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College of Administration and Finance SciencesAssignment (2)
Deadline: Saturday 04/05/2024 @ 23:59
Course Name: Cost Accounting
Student’s Name:
Course Code: ACCT 301
Student’s ID Number:
Semester: Second
CRN:
Academic Year: 1445 H
For Instructor’s Use only
Instructor’s Name: Dr. Mohammed Arshad Khan
Students’ Grade:
/15
Level of Marks: High/Middle/Low
Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY
• The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via allocated
folder.
• Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.
• Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented, marks may be
reduced for poor presentation. This includes filling your information on the cover
page.
• Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.
• Late submission will NOT be accepted.
• Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from students or
other resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO marks. No exceptions.
• All answers must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced) font.
No pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered plagiarism.
• Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.
College of Administration and Finance Sciences
Assignment Question(s):
(Marks 15)
Q1. What is the process of identifying activities in an organisation and assigning costs under the
Activity Based Costing (ABC) system? Elucidate. You will need to include the right numerical
examples to support your answer.
(2 Marks) (Chapter 7, Week 7)
Answer:
Q2. PPLC Company has two support departments, SD1 and SD2, and two operating
departments, OD1 and OD2. The company decided to use the direct method and allocate
variable SD1 dept. costs based on the number of transactions and fixed SD1 dept. costs based on
the number of employees. SD2 dept. variable costs will be allocated based on the number of
service requests, and fixed costs will be allocated based on the number of computers. The
following information is provided:
(4 Marks) (Chapter 8, Week 10)
Support Departments
Operating Departments
SD1
SD2
OD1
OD2
Total Department variable costs
18,000
19,000
51,000
35,000
Total department fixed costs
20,000
24,000
56,000
30,000
Number of transactions
30
40
200
100
Number of employees
14
18
35
30
Number of service requests
28
18
35
25
Number of computers
15
20
24
28
College of Administration and Finance Sciences
You are required to allocate variable and fixed costs using direct method.
Answer:
Q3. What are an organization’s “outsourcing decisions” and “constrained resource decisions?”
Provide a suitable numerical example of these decisions and explain how quantitative and
qualitative considerations support a company’s decision-making process.
(2 Marks) (Chapter 4, Week 9)
Note: Your answer must include suitable numerical examples. You are required to assume values
of your own, and they should not be copied from any sources.
Answer:
Q4. VBN plastic industry makes three plastic toys: T1, T2, and T3. The joint costs of the three
products in 2017 were SAR 120,000. The total number of units for each product and the selling
price per unit is given below:
(3 Marks) (Chapter 9, Week 11)
Product
Units
Selling Price per unit
T1
45,000
SAR 15
T2
26,000
SAR 14
T3
18,000
SAR 10
You are required to allocate the joint costs to each product using the physical volume method and sales
value at the split-off method.
Answer:
College of Administration and Finance Sciences
Q5. MN&M Corporation is preparing a budget for 2018. The company provides you with the
following details which will help you to prepare the budget:
(4 Marks) (Chapter 10, Week 12)
Budgeted selling price per unit
=
SAR 500 per unit
Total fixed costs
=
SAR 150,000
Variable costs
=
SAR 100 per unit
Required:
You are required to prepare a flexible budget for 1,000, 1,100, 1,200 and 1,300 units.
Answer:
Cost Management
Measuring, Monitoring, and Motivating Performance
Chapter 4
Relevant Information for Decision Making
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 1
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine
Operating Decisions
Learning objectives






Q1: What is the process for identifying and using relevant
information in decision making?
Q2: How is relevant quantitative and qualitative information
used in special order decisions?
Q3: How is relevant quantitative and qualitative information
used in keep or drop decisions?
Q4: How is relevant quantitative and qualitative information used in
outsourcing (make or buy) decisions?
Q5: How is relevant quantitative and qualitative information used in
product emphasis and constrained resource decisions?
Q6: What factors affect the quality of operating decisions?
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 2
Q1: Nonroutine Operating Decisions
• Routine operating decisions are those made on a
regular schedule. Examples include:
• annual budgets and resource allocation decisions
• monthly production planning
• weekly work scheduling issues
• Nonroutine operating decisions are not made on a
regular schedule. Examples include:
• accept or reject a customer’s special order
• keep or drop business segments
• insource or outsource a business activity
• constrained (scarce) resource allocation issues
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 3
Q1: Nonroutine Operating Decisions
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 4
Q1: Process for Making Nonroutine
Operating Decisions
1. Identify the type of decision to be made.
2. Identify the relevant quantitative analysis
technique(s).
3. Identify and analyze the qualitative factors.
4. Perform quantitative and/or qualitative analyses
5. Prioritize issues and arrive at a decision.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 5
Q1: Identify the Type of Decision


Special order decisions

determine the pricing

accept or reject a customer’s proposal for order quantity
and pricing

identify if there is sufficient available capacity
Keep or drop business segment decisions


examples of business segments include product lines,
divisions, services, geographic regions, or other distinct
segments of the business
eliminating segments with operating losses will not
always improve profits
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 6
Q1: Identify the Type of Decision



Outsourcing decisions

make or buy production components

perform business activities “in-house” or pay another
business to perform the activity
Constrained resource allocation decisions

determine which products (or business segments)
should receive allocations of scarce resources

examples include allocating scarce machine hours or
limited supplies of materials to products
Other decisions may use similar analyses
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 7
Q1: Identify and Apply the Relevant
Quantitative Analysis Technique(s)


Regression, CVP, and linear programming are
examples of quantitative analysis techniques.
Analysis techniques require input data.

Data for some input variables will be known and for
other input variables estimates will be required.

Many nonroutine decisions have a general
decision rule to apply to the data.

The results of the general rule need to be
interpreted.

The quality of the information used must be considered
when interpreting the results of the general rule.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 8
Q2-Q5 : Identify and Analyze Qualitative Factors

Qualitative information cannot easily be valued in
dollars.



can be difficult to identify
can be every bit as important as the quantitative
information
Examples of qualitative information that may be
relevant in some nonroutine decisions include:

quality of inputs available from a supplier

effects of decision on regular customers

effects of decision on employee morale

effects of production on the environment or the
community
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 9
Q1: Consider All Information and Make a Decision

Before making a decision:

Consider all quantitative and qualitative information.
• Judgment is required when interpreting the effects of
qualitative information.

Consider the quality of the information.
• Judgment is also required when user lower-quality
information.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 10
Q2: Special Order Decisions


A new customer (or an existing customer) may
sometimes request a special order with a lower
selling price per unit.
The general rule for special order decisions is:


accept the order if incremental revenues exceed
incremental costs,
subject to qualitative considerations.
Price >=

Relevant
Variable Costs +
Relevant
Fixed Costs +
Opportunity
Cost
If the special order replaces a portion of normal
operations, then the opportunity cost of accepting
the order must be included in incremental costs.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 11
Q2: Special Order Decisions
RobotBits, Inc. makes sensory input devices for robot manufacturers.
The normal selling price is $38.00 per unit. RobotBits was approached
by a large robot manufacturer, U.S. Robots, Inc. USR wants to buy
8,000 units at $24, and USR will pay the shipping costs. The per-unit
costs traceable to the product (based on normal capacity of 94,000
units) are listed below. Which costs are relevant to this decision?
yes$6.20 Relevant?
Direct materials
yes 8.00 Relevant?
Direct labor
Variable mfg. overhead yes 5.80 Relevant?
no 3.50 Relevant?
Fixed mfg. overhead
yes
Shipping/handling
no 2.50 Relevant?
Fixed administrative costs no 0.88 Relevant?
no 0.36 Relevant?
Fixed selling costs
$27.24
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
$20.00
Slide # 12
Q2: Special Order Decisions
Suppose that the capacity of RobotBits is 107,000 units and projected
sales to regular customers this year total 94,000 units. Does the
quantitative analysis suggest that the company should accept the
special order?
First determine if there is sufficient idle capacity to accept this
order without disrupting normal operations:
Projected sales to regular customers
Special order
94,000 units
8,000 units
102,000 units
RobotBits still has 5,000 units of idle capacity if the order is
accepted. Compare incremental revenue to incremental cost:
Incremental profit if accept special order =
($24 selling price – $20 relevant costs) x 8,000 units = $32,000
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 13
Q2: Qualitative Factors in
Special Order Decisions
What qualitative issues, in general, might RobotBits consider before
finalizing its decision?
• Will USR expect the same selling price per unit on future
orders?
• Will other regular customers be upset if they discover the
lower selling price to one of their competitors?
• Will employee productivity change with the increase in
production?
• Given the increase in production, will the incremental costs
remain as predicted for this special order?
• Are materials available from its supplier to meet the increase
in production?
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 14
Q2: Special Order Decisions and Capacity Issues
Suppose instead that the capacity of RobotBits is 100,000 units and
projected sales to regular customers this year totals 94,000 units.
Should the company accept the special order?
Here the company does not have enough idle
capacity to accept the order:
Projected sales to regular customers
Special order
94,000 units
8,000 units
102,000 units
If USR will not agree to a reduction of the order to 6,000
units, then the offer can only be accepted by denying sales
of 2,000 units to regular customers.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 15
Q2: Special Order Decisions and Capacity Issues
Suppose instead that the capacity of RobotBits is 100,000 units and
projected sales to regular customers this year total 94,000 units. Does
the quantitative analysis suggest that the company should accept the
special order?
Direct materials
Direct labor
Variable mfg. overhead
Fixed mfg. overhead
Shipping/handling
Fixed administrative costs
Fixed selling costs
$6.20
8.00
5.80
3.50
2.50
0.88
0.36
$27.24
Variable cost/unit for
regular sales = $22.50.
CM/unit on regular sales
= $38.00 – $22.50 = $15.50.
The opportunity cost of accepting this
order is the lost contribution margin
on 2,000 units of regular sales.
Incremental profit if accept special order =
$32,000 incremental profit under idle capacity – opportunity cost =
$32,000 – $15.50 x 2,000 = $1,000
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 16
Q2: Qualitative Factors in
Special Order Decisions
What additional qualitative issues, in this case of a capacity constraint,
might RobotBits consider before finalizing its decision?
• What will be the effect on the regular customer(s) that do not
receive their order(s) of 2,000 units?
• What is the effect on the company’s reputation of leaving
orders from regular customers of 2,000 units unfilled?
• Will any of the projected costs change if the company
operates at 100% capacity?
• Are there any methods to increase capacity? What effects do
these methods have on employees and on the community?
• Notice that the small incremental profit of $1,000 will probably
be outweighed by the qualitative considerations.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 17
Q3: Keep or Drop Decisions

