lease these forklifts for five years, at 10,000 per year. Furthermore, for our two shifts, we need up to eight operators if we run all four forklifts. Each operator is paid a salary of 30,000 per year. Also, I know that fuel costs about 0.25 per move. Assuming that these are the only three items, expand the detail of the flexible budget for moving materials to reveal the cost of these three resource items for 20,000 moves and 40,000 moves, respectively. Based on these comments, explain how this additional information can help Marston better manage its costs. (Especially consider how activity-based budgeting may provide useful information for non-value-added activities.)arrow_forward
- JoyT Company manufactures Maxi Dolls for sale in toy stores. In planning for this year, JoyT estimated variable factory overhead of 600,000 and fixed factory overhead of 400,000. JoyT uses a standard costing system, and factory overhead is allocated to units produced using standard direct labor hours. The level of activity budgeted for this year was 10,000 direct labor hours, and JoyT used 10,300 actual direct labor hours. Based on the output accomplished during this year, 9,900 standard direct labor hours should have been used. Actual variable factory overhead was 596,000, and actual fixed factory overhead was 410,000 for the year. Based on this information, the variable factory overhead controllable variance for JoyT for this year was: a. 24,000 unfavorable. b. 2,000 unfavorable. c. 4,000 favorable. d. 22,000 favorable.arrow_forwardAnderson Company has the following departmental manufacturing structure for one of its products: After some study, the production manager of Anderson recommended the following revised cellular manufacturing approach: Required: 1. Calculate the total time it takes to produce a batch of 20 units using Andersons traditional departmental structure. 2. Using cellular manufacturing, how much time is saved producing the same batch of 20 units? Assuming the cell operates continuously, what is the production rate? Which process controls this production rate? 3. What if the processing times of molding, welding, and assembly are all reduced to six minutes each? What is the production rate now, and how long will it take to produce a batch of 20 units?arrow_forwardHandbrain Inc. is considering a change to activity-based product costing. The company produces two products, cell phones and tablet PCs, in a single production department. The production department is estimated to require 2,000 direct labor hours. The total indirect labor is budgeted to be 200,000. Time records from indirect labor employees revealed that they spent 30% of their time setting up production runs and 70% of their time supporting actual production. The following information about cell phones and tablet PCs was determined from the corporate records: a. Determine the indirect labor cost per unit allocated to cell phones and tablet PCs under a single plantwide factory overhead rate system using the direct labor hours as the allocation base. b. Determine the budgeted activity costs and activity rates for the indirect labor under activity-based costing. Assume two activitiesone for setup and the other for production support. c. Determine the activity cost per unit for indirect labor allocated to each product under activity-based costing. d. Why are the per-unit allocated costs in (a) different from the per-unit activity cost assigned to the products in (c)?arrow_forward
- Salisbury Bottle Company manufactures plastic two-liter bottles for the beverage industry. The cost standards per 100 two-liter bottles are as follows: At the beginning of March, Salisburys management planned to produce 500,000 bottles. The actual number of bottles produced for March was 525,000 bottles. The actual costs for March of the current year were as follows: a. Prepare the March manufacturing standard cost budget (direct labor, direct materials, and factory overhead) for Salisbury, assuming planned production. b. Prepare a budget performance report for manufacturing costs, showing the total cost variances for direct materials, direct labor, and factory overhead for March. c. Interpret the budget performance report.arrow_forwardMott Company recently implemented a JIT manufacturing system. After one year of operation, Heidi Burrows, president of the company, wanted to compare product cost under the JIT system with product cost under the old system. Motts two products are weed eaters and lawn edgers. The unit prime costs under the old system are as follows: Under the old manufacturing system, the company operated three service centers and two production departments. Overhead was applied using departmental overhead rates. The direct overhead costs associated with each department for the year preceding the installation of JIT are as follows: Under the old system, the overhead costs of the service departments were allocated directly to the producing departments and then to the products passing through them. (Both products passed through each producing department.) The overhead rate for the Machining Department was based on machine hours, and the overhead rate for assembly was based on direct labor hours. During the last year of operations for the old system, the Machining Department used 80,000 machine hours, and the Assembly Department used 20,000 direct labor hours. Each weed eater required 1.0 machine hour in Machining and 0.25 direct labor hour in Assembly. Each lawn edger required 2.0 machine hours in Machining and 0.5 hour in Assembly. Bases for allocation of the service costs are as follows: Upon implementing JIT, a manufacturing cell for each product was created to replace the departmental structure. Each cell occupied 40,000 square feet. Maintenance and materials handling were both decentralized to the cell level. Essentially, cell workers were trained to operate the machines in each cell, assemble the components, maintain the machines, and move the partially completed units from one point to the next within the cell. During the first year of the JIT system, the company produced and sold 20,000 weed eaters and 30,000 lawn edgers. This output was identical to that for the last year of operations under the old system. The following costs have been assigned to the manufacturing cells: Required: 1. Compute the unit cost for each product under the old manufacturing system. 2. Compute the unit cost for each product under the JIT system. 3. Which of the unit costs is more accurate? Explain. Include in your explanation a discussion of how the computational approaches differ. 4. Calculate the decrease in overhead costs under JIT, and provide some possible reasons that explain the decrease.arrow_forwardBig Mikes, a large hardware store, has gathered data on its overhead activities and associated costs for the past 10 months. Nizam Sanjay, a member of the controllers department, believes that overhead activities and costs should be classified into groups that have the same driver. He has decided that unloading incoming goods, counting goods, and inspecting goods can be grouped together as a more general receiving activity, since these three activities are all driven by the number of receiving orders. The 10 months of data shown below have been gathered for the receiving activity. Required: 1. Prepare a scattergraph, plotting the receiving costs against the number of purchase orders. Use the vertical axis for costs and the horizontal axis for orders. 2. Select two points that make the best fit, and compute a cost formula for receiving costs. 3. Using the high-low method, prepare a cost formula for the receiving activity. 4. Using the method of least squares, prepare a cost formula for the receiving activity. What is the coefficient of determination?arrow_forward
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