Cawker Products has two manufacturing facilities—Lucas plant and Russell plant—that produce the same product. Until recently, the production process in both plants has been the same. Last year, the Russell production supervisor, Ann Tyler, determined that she could use lower-cost utility labor in place of the skilled direct labor to bring raw materials to the assembly line and move finished products to the warehouse. While the total time required remained the same, the new material handling process was included in overhead rather than being considered as direct labor. Staffing at the Russell plant was adjusted to reflect the change.
In looking over the production plans for next year, Jason Hunter, the CEO of Cawker Products, is surprised by the cost estimates for the two plants. Specifically, he notes that the overhead rate, which had been comparable between the two plants, is now much higher at the Russell plant. He suggests moving some of the production to Lucas to save money.
Required
Prepare a report that states how an activity-based costing system might benefit Cawker Products and clear up the CEO’s confusion.
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Chapter 9 Solutions
COST ACCOUNTING
- Hall, Incorporated manufactures two components, Standard and Ultra, that are designed for the same function, but are made of different metals for operational performance reasons. The metal used in Standard is easy to work with and there are few quality issues or reworking required on the machines. The metal used in Ultra is more difficult to work with and often needs additional machine time and rework. Data on expected operations and direct costs for the next fiscal year follow: Units produced Direct labor-hours used Machine-hours used Direct materials costs Direct labor costs Account Administration Engineering Machine operation and maintenance Miscellaneous Supervision Total Standard 41,000 123,000 20,500 Required: Ultra 13,000 22,500 22,500 $ 3,097,000 2,520,000 $ 3,700,000 855,000 The planning process team at Hall, Incorporated has estimated the following manufacturing overhead costs for the next fiscal year: Total Amount $ 825,400 3,603,000 840,000 540, 100 884,500 $ 6,693,000…arrow_forwardHall, Incorporated manufactures two components, Standard and Ultra, that are designed for the same function, but are made of different metals for operational performance reasons. The metal used in Standard is easy to work with and there are few quality issues or reworking required on the machines. The metal used in Ultra is more difficult to work with and often needs additional machine time and rework. Data on expected operations and direct costs for the next fiscal year follow: Account Administration Engineering Machine operation and maintenance Standard Miscellaneous Supervision Total 48,000 144,000 24,000 Ultral $ 3,384,000 2,520,000 Units produced Direct labor-hours used Machine-hours used Direct materials costs $5,163,000 Direct labor costs 855,000 The planning process team at Hall, Incorporated has estimated the following manufacturing overhead costs for the next fiscal year: 16,500 22,500 22,500 Total Amount $ 825,400 5,699,500 875,000 540,100 884,500 $8,824,500. 64,500 166,500…arrow_forwardGoulburn, Incorporated produces parts for heavy equipment used in mining and construction. The plant that produces one part common to many vehicles is highly automated, so all labor is considered part of factory overhead. The plant manager, who has just been promoted, would like to understand how overhead costs fluctuate in order to improve planning and budgets. After discussions with both financial and operations members of the plant staff, there is general agreement that the best cost driver for overhead is machine-hours. Monthly data were collected from the most recent two years on machine-hours and overhead. More months of data were available, but a process change had taken place about 30 months earlier, so the staff believed any data from before that time would be misleading. The data are shown in the following table: Month 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Machine-Hours 40,300 38,300 31,100 43,400 51,600 46,500 43,400 63,100 37,300 54,700 53,700 37,300 60,900 59,900…arrow_forward
- Goulburn, Incorporated produces parts for heavy equipment used in mining and construction. The plant that produces one part common to many vehicles is highly automated, so all labor is considered part of factory overhead. The plant manager, who has just been promoted, would like to understand how overhead costs fluctuate in order to improve planning and budgets. After discussions with both financial and operations members of the plant staff, there is general agreement that the best cost driver for overhead is machine-hours. Monthly data were collected from the most recent two years on machine-hours and overhead. More months of data were available, but a process change had taken place about 30 months earlier, so the staff believed any data from before that time would be misleading. The data are shown in the following table: Month Machine-Hours Factory Overhead 1 39,300 $ 527,100 2 37,300 416,500 3 30,100 365,800 4 42,400 498,200 5 50,600 590,700 6 45,500 503,400 7…arrow_forwardArklan Production is upgrading its manufacturing process from a manual process to a highly automated system. Management believes that the new system will result in greater efficiencies and a better finished product. Arklan is also working on a plan to downsize staff after the implementation of the new system. Arklan has used a traditional absorption costing system to calculate unit product costs for external financial reporting. In the past, Arklan has allocated its manufacturing overhead costs using a predetermined plant-wide overhead rate based on direct labor hours. The controller realizes that the new system may require changing the overhead allocation process. Management plans to take the opportunity to reconsider other improvements to the costing system. Identify and explain three benefits of using departmental overhead rates to allocate overhead costs. Explain the difference between absorption costing and variable costing. Identify which is more suitable for internal…arrow_forwardXylon company manufactures custom made furniture for the local market and produces a line of home furnishings sold in retail stores across the country. the company uses traditional volume based methods of assigning direct materials and direct labor to its product line. overhead has always been assigned by using a plant-wide overhead rate based on direct labor hours. In the past few years, management has seen its line of retail products continue to sell at high volumes, but competition has forced it to lower prices on these items. The prices are declining to a level close to its cost of production. Meanwhile, it's custom made furniture is in high demand, and customers have commented on its favorable (lower) prices compared to its competitors. Management is considering dropping its line of retail products and devoting all of its resources to custom made furniture. 1) What reasons could explain why competitors are forcing the company to lower prices on its high-volume retail…arrow_forward
