CH-4 Activity-Based Costing Systems – Cost Management: Strategies for Business Decisions : Book Guide

CHAPTER 4 Activity-Based Costing Systems ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS 4.1 See the definitions in the chapter or glossary in the textbook for definitions of key terms. 4.2 Managers must assess the costs and benefits of choosing a more complex costing system. A relatively simple system requires less effort and time (and therefore less money), but in return provides less accurate cost data. A more complex system requires more effort and time (and therefore more money), but provides more accurate data. Managers must weigh the benefits of more accurate cost data against the resources required to obtain the data (i.e., the cost of employee time, the cost of computer systems, etc.). 4.3 Traditional costing systems allocate indirect costs to products (such as factory utilities or supervisors’ salaries) using one or a few allocation bases such as direct-labor hours or machine hours. Predetermined rates are established to assign overhead to products. Suppose a rate turns out to be $20 per direct labor hour. Thus, for every direct labor hour worked on the product, $20 in overhead costs is assigned. Although this approach does not necessarily yield accurate costing data, it is relatively simple to implement and is acceptable for financial reporting purposes. Chapter 3 discusses this approach. 4.4 The three key points with respect to refining a traditional costing system follow: 1. Trace as many costs directly to the good or service as possible, as long as the cost of doing so does not outweigh the benefit. 2. Categorize indirect costs which are not easily traced to the product into cost pools (groups of individual costs with similar cost drivers). 3. Use cost allocation to assign indirect costs to products using an appropriate cost allocation base for each cost pool established in 2 above. 4.5 b. Cause and effect provides for a reasonable allocation of overhead costs based on a product’s use of an activity. For example, if machine maintenance costs have a strong cause and effect relationship to machine usage (i.e., are driven by machine usage), it is reasonable to allocate machine maintenance costs to each product based on the machine hours used by each product. 4.6 Most companies do not allocate general and administrative costs to products because these costs are peripheral to the company’s production activities. 4.7 False. Costs are first assigned to activities, then to products based on the products’ usage of the activities. 4.8 task, undertakes (or “does”), good 4.9 d. (a), (b) and (c)--all of the above. 4.10 The four steps in measuring the costs of goods and services are outlined below. Step 1: Identify and classify the activities related to the company’s products. This requires people within the company to identify the activities performed to produce a product. Step 2: Estimate the cost of the activities identified in step 1. This should include the cost of human resources, such as employee labor for production, and physical resources such as the cost of machinery and building occupancy. Step 3: Calculate a cost-driver rate for each activity by dividing the estimated costs for the activity by the activity’s estimated volume. Step 4: Assign activity costs to products. Use the cost-driver rate calculated in step 3 to assign activity costs to goods and services based on their use of activities. 4.11 The five levels of resources and activities are outlined below. 1. Unit-level resources and activities are acquired and performed specifically for individual units of product or service. 2. Batch-level resources and activities are acquired and performed to make a group, or batch, of similar products. 3. Product-level resources and activities are acquired and performed to produce and sell a specific good or service. 4. Customer-level resources and activities are acquired and performed to serve specific customers. 5. Facility-level resources and activities are acquired and performed to provide the general capacity to produce products and services. 4.12 list, activities 4.13 Measuring the costs of activities requires tracking both the cost of human resources (labor) and physical resources (machinery, building, etc.) associated with each activity. Human resource cost information can come directly from timesheets or from interviews with employees. Physical resource cost information can come from a combination of sources such as the accounting department, the production department, and employee surveys. 4.14 Employees are best suited to identify the activities that they themselves perform. 4.15 The four steps in measuring the costs of goods and services are outlined below. Step 1: Identify and classify the activities related to the company’s products. This requires people within the company to identify the activities performed to produce a product. Step 2: Estimate the cost of activities identified in step 1. This should include the cost of human resources such as employee labor for production, and physical resources such as the cost of machinery and building occupancy. Step 3: Calculate a cost driver rate for each activity. This is done by dividing the estimated costs for the activity by the estimated volume for the activity. Step 4: Assign activity costs to products. The cost-driver rate calculated in step 3 is used to assign activity costs to goods and services based on their use of activities. To determine the cost per unit, divide total costs assigned to a product in steps 1 through 4 by the number of units of that product produced. 4.16 Companies are typically willing to sacrifice a little accuracy to save time and effort by computing predetermined rates just once or twice a year instead of every month. This also allows companies to cost goods and services before the actual data are recorded. (This information can be vital to the timely billing of work done, and for determining the profitability of jobs in advance of obtaining actual overhead cost data.) 4.17 This statement is not accurate. The focus of ABC is on identifying and allocating the costs of activities required to perform a service or to produce a good. Many service companies, including American Airlines, use ABC to measure costs of services provided and to improve efficiency of operations. 