Managers must determine whether to keep or
eliminate business segments that appear to be
unprofitable.

The general rule for keep or drop decisions is:


keep the business segment if its contribution margin
covers its avoidable fixed costs,
subject to qualitative considerations.
Drop if: Contribution < Relevant Margin Fixed Costs • + Opportunity Cost If the business segment’s elimination will affect continuing operations, the opportunity costs of its discontinuation must be included in the analysis. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 18 Q3: Keep or Drop Decisions Starz, Inc. has 3 divisions. The Gibson and Quaid Divisions have recently been operating at a loss. Management is considering the elimination of these divisions. Divisional income statements (in 1000s of dollars) are given below. According to the quantitative analysis, should Starz eliminate Gibson or Quaid or both? Revenues Variable costs Contribution margin Traceable fixed costs Division operating income Unallocated fixed costs Operating income Gibson Quaid Russell $390 $433 $837 247 335 472 143 98 365 166 114 175 ($23) ($16) $190 Breakdown of traceable fixed costs: Avoidable $154 Unavoidable 12 $166 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 $96 18 $114 Total $1,660 1,054 606 455 151 81 $70 $139 36 $175 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 19 Q3: Keep or Drop Decisions Revenues Variable costs Contribution margin Traceable fixed costs Division operating income Unallocated fixed costs Operating income Gibson Quaid Russell $390 $433 $837 247 335 472 143 98 365 166 114 175 ($23) ($16) $190 Breakdown of traceable fixed costs: Avoidable $154 Unavoidable 12 $166 $96 18 $114 Total $1,660 1,054 606 455 151 81 $70 $139 36 $175 Contribution margin Avoidable fixed costs Effect on profit if keep Use the general rule to determine if Gibson and/or Quaid should be eliminated. Gibson Quaid $143 $98 154 96 ($11) $2 The general rule shows that we should keep Quaid and drop Gibson. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 20 Q3: Keep or Drop Decisions Revenues Variable costs Contribution margin Traceable fixed costs Division operating income Unallocated fixed costs Operating income Gibson Quaid Russell $390 $433 $837 247 335 472 143 98 365 166 114 175 ($23) ($16) $190 Breakdown of traceable fixed costs: Avoidable $154 Unavoidable 12 $166 $96 18 $114 Total $1,660 1,054 606 455 151 81 $70 $139 36 $175 Using the general rule is easier than recasting the income statements: Gibson Quaid Russell Total Revenues $390 $433 $837 $1,270 Variable costs 247 335 472 807 Contribution margin 143 98 365 $463 Traceable fixed costs 166 114 175 289 Division operating income ($23) ($16) $190 $174 Unallocated fixed costs 81 Gibson's unavoidable fixed costs 12 Operating income $81 Quaid & Russell only Profits increase by $11 when Gibson is eliminated. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 21 Q3: Keep or Drop Decisions Suppose that the Gibson & Quaid Divisions use the same supplier for a particular production input. If the Gibson Division is dropped, the decrease in purchases from this supplier means that Quaid will no longer receive volume discounts on this input. This will increase the costs of production for Quaid by $14,000 per year. In this scenario, should Starz still eliminate the Gibson Division? Effect on profit if drop Gibson before considering impact on Quaid's production costs Opportunity cost of eliminating Gibson Revised effect on profit if drop Gibson $11 (14) ($3) Profits decrease by $3 when Gibson is eliminated. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 22 Q3: Qualitative Factors in Keep or Drop Decisions What qualitative issues should Starz consider before finalizing its decision? • What will be the effect on the customers of Gibson if it is eliminated? What is the effect on the company’s reputation? • What will be the effect on the employees of Gibson? Can any of them be reassigned to other divisions? • What will be the effect on the community where Gibson is located if the decision is made to drop Gibson? • What will be the effect on the morale of the employees of the remaining divisions? © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 23 • Q4: Insource or Outsource (Make or Buy) Decisions Managers often must determine whether to • • • make or buy a production input keep a business activity in house or outsource the activity The general rule for make or buy decisions is: • • choose the alternative with the lowest relevant (incremental cost), subject to qualitative considerations If the decision will affect other aspects of operations, these costs (or lost revenues) must be included in the analysis. Outsource if: Cost to Outsource < Cost to Insource Where: © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Cost to Relevant Relevant Opportunity Insource = FC + VC + Cost Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 24 Q4: Make or Buy Decisions Graham Co. currently of our main product manufactures a part called a gasker used in the manufacture of its main product. Graham makes and uses 60,000 gaskers per year. The production costs are detailed below. An outside supplier has offered to supply Graham 60,000 gaskers per year at $1.55 each. Fixed production costs of $30,000 associated with the gaskers are unavoidable. Should Graham make or buy the gaskers? The production costs per unit for manufacturing a gasker are: yes $0.65 Relevant? Direct materials yes 0.45 Relevant? Direct labor Variable manufacturing overhead yes 0.40 Relevant? no 0.50 Relevant? Fixed manufacturing overhead* $2.00 *$30,000/60,000 units = $0.50/unit $1.50 Advantage of “make” over “buy” = [$1.55 - $1.50] x 60,000 = $3,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 25 Q4: Qualitative Factors in Make or Buy Decisions The quantitative analysis indicates that Graham should continue to make the component. What qualitative issues should Graham consider before finalizing its decision? • Is the quality of the manufactured component superior to the quality of the purchased component? • Will purchasing the component result in more timely availability of the component? • Would a relationship with the potential supplier benefit the company in any way? • Are there any worker productivity issues that affect this decision? © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 26 Q3: Make or Buy Decisions Suppose the potential supplier of the gasker offers Graham a discount for a different sub-unit required to manufacture Graham’s main product if Graham purchases 60,000 gaskers annually. This discount is expected to save Graham $15,000 per year. Should Graham consider purchasing the gaskers? Advantage of “make” over “buy” before considering discount (slide 23) $3,000 Discount Advantage of “buy” over “make” 15,000 $12,000 Profits increase by $12,000 when the gasker is purchased instead of manufactured. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 27 Q5: Constrained Resource (Product Emphasis) Decisions • Managers often face constraints such as • • production capacity constraints such as machine hours or limits on availability of material inputs limits on the quantities of outputs that customers demand • Managers need to determine which products should first be allocated the scarce resources. • The general rule for constrained resource allocation decisions with only one constraint is: • allocate scarce resources to products with the highest contribution margin per unit of the constrained resource, • subject to qualitative considerations. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 28 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; One Scarce Resource) Urban’s Umbrellas makes two types of patio umbrellas, regular and deluxe. Suppose there is unlimited customer demand for each product. The selling prices and variable costs of each product are listed below. Selling price per unit Variable cost per unit Contribution margin per unit Regular $40 20 $20 Deluxe $110 44 $ 66 Contribution margin ratio 50% 60% Required machine hours/unit 0.4 2.0 Urban has only 160,000 machine hours available per year. Write Urban’s machine hour constraint as an inequality. 0.4R + 2D  160,000 machine hours © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 29 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; One Scarce Resource) Suppose that Urban decides to make all Regular umbrellas. What is the total contribution margin? Recall that the CM/unit for R is $20. The machine hour constraint is: 0.4R + 2D  160,000 machine hours If D=0, this constraint becomes 0.4R  160,000 machine hours, or R  400,000 units Total contribution margin = $20*400,000 = $8 million Suppose that Urban decides to make all Deluxe umbrellas. What is the total contribution margin? Recall that the CM/unit for D is $66. If R=0, this constraint becomes 2D  160,000 machine hours, or D  80,000 units Total contribution margin = $66*80,000 = $5.28 million © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 30 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; One Scarce Resource) If the choice is between all Ds or all Rs, then clearly making all Rs is better. But how do we know that some combination of Rs and Ds won’t yield an even higher contribution margin? make all Ds; get $5.28 million make all Rs; get $8 million In a one constraint problem, a combination of Rs and Ds will yield a contribution margin between $5.28 and $8 million. Therefore, Urban will only make one product, and clearly R is the best choice. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 31 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; One Scarce Resource) The general rule for constrained resource decisions with one scarce resource is to first make only the product with the highest contribution margin per unit of the constrained resource. In Urban’s case, the sole scarce resource was machine hours, so Urban should make only the product with the highest contribution margin per machine hour. R: CM/mach hr = $20/0.4mach hrs = $50/mach hr D: CM/mach hr = $66/2mach hrs = $33/mach hr Notice that the total contribution margin from making all Rs is $50/mach hr x 160,000 machine hours to be used producing Rs = $8 million. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 32 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Multiple Scarce Resources) • Usually managers face more than one constraint. • Multiple constraints are easiest to analyze using a quantitative analysis technique known as linear programming. • A problem formulated as a linear programming problem contains • an algebraic expression of the company’s goal, known as the objective function • • for example “maximize total contribution margin” or “minimize total costs” a list of the constraints written as inequalities © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 33 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) Suppose Urban also need 2 and 6 hours of direct labor per unit of R and D, respectively. There are only 120,000 direct labor hours available per year. Formulate this as a linear programming problem. Max 20R + 66D R,D subject to: 0.4R+2D  160,000 mach hr constraint 2R+6D  120,000 DL hr constraint nonnegativity constraints R0 (can’t make a negative D0 amount of R or D) objective function R, D are the choice variables constraints © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 34 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) Draw a graph showing the possible production plans for Urban. Every R, D ordered pair To determine this, graph the is a production plan. constraints as inequalities. But which ones are feasible, 0.4R+2D  160,000 mach hr constraint given the constraints? When D=0, R=400,000 D When R=0, D=80,000 2R+6D  120,000 DL hr constraint When D=0, R=60,000 When R=0, D=20,000 80,000 20,000 R 60,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 35 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) There are not enough machine hours or enough direct labor hours to produce this production plan. There are enough machine hours, but not enough direct labor hours, to produce this production plan. This production plan is feasible; there are enough machine hours and enough direct labor hours for this plan. D 80,000 The feasible set is the area where all the production constraints are satisfied. 20,000 R 60,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 36 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) The graph helped us realize an important aspect of this problem – we thought there were 2 constrained resources but in fact there is only one. For every feasible production plan, Urban will never run out of machine hours. D The machine hour constraint is non-binding, or slack, but the direct labor hour constraint is binding. 80,000 We are back to a one-scarceresource problem. 20,000 R 60,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 37 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; One Scarce Resource) Here direct labor hours is the sole scarce resource. We can use the general rule for one-constraint problems. R: CM/DL hr = $20/2DL hrs = $10/DL hr D: CM/DL hr = $66/6DL hrs = $11/DL hr D Urban should make all deluxe umbrellas. 80,000 Optimal plan is R=0, D=20,000. Total contribution margin = $66 x 20,000 = $1,320,000 20,000 R 60,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 38 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) Suppose Urban has been able to train a new workforce and now there are 600,000 direct labor hours available per year. Formulate this as a linear programming problem, graph it, and find the feasible set. Max 20R + 66D R,D subject to: 0.4R+2D  160,000 mach hr constraint 2R+6D  600,000 DL hr constraint R0 D0 The formulation of the problem is the same as before; the only change is that the right hand side (RHS) of the DL hour constraint is larger. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 39 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) The machine hour constraint is the same as before. 0.4R+2D  160,000 mach hr constraint D 100,000 2R+6D  600,000 DL hr constraint When D=0, R=300,000 When R=0, D=100,000 80,000 R 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 40 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) There are not enough machine hours or enough direct labor hours for this production plan. There are enough direct labor hours, but not enough machine hours, for this production plan. There are enough machine hours, but not enough direct labor hours, for this production plan. D 100,000 This production plan is feasible; there are enough machine hours and enough direct labor hours for this plan. 80,000 The feasible set is the area where all the production constraints are satisfied. R 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 41 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) How do we know which of the feasible plans is optimal? We can’t use the general rule for one-constraint problems. We can graph the total contribution margin line, because its slope will help us determine the optimal production plan. D 100,000 80,000 The objective “maximize total contribution margin” means that we . . . this would be the choose a production plan so that the optimal production plan. contribution margin is a large as possible, without leaving the feasible set. If the slope of the total contribution margin line is lower (in absolute value terms) than the slope of the machine hour constraint, then. . . R 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 42 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) What if the slope of the total contribution margin line is higher (in absolute value terms) than the slope of the direct labor hour constraint? If the total CM line had this steep slope, . . D 100,000 . . then this would be the optimal production plan. 80,000 R 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 43 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) What if the slope of the total contribution margin line is between the slopes of the two constraints? If the total CM line had this slope, . . D 100,000 . . then this would be the optimal production plan. 80,000 R 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 44 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) The last 3 slides showed that the optimal production plan is always at a corner of the feasible set. This gives us an easy way to solve 2 product, 2 or more scarce resource problems. D 100,000 R=0, D=80,000 The total contribution margin here is 0 x $20 + 80,000 x $66 = $5,280,000. R=?, D=? Find the intersection of the 2 constraints. 80,000 R=300,000, D=0 The total contribution margin here is 300,000 x $20 + 0 x $66 = $6,000,000. R 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 45 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) To find the intersection of the 2 constraints, use substitution or subtract one constraint from the other. multiply each side by 5 Total CM = $5,280,000. D 100,000 80,000 0.4R+2D = 160,000 2R+10D = 800,000 2R+6D = 600,000 2R+6D = 600,000 subtract 0R+4D = 200,000 D = 50,000 Total CM = $20 x 150,000 + 2R+6(50,000) = 600,000 $66 x 50,000 = $6,300,000. 2R = 300,000 R = 150,000 Total CM = $6,000,000. R 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 46 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; Two Scarce Resources) By checking the total contribution margin at each corner of the feasible set (ignoring the origin), we can see that the optimal production plan is R=150,000, D=50,000. Total CM = $5,280,000. D 100,000 80,000 Knowing how to graph and solve 2 product, 2 scarce resource problems is good for understanding the nature of a linear programming problem (but difficult in more complex problems). Total CM = $6,300,000. 50,000 Total CM = $6,000,000. R 150,000 300,000 © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 400,000 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 47 Q5: Qualitative Factors in Scarce Resource Allocation Decisions The quantitative analysis indicates that Urban should produce 150,000 regular umbrellas and 50,000 deluxe umbrellas. What qualitative issues should Urban consider before finalizing its decision? • The assumption that customer demand is unlimited is unlikely; can this be investigated further? • Are there any long-term strategic implications of minimizing production of the deluxe umbrellas? • What would be the effects of attempting to relax the machine hour or DL hour constraints? • Are there any worker productivity issues that affect this decision? © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 48 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Multiple Products; Multiple Constraints) • Problems with multiple products, one scarce resource, and one constraint on customer demand for each product are easy to solve. • The general rule is to make the product with the highest contribution margin per unit of the scarce resource: – until its customer demand is satisfied – then move to the product with the next highest contribution margin per unit of the scarce resource, etc. • Problems with multiple products and multiple scarce resources are too cumbersome to solve by hand – Excel solver is a useful tool here. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 49 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; One Scarce Resource) Urban’s Umbrellas makes two types of patio umbrellas, regular and deluxe. Suppose customer demand for regular umbrellas is 300,000 units and for deluxe umbrellas customer demand is limited to 60,000. Urban has only 160,000 machine hours available per year. What is his optimal production plan? How much would he pay (above his normal costs) for an extra machine hour? Selling price per unit Variable cost per unit Contribution margin per unit Regular $40 20 $20 Deluxe $110 44 $ 66 Required machine hours/unit 0.4 2.0 CM/machine hour $50 $33 Urban should first concentrate on making Rs. He can make enough to satisfy customer demand for Rs: 300,000 Rs x 0.4 mach hr/R = 120,000 mach hrs. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 50 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions (Two Products; One Scarce Resource) Selling price per unit Variable cost per unit Contribution margin per unit Regular $40 20 $20 Deluxe $110 44 $ 66 Required machine hours/unit 0.4 2.0 CM/machine hour $50 $33 The 40,000 remaining hours will make 20,000 Ds. The optimal plan is 300,000 Rs and 20,000 Ds. The CM/mach hr shows how much Urban would be willing to pay, above his normal costs, for an additional machine hour. Here Urban will be producing Ds when he runs out of machine hours so he’d be willing to pay up to $33 for an additional machine hour. If customer demand for Rs exceeded 400,000 units, Urban would be willing to pay up to an additional $50 for a machine hour. If customer demand for Rs and Ds could be satisfied with the 160,000 available machine hours, then Urban would not be willing to pay anything to acquire an additional machine hour. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 51 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions Using Excel Solver To obtain the solver dialog box, choose “Solver” from the Tools pull-down menu. The “target cell” will contain the maximized value for the objective (or “target”) function. Choose “max” for the types of problems in this chapter. Add constraint formulas by clicking “add”. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Choose one cell for each choice variable (product). It’s helpful to “name” these cells. Click “solve” to obtain the next dialog box. Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 52 Q5: Constrained Resource Decisions Using Excel Solver Cell B2 was named “Regular” and cell C2 was named Deluxe. =20*Regular + 66*Deluxe =0.4*Regular+ 2*Deluxe =2*Regular+ 6*Deluxe =Regular (cell B2) =Deluxe (cell C2) Then click “solve” and choose all 3 reports. © John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e Slide # 53 Q5: Excel Solver Answer Report Microsoft Excel 9.0 Answer Report Refer to the problem on Slide #50. Target Cell (Max) Original Cell Name Value 0 $B$3 Regular The total contribution margin for the optimal plan was $6.3 million. Final Value 6,300,000 The optimal production plan was 150,000 Rs and 50,000 Ds. Adjustable Cells Original Cell Name Value 0 $B$2 Regular 0 $C$2 Deluxe Final Value 150,000 50000 The machine and DL hour constraints are binding – the plan uses all available machine and DL hours. Constraints Cell Value Formula Status 600,000 $B$9=$C$11 Binding 50,000 $B$10 R>0
Not
150,000 $B$10>=$C$10 Binding
150,000
Cell
Name
$B$9 DL hr
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Slack
The nonnegativity
constraints for R and D
are not binding; the slack
is 50,000 and 150,000
units respectively.
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 54
Q5: Excel Solver Sensitivity Report
Microsoft Excel 9.0 Sensitivity Report
Refer to the problem on Slide #50.
Adjustable Cells
Final Reduced Objective Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value
Cost Coefficient Increase Decrease
$B$2 Regular 150,000
0
20
2
6.8
$C$2 Deluxe
50000
0
66
34
6
Constraints
Final Shadow Constraint Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value
Price R.H. Side Increase Decrease
$B$9 DL hr
600,000
9
600000
200000
120000
$B$8 mach hr 160,000
8
160000
40000
40000
$B$11 D>0
50,000
0
0
50000
1E+30
$B$10 R>0
150,000
0
0
150000
1E+30
This shows
how much the
slope of the
total CM line
can change
before the
optimal
production
plan will
change.
The CM per unit for Regular can drop to $13.20 or increase to $22 (all else equal)
before the optimal plan will change. The CM per unit for Deluxe can drop to $60 or
increase to $100 (all else equal) before the optimal plan will change.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 55
Q5: Excel Solver Sensitivity Report
Microsoft Excel 9.0 Sensitivity Report
Refer to the problem on Slide #50.
Adjustable Cells
Final Reduced Objective Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value
Cost Coefficient Increase Decrease
$B$2 Regular 150,000
0
20
2
6.8
$C$2 Deluxe
50000
0
66
34
6
Constraints
Final Shadow Constraint Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value
Price R.H. Side Increase Decrease
$B$9 DL hr
600,000 8.50
600000
200000
120000
$B$8 mach hr 160,000 7.50
160000
40000
40000
$B$11 D>0
50,000 0.00
0
50000
1E+30
$B$10 R>0
150,000 0.00
0
150000
1E+30
This shows
how much the
RHS of each
constraint can
change
before the
shadow price
will change.
The available DL hours could decrease to 480,000 or increase to 800,000 (all
else equal) before the shadow price for DL would change. The available
machine hours could decrease to 120,000 or increase to 200,000 (all else
equal) before the shadow price for machine hours would change.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 56
Q5: Excel Solver Sensitivity Report
Microsoft Excel 9.0 Sensitivity Report
Refer to the problem on Slide #50.
Adjustable Cells
Final Reduced Objective Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value
Cost Coefficient Increase Decrease
$B$2 Regular 150,000
0
20
2
6.8
$C$2 Deluxe
50000
0
66
34
6
Constraints
Final Shadow Constraint Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value
Price R.H. Side Increase Decrease
$B$9 DL hr
600,000 8.50
600000
200000
120000
$B$8 mach hr 160,000 7.50
160000
40000
40000
$B$11 D>0
50,000 0.00
0
50000
1E+30
$B$10 R>0
150,000 0.00
0
150000
1E+30
The shadow
price shows
how much a
one unit
increase in
the RHS of a
constraint will
improve the
total
contribution
margin.
Urban would be willing to pay up to $8.50 to obtain one more DL hour and up
to $7.50 to obtain one more machine hour.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 57
Q7: Impacts to Quality of
Nonroutine Operating Decisions
• The quality of the information used in nonroutine
operating decisions must be assessed.
• There may be more information quality issues (and more
uncertainty) in nonroutine decisions because of the
irregularity of the decisions.
• Three aspects of the quality of information
available can affect decision quality.
• Business risk (changes in economic condition, consumer
demand, regulation, competitors, etc.)
• Information timeliness
• Assumptions in the quantitative and qualitative analyses
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 58
Q7: Impacts to Quality of
Nonroutine Operating Decisions
• Short term decision must align to company’s overall
strategic plans
• Must watch for decision maker bias
– Predisposition for specific outcome
– Preference for one type of analysis without considering
other options
• Opportunity costs are often overlooked
• Performing sensitivity analysis can help assess and
minimize business risk
• Established control system incentives (performance
bonuses, etc.) can encourage sub-obtimal decision
making
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 4: Relevant Costs for Nonroutine Operating Decisions
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 59
Cost Management
Measuring, Monitoring, and Motivating Performance
Chapter 7
Activity-Based Costing and
Management
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 1
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and
Management
Learning objectives

