Unitwide versus Department Allocation—Administrative (Service) Function
The Personnel Department at Hernandez Bros. is centralized and provides services to the two operating units: Miami and New York. The Miami unit is the original unit of the company and is well established. The New York unit is new, much like a start-up company. The costs of the Personnel Department are allocated to each unit based on the number of employees in order to determine unit profitability. The current rate is $300 per employee. Data for the fiscal year just ended show the following:
Required
- a. Compute the cost allocated to each unit using the current allocation system.
- b. Livan, the manager of the Miami unit, is unhappy with the allocation from Personnel. He believes that he gets little benefit other than the occasional hire and termination help. He asks the controller’s office to estimate the amount of Personnel Department cost associated with routine personnel matters (benefits, and so on) and those associated with hiring employees and assisting with departing employees (transitions). The controller responds that if they separated the overhead costs on this basis, the rates would be $80 per employee for routine matters and $2,750 for each transition (each hiring and each departure counts as one transition).
Recompute the costs allocated to each unit using the separate rates for routine and transitional matters.
Trending nowThis is a popular solution!
Chapter 9 Solutions
Fundamentals Of Cost Accounting (6th Edition)
- Two departments within Cougar Gear Inc. are Production and Sales. Each department has a unique scorecard, as follows: The Production Department scorecard focuses on the learning and growth and internal processes perspectives. The Sales Department scorecard focuses on the learning and growth and customer perspectives. Both scorecards have the learning and growth performance metrics of median training hours per employee and average employee tenure. The Production scorecard has the unique metrics of production time per unit and number of production shutdowns. The Sales scorecard has the unique metrics of percentage of customers who shop again and online customer satisfaction rating. The performance targets for each metric are shown in the tan boxes just under the performance metrics. The actual achieved metrics are shown in the red boxes just below the tan boxes. When evaluating both departments, Cougar Gears management looks at the median training hours per employee and average employee tenure metrics and subsequently decides to give the Sales Department a large bonus while giving the Production Department a minimal bonus. a. Determine and define the type of cognitive bias Cougar Gears management has exhibited in this instance. b. Determine which department would have received the larger bonus had the companys management not been biased in the evaluation. c. Discuss one advantage and one disadvantage of using unique balanced scorecards for different departments or divisions of a company.arrow_forwardA manufacturing company has two service and two production departments. Human Resources and Machine Repair are the service departments. The production departments are Grinding and Polishing. The following data have been estimated for next years operations: The direct charges identified with each of the departments are as follows: The human resources department services all departments of the company, and its costs are allocated using the numbers of employees within each department, while machine repair costs are allocable to Grinding and Polishing on the basis of machine hours. 1. Distribute the service department costs, using the direct method. 2. Distribute the service department costs, using the sequential distribution method, with the department servicing the greatest number of other departments distributed first.arrow_forwardRefer to the data in Exercise 7.18. When the capacity of the HR Department was originally established, the normal usage expected for each department was 20,000 direct labor hours. This usage is also the amount of activity planned for the two departments in Year 1 and Year 2. Required: 1. Allocate the costs of the HR Department using the direct method and assuming that the purpose is product costing. 2. Allocate the costs of the HR Department using the direct method and assuming that the purpose is to evaluate performance.arrow_forward
- Overhead Rates, Unit Costs Folsom Company manufactures specialty tools to customer order. There are three producing departments. Departmental information on budgeted overhead and various activity measures for the coming year is as follows: Currently, overhead is applied on the basis of machine hours using a plantwide rate. However, Janine, the controller, has been wondering whether it might be worthwhile to use departmental overhead rates. She has analyzed the overhead costs and drivers for the various departments and decided that Welding and Finishing should base their overhead rates on machine hours and that Assembly should base its overhead rate on direct labor hours. Janine has been asked to prepare bids for two jobs with the following information: The typical bid price includes a 35% markup over full manufacturing cost. Round all overhead rates to the nearest cent. Round all bid prices to the nearest dollar. Required: 1. Calculate a plantwide rate for Folsom Company based on machine hours. What is the bid price of each job using this rate? 2. Calculate departmental overhead rates for the producing departments. What is the bid price of each job using these rates?arrow_forwardYoung 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_forwardA manufacturing company has two service and two production departments. Building Maintenance and Factory Office are the service departments. The production departments are Assembly and Machining. The following data have been estimated for next years operations: The direct charges identified with each of the departments are as follows: The building maintenance department services all departments of the company, and its costs are allocated using floor space occupied, while factory office costs are allocable to Assembly and Machining on the basis of direct labor hours. 