- Perez Manufacturing Company uses two departments to make its products. Department I is a cutting department that is machine intensive and uses very few employees. Machines cut and form parts and then place the finished parts on a conveyor belt that carries them to Department II, where they are assembled into finished goods. The assembly department is labor intensive and requires many workers to assemble parts into finished goods. The company's manufacturing facility incurs two significant overhead costs: employee fringe benefits and utility costs. The annual costs of fringe benefits are $292,000 and utility costs are $220,000. The typical consumption patterns for the two departments are as follows: Department I 15,000 6,000 Department II 5,000 10,000 Total 20,000 16,000 Machine hours used Direct labor hours used The supervisor of each department receives a bonus based on how well the department controls costs. The company's current policy requires using a single allocation base…arrow_forwardSouthward Company has implemented a JIT flexible manufacturing system. John Richins, controller of the company, has decided to reduce the accounting requirements given the expectation of lower inventories. For one thing, he has decided to treat direct labor cost as a part of overhead and to discontinue the detailed direct labor accounting of the past. The company has created two manufacturing cells, each capable of producing a family of products: the radiator cell and the water pump cell. The output of both cells is sold to a sister division and to customers who use the radiators and water pumps for repair activity. Product-level overhead costs outside the cells are assigned to each cell using appropriate drivers. Facility-level costs are allocated to each cell on the basis of square footage. The budgeted direct labor and overhead costs are as follows: Radiator Cell Water Pump Cell Direct labor costs $168,400 $108,410 Direct overhead 656,760 395,550 Product…arrow_forwardHannah Gilpin is the controller ofBlakemore Auto Glass, a division of Eastern Glass and Window. Blakemore replaces and installs windshields.Her division has been under pressure to improve its divisional operating income. Currently,divisions of Eastern Glass are allocated corporate overhead based on cost of goods sold. Jake Myers,the president of the division, has asked Gilpin to reclassify $50,000 of installation labor, which is includedin cost of goods sold, as administrative labor, which is not. Doing so will save the division $20,000 in allocatedcorporate overhead. The labor costs in question involve installation labor provided by traineeemployees. Myers argues, “the trainees are not as efficient as regular employees so this is unfairlyinflating our cost of goods sold. This is really a cost of training (administrative labor) not part of cost ofgoods sold.” Gilpin does not see a reason for reclassification of the costs, other than to avoid overheadallocation costs. What should Gilpin…arrow_forward
- Hannah Gilpin is the controller ofBlakemore Auto Glass, a division of Eastern Glass and Window. Blakemore replaces and installs windshields.Her division has been under pressure to improve its divisional operating income. Currently,divisions of Eastern Glass are allocated corporate overhead based on cost of goods sold. Jake Myers,the president of the division, has asked Gilpin to reclassify $50,000 of installation labor, which is includedin cost of goods sold, as administrative labor, which is not. Doing so will save the division $20,000 in allocatedcorporate overhead. The labor costs in question involve installation labor provided by traineeemployees. Myers argues, “the trainees are not as efficient as regular employees so this is unfairlyinflating our cost of goods sold. This is really a cost of training (administrative labor) not part of cost ofgoods sold.” Gilpin does not see a reason for reclassification of the costs, other than to avoid overheadallocation costs. Describe Gilpin’s…arrow_forwardMaxlon Company manufactures custom-made furniture for its local market and produces a line of home furnishings sold in retail stores across the country. The company uses traditional volume-based methods of assigning direct materials and direct labor to its product lines. Overhead has always been assigned using a plantwide overhead rate based on direct labor hours. In the past few years, management has seen its line of retail products continue to sell at high volumes, but competition has forced it to lower prices on these items. The prices are declining to a level close to its cost of production. Meanwhile, its custom-made furniture is in high demand, and customers have commented on its favorable (lower) prices compared to its competitors. Management is considering dropping its line of retail products and devoting all of its resources to custom-made furniture. Required 1. What reasons could explain why competitors are forcing the company to lower prices on its highvolume retail…arrow_forwardCrane Inc. makes two types of handbags: standard and custom. The controller has decided to use a plant-wide overhead rate based on direct labour costs. The president has heard of activity-based costing and wants to see how the results would differ if this system were used. Two activity cost pools were developed: machining (machine hours) and machine set-up (number of set-ups). The total estimated machine hours is 1,500, and the total estimated number of setups is 500. Presented below is information related to the company's operations. Direct labour costs Machine hours Set-up hours Standard (a) $50,000 500 100 Custom $100,000 Predetermined overhead rate 1,000 Total estimated overhead costs are $187,500. The overhead cost allocated to the machining activity cost pool is $151,500, and $36,000 is allocated to the machine set-up activity cost pool. 400 Calculate the overhead rate using the traditional (plant-wide) approach. % of direct labour costarrow_forward
- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage Learning
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