Q1: What is activity-based costing (ABC)?

Q2: What are activities and how are they identified?

Q3: What process is used to assign costs in an ABC system?

Q4: What is activity-based management?

Q5: What are GPK and RCA?

Q6: How does information from ABC, GPK, and RCA affect
managers’ incentives and decisions?
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 2
Q1: Activity-Based Costing (ABC)
• ABC is a method of cost system refinement.
• Indirect costs are divided into “sub-pools” of
costs of activities.
• Activity costs are then allocated to the final cost
objects using a cost allocation base (more
commonly called cost drivers in ABC).
• Activities are measurable, making it more likely
that cost drivers can be found so that a final cost
object will absorb indirect costs in proportion to
its use of the activity.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 3
Q1: Traditional Costing vs. ABC
Traditional costing systems:
Indirect
Costs
Indirect costs are
grouped into one (or a
small number) of cost
pools; a cost allocation
base assigns costs to
the individual products
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Product A
Direct Costs
Product B
Direct Costs
Product C
Direct Costs
The individual
products are
the final cost
objects.
Direct costs are
traced to the
individual
products.
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 4
Q1: Traditional Costing Systems
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 5
Q1: Traditional Costing vs. ABC
Activity-based costing systems:
Activity 1
Indirect
Costs
Activity 2
Product A
Direct Costs
Product B
Direct Costs
Product C
Direct Costs
Activity 3
Indirect costs are
assigned (traced &
allocated) to various
pools of activity costs.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Activity costs are
allocated to
products
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
The individual products
are the final cost objects
& direct costs are traced
to the individual products.
Slide # 6
Q1: ABC Costing Systems
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 7
Q2: What are Activities and How are They
Identified?
The ABC cost hierarchy includes the following activities:
• organization-sustaining – associated with overall
organization
• facility-sustaining – associated with single manufacturing
plant or service facility
• customer-sustaining – associated with a single customer
• product-sustaining – associated with product lien or
single product
• batch-level – associated with each batch of product
• unit-level – associated with each unit produced
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 8
Q2: ABC Cost Hierarchy Example
Some of the costs incurred by the Dewey Chargem law firm are listed
below. This firm specializes in immigration issues and family law. For each
cost, identify whether the cost most likely relates to a(n) (1) organiz-ationsustaining, (2) facility-sustaining, (3) customer-sustaining, (4) productsustaining, (5) batch-level, or (6) unit-level activity and explain your choice.
Cost
Cost Hierarchy Level
Bookkeeping software
Salary for partner in charge of family law
Office supplies
Subscription to family law update journal
Telephone charges for local calls
Long distance telephone charges
Window washing service
Salary of receptionist
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 9
Q3: What Process is Used to Assign Costs in an
ABC system?
1. Identify the relevant cost object.
2. Identify activities and group homogeneous
activities.
3. Assign costs to the activity cost pools.
4. Choose a cost driver for each activity cost
pool.
5. Calculate an allocation rate for each
activity cost pool.
6. Allocate activity costs to the final cost
object.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 10
Q3: How Are Cost Drivers Selected for
Activities?
• For each activity, determine its place
in the ABC cost hierarchy.
• Look for drivers that have a good
cause-and-effect relationship with the
activities’ costs.
• Use a reasonable driver when there is
no cause-and-effect relationship.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 11
Q3: ABC in Manufacturing Example
Alphabet Co. makes products A & B. Product A is a low-volume
specialty item and B is a high-volume item. Estimated factory- wide
overhead is $800,000, and the number of DL hours for the year is
estimated to be 50,000 hours. DL costs are $10/hour. Each product
uses 2 DL hours. Compute the traditional cost of each product if
Products A & B use $25 and $10 in direct materials, respectively.
First, compute the estimated overhead rate:
Estimated overhead rate = $800,000/50,000 hours = $16/hour.
Direct materials
Direct labor (2hrs @ $10)
Overhead (2 hrs @ $16)
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Product A
$25
20
32
$77
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Product B
$10
20
32
$62
Slide # 12
Q3: ABC in Manufacturing Example
Alphabet Co. is implementing an ABC system. It estimated the costs
and activity levels for the upcoming year shown below.
Estimated Estimated Activity Levels
Costs
Prod. A Prod. B
Total
Machine set-ups
$200,000 3,000 2,000 5,000
Inspections
140,000
500
300
800
Materials handling
80,000
400
400
800
Machining dep’t
320,000 12,000 28,000 40,000
Quality control dep’t
60,000
600
150
750
$800,000
Cost Driver
# set-ups
# inspections
# mat’l requistions
# machine hours
# tests
First, compute the estimated overhead rate for each activity:
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 13
Q3: ABC in Manufacturing Example
Estimated
Costs
Estimated Activity
Overhead Rate
$40
Machine set-ups
$200,000 5,000 set-ups
$40/setup
/setup
$175
Inspections
140,000
800 inspections
$175/inspection
/inspection
Materials handling
80,000
800 mat’l requistions $100
$100/requisition
/requisition
$8
Machining dep’t
320,000 40,000 machine hours
$8/mach
/machhrhr
$80
Quality control dep’t
60,000
750 tests
$80/test
/test
$800,000
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 14
Q3: ABC in Manufacturing Example
Alphabet recently completed a batch of 100 As and a batch of 100 Bs.
Direct material and labor costs were as budgeted. Information about each
batch’s use of the cost drivers is given below. Compute the overhead
allocated to each unit of A and B.
100 As 100 Bs
Machine set-ups
60
10
Inspections
10
2
Overhead allocated: 100 As 100 Bs
Materials handling
4
2
Machine set-ups
$2,400 $400
Machining dep’t
240
120
Inspections
1,750
350
Quality control dep’t
3
1
Materials handling
400
200
Machining dep’t
1,920
960
Quality control dep’t
240
80
Overhead for batch $6,710 $1,990
Overhead per unit
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
$67.10 $19.90
Slide # 15
Q3: ABC in Manufacturing Example
Compute the total cost of each product and compare it to the costs
computed under traditional costing.
Prod A Prod B
Direct material $25.00 $10.00
Direct labor
20.00 20.00
Overhead
67.10 19.90
$112.10 $49.90
Total
Traditional costing
assigned $77 to a unit of
Product A and $62 to a
unit of Product B.

The only difference between the two costing systems is that
Product A is assigned more overhead costs under ABC.

The additional overhead assigned to Product A reflects Product
A’s consumption of resources.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 16
Q4: Activity-Based Management (ABM)
• ABM is the process of using ABC information to
evaluate opportunities for improvements in an
organization.
• Examples include managing & monitoring
• customer profitability
• product and process design
• environmental costs
• quality
• constrained resources
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 17
Q4: ABM & Customer Profitability
• Activities can be defined so that different costs of
servicing customers are accumulated.
• Examples include
• analyzing the types of bank transactions used
by various categories of customers
• comparing the costs of servicing insurance
contracts sold to married versus single
individuals
• comparing the costs of different distribution
channels
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 18
Q4: ABM & Product/Process Improvements
• Activities can be defined so that the costs of stages
of production or of a business process are
accumulated.
• Examples include
• determining the costs of non-value-added
activities so the most costly can be reduced or
eliminated
• changing the steps in the accounts payable
function to reduce the number of personnel
• determining the most costly stages of product
development so that the time to market is
reduced
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 19
Q4: ABM & Environmental Costs
• Activities can be defined so that types of
environmental costs are accumulated.
• Examples include
• capturing the costs of contingent liabilities for
waste disposal site remediation
• comparing the cost of recycling packaging to the
cost of disposal
• computing the costs of treating different kinds of
emissions
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 20
Q4: ABM & Quality Costs
• Activities can be defined so that categories of costs
of managing quality are accumulated.
• Common categories of quality costs are
• costs of prevention activities
• costs of appraisal activities
• costs of production activities
• costs of postsales activities
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 21
Q5: What are GPK and RCA?
• Costing approaches similar to ABC because they
involve multiple pools and multiple drivers
• GPK can be described as marginal planning and
cost accounting
– Each cost is traced to a cost center (smaller than a
department) which performs a single repetitive activity,
and is the responsibility of one manager)
– Output measures tracks the volume of resource use
– Costs are segregated into proportional (change with
volume in resource use) and fixed
– Practical capacity is used for estimated allocation rate
volumes
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 22
Q5: Capacity Definitions
• Theoretical capacity – maximum assuming
continuous, uninterrupted operations 365 days/year
• Practical capacity – typical operating conditions
• Budgeted capacity – expected volume for the
upcoming time period
• Idle/excess capacity – difference between activity
capacity used and one of the above measures of
capacity
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 23
Q5: What are GPK and RCA?
• Resource Consumption Accounting (RCA)
• Builds on GPK and ABC principles
• Each cost is assigned to a resource cost pool
– Labor and machinery are often placed in different cost
pools since they are different types of resources
– RCA involves a significantly larger number of cost pools
than traditional accounting
– Like GPK, segregates proportional and fixed costs
– Utilizes theoretical rather than practical capacity for
allocating fixed costs
• More likely to focus manager attention on reducing idle and nonproductive resource time
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 24
Q5: Benefits/Drawbacks to GPK/RCA
• Benefits
– Generates multi-level internal income statements useful
for short terms decisions because it focuses on marginal
cost
– Increases cause & effect awareness among managers
– Categorizes costs (and generates profit margin) at the
product, product group, division, and company level
– Avoids arbitrary allocations of fixed costs
• Drawbacks
– Can be costly to implement
– Can result in a large number of variances to analyze
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 25
Q5: Comparison of ABC, GPK, and RCA
ABC
GPK
RCA
Character of cost
accounting system
Full costing
Marginal costing
Full and marginal
costing
Location of data
Database separate
from general ledger
Comprehensive
accounting system
Comprehensive
accounting system
Primary decision
relevance
Mid- to long-term
Short-term
Short-, Mid-, and
Long term
Allocation of
overhead based on
Activities
Cost Centers
Resources and/or
activities
Cost Drivers
Activity –Based
Resource Output
related
Resource output or
activity related
Fixed cost
allocation rate
denominator
Actual, budgeted,
or practical
capacity
Budgeted or
practical capacity
Theoretical
capacity
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 26
Q6: Decision Making with ABC, GPK, and RCA
• Benefits
• more accurate and relevant product cost information
• employees focus attention on activities
• measurement of the costs of activities and business
processes
• identify non-value-added activities and reduce costs
• Costs
• systems can be difficult to design and maintain
• more information must be captured
• decision makers may not use the information
appropriately
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 27
Q6: Uncertainties in ABC and ABM
Implementation
• Judgment is required when determining
activities.
• Judgment is required when selecting cost
drivers.
• Denominator levels for cost drivers are
estimates.
• ABC information includes unitized fixed
costs, so decision makers must use ABC
information correctly.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 7: Activity-Based Costing and Management
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 28
Cost Management
Measuring, Monitoring, and Motivating Performance
Chapter 8
Measuring and Assigning Support
Department Costs
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 1
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support
Department Costs
Learning objectives