1. Distribute the service department costs, using the direct method. 2. Distribute the service department costs, using the sequential distribution method, with the department servicing the greatest number of other departments distributed first.arrow_forward
- Analyze Horsepower Hookup, Inc. Horsepower Hookup, Inc., is a large automobile company that specializes in the production of high-powered trucks. The company is determining cost allocations for purposes of performance evaluation. A portion of company bonuses depends on divisions achieving cost management goals. This necessitates highly accurate support department cost allocation. Management has also stated that it has the means to implement as complex a method as necessary. The general manager over the Mid-Size D wants to get a good idea of what factors are driving the costs of the support departments in order to make accurate cost allocations, so finding accurate support department cost drivers is important. Support department costs include Janitorial (163,100) and Security (285,400). The Janitorial costs vary depending on the number of vehicles produced, increasing with larger production volumes. Security costs are fixed based on the size of the lot, and do not change with respect to how many vehicles are in the lot or warehouse. Joint costs involved in producing the trucks before the split-off point where the various makes, models, and colors are produced are 946,000 for the period. All makes, models, and colors sell at relatively similar margins, but the sports models and metallic colors are normally more difficult to produce during the joint production process. a. Which support department cost allocation method (direct, sequential, or reciprocal services) should be used to allocate support department cost? b. What driver would be best for allocating Janitorial costs? c. What driver would be best for allocating Security costs? d. If Janitorial costs were to be allocated based on square footage, and Security costs based on asset value, what percentage of each support departments costs would be allocated to each production department using the sequential method (allocating Security costs first) given the following: e. Should Janitorial and Security costs be considered when evaluating the performance of cost management employees? f. What joint cost allocation method should be used for performance evaluation purposes?arrow_forwardProduct costing and decision analysis for a service company Blue Star Airline provides passenger airline service, using small jets. The airline connects four major cities: Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and San Francisco. The company expects to fly 170,000 miles during a month. The following costs are budgeted for a month: Blue Star management wishes to assign these costs to individual flights in order to gauge the profitability of its service offerings. The following activity bases were identified with the budgeted costs: The size of the companys ground operation in each city is determined by the size of the workforce. The following monthly data are available from corporate records for each terminal operation: Three recent representative flights have been selected for the profitability study. Their characteristics are as follows: Instructions Determine the fuel, crew, and depreciation cost per mile flown. Determine the cost per arrival or departure by terminal city. Use the information in (1) and (2) to construct a profitability report for the three flights. Each flight has a single arrival and departure to its origin and destination city pairs.arrow_forwardSupport department cost allocation Blue Mountain Masterpieces produces pictures, paintings, and other home decor. The Printing and Framing production departments are supported by the Janitorial and Security departments. Janitorial costs are allocated to the production departments based on square feet, and security costs are allocated based on asset value. Information about these departments is detailed in the following table: Management has experimented with different support department cost allocation methods in the past. The different allocation methods did not yield large differences of cost allocation to the production departments. Instructions 1. Determine which support department cost allocation method Blue Mountain Masterpieces would most likely use to allocate its support department costs to the production departments. 2. Determine the total costs allocated from each support department to each production department using the method you determined in part (1). 3. Without doing calculations, consider and answer the following: If Blue Mountain Masterpieces decided to use square feet instead of asset value as the cost driver for security services, how would this change the allocation of Security Department costs?arrow_forward