Q1: What are support departments, and why are their costs
allocated to other departments?
Q2: What process is used to allocate support department costs?
Q3: How is the direct method used to allocate support costs to
operating departments?
Q4: How is the step-down method used to allocate support costs
to operating departments?
Q5: How is the reciprocal method used to allocate support costs to
operating departments?
Q6: What is the difference between single- and dual-rate
allocations?
Q7: How do support cost allocations affect decisions and
managerial incentives?
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 2
Q1: Support versus Operating Departments
• The operating departments of an organization
produce products or services that generate
revenue.
• The support departments of an organization
produce products or provide services to the
operating and other support departments.
• The support department costs are common
costs that are shared between two or more
other departments.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 3
Q1: Reasons for Allocating Support
Department Costs
• External reporting
• Motivation
• appropriate consumption of support
department resources
• efficiency of support department
• monitor consumption of support
department services
• Decision making
• product pricing
• make or buy decisions
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 4
Q1: Support Department Allocation Process
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 5
Q2: Process for Allocating Support
Department Costs
1. Clarify allocation purpose
2. Identify cost pools
3. Assign costs to cost pools
4. Choose allocation bases for each cost pool
5. Choose allocation method; allocate support
department costs
6. Allocate updated operating department costs to
units of goods or services, if relevant
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 6
Q2: Process for Allocating Support
Department Costs
1. Clarify allocation purpose

if the purpose is to motivate the use of the services
of a newly formed department, perhaps no costs
should be allocated

if the purpose is to discourage operating department
managers from over-use of the services of support
departments, then a rate per unit of service might be
large and not based on actual costs

if the purpose is to determine the full cost of products
or services for long-term pricing decisions, then all
support costs should be allocated
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 7
Q2: Process for Allocating Support
Department Costs
2. Identify cost pools
• the purpose will determine whether both fixed
and variable support department costs
should be allocated
• the purpose will determine which costs
should be allocated
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 8
Q2: Process for Allocating Support
Department Costs
3. Assign costs to cost pools
• some costs will be direct to the cost pool
(e.g. toner cartridge costs would be direct to
the “variable copying costs” cost pool)
• some costs will be indirect to the cost pool
(e.g. rent costs for an entire facility would be
indirect to the “information technology costs”
cost pool)
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 9
Q2: Process for Allocating Support
Department Costs
4. Choose allocation bases for each cost pool
• an allocation base with a good cause-andeffect relationship with the cost pool provides
a reasonable allocation rate
• users of support department services will
carefully monitor their consumption of the
allocation base
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 10
Q2: Process for Allocating Support
Department Costs
5. Choose allocation method and allocate support
department costs
• in this chapter we cover three allocation
methods
• each of these three methods could be
implemented using
• a single- or dual-rate approach (covered later)
• actual or budgeted costs and allocation bases
(covered later)
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 11
Q2: Process for Allocating Support
Department Costs
6. Allocate updated operating department costs to
units of goods or services, if relevant
• for some decisions, this may not be relevant
• for long-term pricing decisions, this is likely to
be relevant
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 12
Q3: The Direct Method of Allocating
Support Department Costs
• The direct method ignores the fact that
support departments use each others’
services.
• Each support department’s costs are
allocated only to operating departments.
• This method is the easiest
computationally and the easiest to
explain.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 13
Q3: The Direct Method Example
Philco Toys makes metal and plastic toys in separate departments. It has
two support departments, Accounting and Information Systems. Philco has
decided to allocate Accounting department costs based on the number of
employees in each department and Information Systems costs based on
the number of computers in each department. Given the information below,
use the direct method to allocate support department costs.
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Allocate costs:
Accounting
(48,000)
Information Systems
Totals
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
$0
27,789
20,211
$0
(72,000)
36,000
36,000
$0
$0
$449,789
$238,211
$688,000
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 14
Q3: The Direct Method Example
Plastic Products is allocated
Plastic and Metal Product share
22/(22+16) of Accounting
Info Systems costs equally
department costs, and Metal
because they have the same
Products is allocated
number of computers in each
16/(22+16). Notice that the
department. Notice that the
number of employees in the
number of computers in the
support departments is ignored
departments
is ignored
Support Dep’ts support
Operating
Departments
under the direct method.
under the direct method.
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Allocate costs:
Accounting
(48,000)
Information Systems
Totals
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
$0
27,789
20,211
$0
(72,000)
36,000
36,000
$0
$0
$449,789
$238,211
$688,000
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 15
Q4: The Step-Down Method of Allocating
Support Department Costs
• The step-down method allocates some (but not all)
support department costs to other support
departments.
• The first support department’s costs are allocated
to all operating and support departments that use
its services.
• Each subsequent support department’s costs are
allocated to all operating and support departments
that use its services, except any support
department whose costs were already allocated.
• Allocation order must be determined.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 16
Q4: The Step-Down Method Example
Given the information for Philco, use the step-down method to allocate
support department costs. Allocate the costs of the support department that
provides the largest percentage of its services to the other support
department first.
First determine
allocation order:
Accounting provided 4/(4+22+16) = 4/42
= 9.5% of its services to Info Systems.
Information Systems provided 4/(4+3+3) = 4/10 = 40% of its
services to Accounting, so Information Systems goes first.
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 17
Q4: The Step-Down Method Example
Given the information for Philco, use the step-down method to allocate
support department costs.
Now perform the allocation:
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
Operating Departments
Metal
Plastic
Info
AccTotal
Products
ounting Systems Products
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
45
16
22
4
3
16
3
3
6
4
Allocate costs:
Accounting
(76,800)
(48,000)
Information Systems
28,800
$0
Totals
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
44,463
27,789
32,337
20,211
$0
$0
(72,000)
21,600
21,600
21,600
$0
$0
$0
$435,389
$452,063
$223,811
$235,937
$659,200
$688,000
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 18
Q4: The Step-Down Method Example
Info Systems costs are allocated
to Accounting, Plastic, & Metal
based on each department’s
number of computers compared
to total non-Info Systems
Support Dep’ts
computers: 4+3+3=10.
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
Accounting costs are allocated
only to Plastic & Metal based on
each department’s number of
employees compared to total
non-Accounting and non-Info
Operatingemployees:
Departments
Systems
22+16=38
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Allocate costs:
Accounting
(76,800)
Information Systems
28,800
$0
Totals
44,463
32,337
$0
(72,000)
21,600
21,600
$0
$0
$452,063
$235,937
$688,000
Total costs allocated out of Accounting are now higher because of
the Info Systems costs allocated to Accounting.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 19
Q4: The Step-Down Method Example
(22/38) x $76,800
(4/10) x $72,000
(16/38) x $76,800
(3/10) x $72,000
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
(3/10) x $72,000
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Allocate costs:
Accounting
(76,800)
Information Systems
28,800
$0
Totals
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
44,463
32,337
$0
(72,000)
21,600
21,600
$0
$0
$452,063
$235,937
$688,000
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 20
Q5: The Reciprocal Method of Allocating
Support Department Costs
• The reciprocal method allocates all support
department costs to other support
departments.
• The first step is to compute the total costs of
each support department when its usage of
other support department services is taken
into consideration.
• Support department costs are then allocated
to all other operating and support
departments that consume its services.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 21
Q5: The Reciprocal Method Example
Given the information for Philco, use the reciprocal method to allocate
support department costs.
First determine total costs for each support department by writing an equation for its
costs (use A and IS as abbreviations).
A = $48,000 + [4/(4+3+3)] x IS; IS = $72,000 + [4/(4+22+16)] x A
Then solve: A = $48,000 + (4/10) x [$72,000 + (4/42) x A]
A = $48,000 + $28,800 + (16/420) x A]
(404/420) x A = $76,800
A = $76,800 x (420/404) = $79,842
IS = $72,000 + (4/42) x $79,842 = $79,604
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 22
Q5: The Reciprocal Method Example
Given the information for Philco, use the reciprocal method to allocate
support department costs.
Now perform the allocation:
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Allocate costs:
Accounting
Information Systems
Totals
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
(79,842)
7,604
41,822
(79,842)
7,604
41,822
31,842 (79,604)
(79,604)
23,881
31,842
23,881
$0
$0 $451,703
$451,703
$0
$0
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
30,416
30,416
23,881
23,881
$0
$0
$236,297
$236,297
$688,000
Slide # 23
Q5: The Reciprocal Method Example
These numbers are the
solutions to the
simultaneous equations.
(4/42) x $79,842
(22/42) x $79,842
(16/42) x $79,842
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Allocate costs:
Accounting
Information Systems
Totals
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
(79,842)
7,604
41,822
(79,842)
7,604
41,822
31,842 (79,604)
(79,604)
23,881
31,842
23,881
$0
$0 $451,703
$451,703
$0
$0
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
30,416
30,416
23,881
23,881
$0
$0
$236,297
$236,297
$688,000
Slide # 24
Q5: The Reciprocal Method Example
(4/10) x $79,604
(3/10) x $79,604