- Profit center responsibility reporting for a service company Red Line Railroad Inc. has three regional divisions organized as profit centers. The chief executive officer (CEO) evaluates divisional performance, using operating income as a percent of revenues. The following quarterly income and expense accounts were provided from the trial balance as of December 31: The company operates three support departments: Shareholder Relations, Customer Support, and Legal. The Shareholder Relations Department conducts a variety of services for shareholders of the company. The Customer Support Department is the companys point of contact for new service, complaints, and requests for repair. The department believes that the number of customer contacts is a cost driver for this work. The Legal Department provides legal services for division management. The department believes that the number of hours billed is a cost driver for this work. The following additional information has been gathered: Instructions 1. Prepare quarterly income statements showing operating income for the three divisions. Use three column headings: East, West, and Central. 2. Identify the most successful division according to the profit margin. Round to the nearest whole percent. 3. Provide a recommendation to the CEO for a better method for evaluating the performance of the divisions. In your recommendation, identify the major weakness of the present method.arrow_forwardMinor Co. has a job order cost system and applies overhead based on departmental rates. Service Department 1 has total budgeted costs of 168,000 for next year. Service Department 2 has total budgeted costs of 280,000 for next year. Minor allocates service department costs solely to the producing departments. Service Department 1 cost is allocated to producing departments on the basis of machine hours. Service Department 2 cost is allocated to producing departments on the basis of direct labor hours. Producing Department 1 has budgeted 8,000 machine hours and 12,000 direct labor hours. Producing Department 2 has budgeted 2,000 machine hours and 12,000 direct labor hours. What is the total cost allocation from the two service departments to Producing Department 1? a. 173,600 b. 140,000 c. 134,400 d. 274,400arrow_forwardGrate Care Company specializes in producing products for personal grooming. The company operates six divisions, including the Hair Products Division. Each division is treated as an investment center. Managers are evaluated and rewarded on the basis of ROI performance. Only those managers who produce the best ROIs are selected to receive bonuses and to fill higher-level managerial positions. Fred Olsen, manager of the Hair Products Division, has always been one of the top performers. For the past two years, Freds division has produced the largest ROI; last year, the division earned an operating income of 2.56 million and employed average operating assets valued at 16 million. Fred is pleased with his divisions performance and has been told that if the division does well this year, he will be in line for a headquarters position. For the coming year, Freds division has been promised new capital totaling 1.5 million. Any of the capital not invested by the division will be invested to earn the companys required rate of return (9 percent). After some careful investigation, the marketing and engineering staff recommended that the division invest in equipment that could be used to produce a crimping and waving iron, a product currently not produced by the division. The cost of the equipment was estimated at 1.2 million. The divisions marketing manager estimated operating earnings from the new line to be 156,000 per year. After receiving the proposal and reviewing the potential effects, Fred turned it down. He then wrote a memo to corporate headquarters, indicating that his division would not be able to employ the capital in any new projects within the next eight to 10 months. He did note, however, that he was confident that his marketing and engineering staff would have a project ready by the end of the year. At that time, he would like to have access to the capital. Required: 1. Explain why Fred Olsen turned down the proposal to add the capability of producing a crimping and waving iron. Provide computations to support your reasoning. 2. Compute the effect that the new product line would have on the profitability of the firm as a whole. Should the division have produced the crimping and waving iron? 3. Suppose that the firm used residual income as a measure of divisional performance. Do you think Freds decision might have been different? Why? 4. Explain why a firm like Grate Care might decide to use both residual income and return on investment as measures of performance. 5. Did Fred display ethical behavior when he turned down the investment? In discussing this issue, consider why he refused to allow the investment.arrow_forward
- Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337912020Author:Carl Warren, Ph.d. Cma William B. TaylerPublisher:South-Western College PubFinancial And Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337902663Author:WARREN, Carl S.Publisher:Cengage Learning,Principles of Cost AccountingAccountingISBN:9781305087408Author:Edward J. Vanderbeck, Maria R. MitchellPublisher:Cengage Learning
- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage LearningManagerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Busines...AccountingISBN:9781337115773Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. HeitgerPublisher:Cengage Learning