(3/10) x $79,604
Support Dep’ts
Total department costs
Number of employees
Number of computers
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
Total
$48,000 $72,000 $386,000 $182,000 $688,000
3
4
22
16
45
4
6
3
3
16
Allocate costs:
Accounting
Information Systems
Totals
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
(79,842)
7,604
41,822
(79,842)
7,604
41,822
31,842 (79,604)
(79,604)
23,881
31,842
23,881
$0
$0 $451,703
$451,703
$0
$0
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
30,416
30,416
23,881
23,881
$0
$0
$236,297
$236,297
$688,000
Slide # 25
Q6: Single- versus Dual-Rate Allocation
• In single-rate allocation, each cost pool
includes fixed and variable costs.
• In dual-rate allocation, fixed and variable
costs are in separate cost pools.
• Both methods can be employed with the
direct, step-down, or reciprocal methods.
• The prior three examples used the singlerate allocation method.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 26
Q6: Single- versus Dual-Rate Example
Philco has decided to use the direct method and allocate variable
Accounting costs based on the number of transactions and fixed
Accounting costs based on the number of employees. The Info Systems
variable costs will be allocated based on the number of service requests
and fixed costs will be allocated based on the number of computers. The
required information is presented below.
Support Dep’ts
Total department variable costs
Total department fixed costs
Number of transactions
Number of employees
Number of service requests
Number of computers
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
$20,000 $22,000 $186,000 $100,000
$28,000 $50,000 $200,000
$82,000
20
32
140
86
3
4
22
16
18
5
12
8
4
6
3
3
Now perform the allocation…
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 27
Q6: Single- versus Dual-Rate Example
Total department variable costs
Total department fixed costs
Number of transactions
Number of employees
Number of service requests
Number of computers
Support Dep’ts
Operating Departments
AccInfo
Plastic
Metal
ounting Systems Products
Products
$20,000 $22,000 $186,000 $100,000
$28,000 $50,000 $200,000
$82,000
20
32
140
86
3
4
22
16
18
5
12
8
4
6
3
3
Allocate variable costs:
Accounting
(20,000)
12,389
7,611
(22,000)
13,200
8,800
$0
$211,589
$116,411
$0
(50,000)
$0
16,211
25,000
$241,211
11,789
25,000
$118,789
$0
$0
$452,800
$235,200
Information Systems
Total variable costs
Allocate fixed costs:
Accounting
Information Systems
Total fixed costs
Total fixed and variable costs
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
$0
(28,000)
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 28
Q7: Decision Making with Support Costs
• Support costs need to be considered when
evaluating decisions such as make/buy, keep/drop,
special order, and constrained resource
• Necessary to isolate relevant support costs
– This may not be the same as the allocated support costs
– For example, outsourcing an operating department may
not result in a reduction in support department costs
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 29
Q7: Establishing Transfer Prices for
Support Departments
• Transfer prices should be set to motivate efficient
use of the support department resources
– If transfer price is set too high, user departments may
outsource the service
– If transfer price is set too low, user departments may
utilize the support department inefficiently
• The best transfer pricing approach is the
Opportunity Cost approach
– Each department is charged an amount that reflects the
value of any opportunities forgone by not using the
service for its next best alternative use.
– This is often difficult in practice so most companies use a
cost based or market based transfer pricing policy
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 30
Q7: Estimated versus Actual
Support Costs and Rates
A department’s allocation
of support department costs
=
the allocation
rate
x
the department’s
consumption
of the allocation base
Either of these could be estimated or actual.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 31
Q7: Estimated versus Actual
Support Costs and Rates
the allocation
rate
x
the department’s
consumption
of the allocation base
Using actual rates and actual consumption provides the
best measure of the cost of support services; it is the
most accurate but the least timely.
The purpose of the cost allocation will determine
whether actual or estimated rates, and actual or
estimated consumption, should be used.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 32
Q7: Estimated versus Actual
Support Costs and Rates
• Actual rates and consumption may be
required for some types of government
contracts.
• Most federal grants to educational institutions
allow the use of estimates.
• Using an actual rate means that support
service users are affected by
• inefficiencies of support department managers
• changes in the consumption of support services by other
users
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 33
Q7: Other Common Cost Allocation Methods
• Other cost allocation purposes may require the
allocation to
• be perceived as “fair”
• be based on the user’s “ability to bear” the cost
• Under the stand-alone method, a common cost is
allocated based on information about the users’
consumption of the cost.
• Under the incremental cost allocation method, a
“primary user” is allocated the bulk of the common
cost and the secondary user is allocated only the
increment in cost that it caused.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 34
Q7: Stand-Alone versus Incremental Cost
Allocation Methods Example
Leslie has a job interview with Big Co. next month in New York City. Her
plane ticket cost $300, and she will need to spend $125/night for 2 nights in
a hotel. She estimates that she will spend $50 in cab fares and $50 for
food. Big Co. has promised to reimburse her actual costs. After this trip
was arranged, Small Co., also located in New York City, called her for an
interview. If she interviews with Small Co. while she’s there, she will spend
an additional $125 for another night at a hotel, and another estimated $40
in cab fares and food. Think of at least two ways to allocate Leslie’s travel
costs using the stand-alone method. Discuss the merits of each.
1. Compute the total cost of the trip and divide it by 2, since
there are 2 interviews.
2. Compute the total cost of the trip and allocate 2/3 of it to
Big Co. and 1/3 to Small Co. since she is spending 2 of
the 3 nights in NYC for the Big Co. interview.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 35
Q7: Stand-Alone versus Incremental Cost
Allocation Methods Example
Perform the calculations for your two versions of the cost allocation under
the stand-alone method. Then allocate the travel costs using the
incremental cost allocation method. Which is more appropriate? Why?
Estimated total costs:
Plane ticket
Hotel
Cab fares & food
Total
If shared equally, then this is
$300 $407.50 for each company; if
375 Big Co. is allocated 2/3 of the
140 cost then $543.33 is allocated
$815
to Big Co. and $271.67 is
allocated to Small Co.
Under the incremental cost allocation method, Big Co. is most
likely to be considered the primary user. Since Leslie’s budgeted
travel costs were $300 + $250 + $50 + $50 = $650 before she
was offered the Small Co. interview, Big Co. is allocated $650
and Small Co. is allocated $815 – $650 = $165.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 36
Q7: Fixed Price versus Cost-Based Contracts
• Under fixed price contracts, vendors provide
products or services for a specified price.
• Under cost-based contracts, the price is
computed based on the actual cost of the
products or services.
• may be necessary for research & new product development
• vendors are not motivated to control costs
• vendors may be motivated to inappropriately allocate
common costs
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 37
Appendix 8A: Excel Solver
and the Reciprocal Method
• Solving the simultaneous equations required for
the reciprocal method can be tedious when
there are 3 or more support departments.
• Excel Solver can be used to solve these
equations.
• Refer to Appendix 4A for help with using
Excel Solver.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 38
Appendix 8A: Excel Solver
and the Reciprocal Method
• Set up a “change cell” for each support
department’s total costs.
• The target function is the sum of the change
cells.
• The simultaneous equations are entered as
constraints; one constraint per equation.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 39
Cost Management
Measuring, Monitoring, and Motivating Performance
Chapter 9
JOINT PRODUCT AND BY-PRODUCT COSTING
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 1
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Learning objectives

Q1: What is a joint process, and what is the difference between a
by-product and a main product?

Q2: How are joint costs allocated?

Q3: What factors are considered in choosing a joint cost
allocation method?

Q4: What information is relevant for deciding whether to process a
joint product beyond the split-off point?

Q5: What methods are used to account for the sale of byproducts?

Q6: How does a sales mix affect joint cost allocation?

Q7: How do joint cost allocations affect decisions and
managerial incentives?
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 2
Q1: Joint Processes and Costs
• A process that yields one or more products is
called a joint process.
• The products are called joint products.
• The costs of the process are called joint costs.
• The split-off point is the stage in the joint process
where the separate products become
identifiable.
• Joints costs are incurred prior to the split-off point.
• Costs incurred past split-off are separable costs.
• Joint products that have minimal sales value
compared to the main product are called byproducts.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 3
Q1: Joint Processes and Costs
Sawdust
Bark
Joint costs
include DM,
DL &
Overhead.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Planks
If sawdust sells for a
relatively minimal amount,
it is a byproduct.
The costs of
processing
planks further
are separable
costs.
Wall
paneling
Joint products
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 4
Q2: Methods of Allocating Joint Costs
• Physical output methods
• Can be used only when joint products are
measured the same way (e.g. pounds or feet).
• Market-based methods
• Sales value at split-off method
• Often used when all products sold at split-off.
• Net realizable value (NRV) method
• NRV = Final selling price – Separable costs.
• Constant gross margin (GM) NRV method
• The two NRV methods can be used when
some products are processed past split-off.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 5
Q2: Physical Volume Method Example
Pleasing Peaches grows peaches and processes three different peach
products that are sold to a canning company. The pounds produced for
each product, and the selling price per pound, is given below. The joint
costs of processing the 280,000 pounds of products were $70,000.
Allocate the joint costs to each product using the physical volume method.
Pounds
Product
Produced
Peach halves 160,000
Peach slices
80,000
Peach purée
40,000
280,000
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Selling Total Sales
Price per
Value at
Pound
Split-Off
$0.50
$80,000
$0.40
$32,000
$0.30
$12,000
$124,000
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Relative
Allocated
Weight Joint Costs
57.1%
$40,000
28.6%
$20,000
14.3%
$10,000
100.0%
$70,000
Slide # 6
Q2: Sales Value at Split-Off Method Example
Allocate the joint costs of $70,000 to each of Pleasing Peaches products
using the sales value at split-off method.
Product
Peach halves
Peach slices
Peach purée
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Pounds
Produced
160,000
80,000
40,000
280,000
Selling Total Sales
Price per
Value at
Pound
Split-Off
$0.50
$0.40
$0.30
$80,000
$32,000
$12,000
$124,000
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Relative
Sales
Allocated
Value Joint Costs
64.5%
25.8%
9.7%
100.0%
$45,161
$18,065
$6,774
$70,000
Slide # 7
Q2, 6: Compare the Physical Volume and
Sales Value at Split-Off Methods
Compute the gross margin for each product for each of the two allocation
methods. Discuss the differences between the two methods.
Allocated Joint
Costs
Total
Sales
Sales
Physical Value at
Value at Volume Split-Off
Product
Split-Off Method
Method
Peach halves $80,000 $40,000 $45,161
Peach slices
$32,000 $20,000 $18,065
Peach purée
$12,000 $10,000 $6,774
$124,000 $70,000 $70,000
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Gross Margin
Sales
Physical Value at
Volume Split-Off
Method
Method
$40,000 $34,839
$12,000 $13,935
$2,000 $5,226
$54,000 $54,000
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 8
Q2, 6: Compare the Physical Volume and
Sales Value at Split-Off Methods
Compute the gross margin ratio (GM/Sales) for each product under both of
the methods and discuss.
Product
Peach halves
Peach slices
Peach purée
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Total
Sales
Value at
Split-Off
$80,000
$32,000
$12,000
$124,000
Gross Margin
Sales
Physical Value at
Volume
Split-Off
Method
Method
$40,000 $34,839
$12,000 $13,935
$2,000 $5,226
$54,000 $54,000
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Gross Margin Ratio
Sales
Physical Value at
Volume Split-Off
Method
Method
50.0%
43.5%
37.5%
43.5%
16.7%
43.5%
43.5%
43.5%
Slide # 9
Q2: Net Realizable Value (NRV) Method Example
Pleasing Peaches could process each of its three products beyond split off.
It could can the peach halves itself, make the peach slices into frozen
peach pie, and make juice out of the peach purée. The retail value of the
new products and the separable costs for the additional processing are
given below. Compute the joint costs allocated to each of the products
using the NRV method.
Final
Allocated
Sales Separable
Relative
Joint
Product
Value
Costs
NRV NRV
Costs
Canned peaches $180,000 $60,000 $120,000
64.2% $44,920
Peach pie
$120,000 $70,000
$50,000
26.7% $18,717
Peach juice
$50,000 $33,000
$17,000
9.1% $6,364
$350,000 $163,000 $187,000 100.0% $70,000
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 10
Q2: Constant GM NRV Method
• Under the constant GM NRV method, all products
are allocated joint costs to achieve the same gross
margin ratio (GM%).
• First compute overall gross margin and GM%:
GM = Revenue – Joint costs – Separable costs
GM% = GM/Sales
• Then compute the GM for each product:
GM = Final sales value x GM%
• All products end up with the same gross margin ratio;
for each product solve for allocated joint costs:
Final sales value – joint costs – separable costs = GM
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 11
Q2: Constant GM NRV Method Example
Compute the joint costs that Pleasing Peaches would allocate to each of
the products using the constant GM NRV method.
First compute the overall GM and GM ratio:
GM = $350,000 – $163,000 – $70,000 = $117,000
GM% = $117,000/$350,000 = 33.43%
Allocated
Final
Sales Separable
Joint Gross
Product
Value
Costs
Costs Margin
Canned peaches $180,000 $60,000
$59,829 $60,171
Peach pie
$120,000 $70,000
$9,886 $40,114
Peach juice
$50,000 $33,000
$286 $16,714
$350,000 $163,000
$70,000 $117,000
Gross
Margin
Ratio
33.4%
33.4%
33.4%
Values are rounded as appropriate.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 12
Q2, 6: Compare the NRV and
Constant GM NRV Methods
Compute the gross margin (GM) and the gross margin ratio (GM%) for each
product under NRV method. Compare this to the results of the constant
GM NRV method and discuss.
Product
Peach halves
Peach slices
Peach purée
Final
Sales
Value
$180,000
$120,000
$50,000
$350,000
Gross Margin
Gross Margin Ratio
Constant
Constant
NRV
GM NRV
NRV
GM NRV
Method
Method Method
Method
$75,080
$60,171
41.7%
33.4%
$31,283
$40,114
26.1%
33.4%
$10,636
$16,714
21.3%
33.4%
33.4%
$117,000 $117,000
33.4%
Values are rounded as appropriate.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 13
Q3: Choosing a Joint Cost Allocation Method
• Allocated joint costs should not be used in
decision making.
• Still, avoid a method that shows one product
to be unprofitable.
• Under the physical volume method, the
product with the greatest relative physical
volume is allocated the most joint costs,
regardless of product’s sales value.
• Both of the NRV methods allocate joint
costs based on the products’ “ability to
bear the cost”.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 14
Q4: Sell or Process Further Decisions
• Companies often can choose to sell a product
at the split-off point or to process it further.
• Compare the incremental revenue of
processing further to the product’s separable
costs.
• Incremental revenue of processing further
= Final sales value – Sales value at split-off
• Process further only when the incremental
revenue exceeds the separable costs.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 15
Q4: Sell or Process Further Example
Peg’s Plastic Products makes the molded plastic parts for three model car
kits, A, B & C from a joint production process. The joint costs of this
process are $150,000. In each case, Peg could decide to make the entire
kit rather than just the plastic parts. Information about the sales values and
separable costs for each kit is given below. Determine which kits Peg
should sell at the split-off point and which she should process further.
Kit
A
B
C
Final
Sales
SepIncreSales
Value at arable
mental
Value
Split-Off Costs Revenue
$200,000 $180,000 $25,000 $20,000
$120,000 $60,000 $40,000 $60,000
$80,000 $40,000 $10,000 $40,000
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
IncreSell at
mental Split-Off
Profit if
or
Process Process
Further Further?
($5,000) Sell
$20,000 Process
$30,000 Process
Slide # 16
Q5: Accounting for By-Products
• When by-products have no sales value, there
is no reason to account for them.
• Otherwise, there are two accounting methods
available:
• Recognize by-product value at time of
production
• Recognize by-product value at time of
by-product sale
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 17
Q5: Recognize By-Product Value
at Time of Production
• This method is also known as the offset approach or
the NRV approach.
• Joint cost of the main products is reduced by the
NRV of the by-products, even if by-products are not
yet sold.
• NRV of the by-products is kept in ending
inventory until sold.
• At sale of by-product, ending inventory is
reduced; there is no gain/loss on sale.
• This method allows managers to control by-products.
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
Slide # 18
Q5: By-Product Value Recognized
at Time of Production Example
SJ Enterprises produces a main product and one by-product in a joint
process. The joint costs totaled $480,000. The main product sells for
$10/unit and the by-product sells for $1/unit. Information about the
production and sales of the 2 products is given below. Use the NRV
method to compute the production cost per unit for the main product.
Information in Units of Each Product
Beginning ProdEnding
Inventory uction Sales Inventory
Main product
0 100,000 95,000
5,000
By-product
0 10,000 3,000
7,000
Production costs
$480,000
Less: NRV of by-product
10,000
Net joint product cost
$470,000
Net product cost per unit
© John Wiley & Sons, 2011
Chapter 9: Joint Product and By-Product Costing
Eldenburg & Wolcott’s Cost Management, 2e
$4.70
Slide # 19
Q5: By-Product Value Recognized
at Time of Production Example
Prepare an income statement for SJ Enterprises and compute the costs
attached to ending inventory…

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