4.18 The “red flags” indicating that a company might have problems with its costing system are outlined below. Indirect costs are significant in proportion to direct costs and are allocated to goods and services using one or two cost pools (and therefore one or two cost-driver bases). • Goods and services are complex and require many different processes and inputs. • Standard high-volume goods and services show losses or small profits, while complex low-volume goods and services show significant profits. • Different departments within the company believe that the costs identified for producing goods and providing services (as calculated by the accounting department) are not accurate and are often misleading. • The company loses bids it thought were priced relatively low and wins bids it thought were priced relatively high. • The company has not adapted its costing system to major changes it made to operations. 4.19 There is no fundamental difference in applying ABC cost systems to a company with goods versus a company with services; only the nature of resources used may differ. Tracing costs to activities and activity costs to outputs (goods or services) are similar in both manufacturing and service organizations. 4.20 In order to use existing ABC costs to accurately estimate costs of new services, the underlying resources used and activities performed must be essentially the same as for existing services. Even if resources or activities do change to provide new services, existing ABC information might still be useful for making cost estimates. ANSWERS TO CRITICAL ANALYSIS 4.21 Traditional costing systems tend to assign costs to goods and services based on an arbitrarily developed average rather than on the actual resources used. As a result, goods and services that are more complex to produce or provide (and therefore that consume more resources) are not necessarily assigned their fair share of costs. Instead, the more complex products are under costed and the simpler products are over costed. 4.22 ABC might have provided the information needed to change the way that the company did business. Once those changes were made, ABC was no longer needed. Hewlett-Packard (HP) is an example of a company that successfully utilized ABC in one of its divisions, and later stopped using it. HP used the ABC information to make changes to its operations, thereby correcting the problems that were identified in the initial implementation of ABC. Once the problems were rectified, the company no longer felt the benefits of an ABC system outweighed the costs of its continued use. 4.23 Employees might have an incentive to distort the information being provided if they fear top management will use the information to the detriment of the employees (for example, employee layoffs to eliminate non-value-added activities or outsourcing to reduce costs). 4.24 General and administrative costs should be assigned to goods and services only if these costs can be avoided if the goods and services are dropped. If the costs are simply reallocated to other products when one product is eliminated, then allocating general and administrative costs might be misleading for decision-making purposes. (For example, perhaps a particular product would not have been dropped if general and administrative costs were not part of the product’s profitability analysis.) 4.25 Top management must agree that ABC is necessary to successfully implement ABC. Top management can provide needed support and can boost morale if the implementation runs into snags. In addition, top management and employees within a company implementing ABC must see tangible evidence that ABC can work effectively. Tangible evidence can be obtained by reviewing the successful implementation of ABC at other companies, and by researching what went wrong for companies that failed to successfully implement ABC. Implementing ABC is not a simple and quick process. Companies must commit resources and time to successfully implement ABC. 4.26 This argument reflects concern that exclusive focus on making incremental decisions may lead managers to overlook broader impacts on all resources of the organization and to miss important opportunities to redirect resources to more profitable, long-run uses. It is likely that unit-level ABC by itself would not help managers to look at the “big picture” because it tends to focus on incremental impacts of decisions. Full ABC may cause managers to be more aware of the range of resources consumed by providing products and services and may influence them to consider how to best use the organization’s resources in the long run. 4.27 Throughput costing (discussed in Chapter 2) assigns only the unit-level spending for direct costs (e.g., direct materials) to products, the same as ABC unit costing (discussed in the Appendix to this chapter). ABC full costing assigns batch-level, product-level, customer-level and facility-level costs to products in addition to assigning unit-level costs to products. In machine-intensive processes, most costs are likely to be either unit-level or facility-level. ABC full costing adds little insight into the causes of product costs if there are little if any batch, product or customer-level costs. Therefore, in machine-intensive processes, throughput costing and ABC unit costing make good sense. People-intensive processes tend to have a large proportion of costs in the batch, product or customer-level categories. For people-intensive processes, ABC full costing can provide insights into the causes of batch, product or customer costs. 4.28 Answers will vary. An interesting class exercise would be to use a handout or transparency with blank cells for the class to fill in. Here are a few activities to get things started: Resources & Activities Cost-driver base Unit resources Batch resources Product resources Facility resources Solicit applications Number of contacts Postage Design and printing of materials in batches to particular sets of applicants (e.g., high-achievers) Academic staff time to view the information about particular majors Registrar’s office space Make admission decisions Number of applications Academic program staff time to review applications Registrar’s office space 4.29 This Comment Reflects Concern Over The Common Practice Of Confusing (A) Past Costs With Opportunity Costs And Future Costs In Management Decision Making, And (B) Costs Of Resource Supply And Resource Use. Past, Historical Costs Might Be Useful Quantitative Guides To Opportunity And Future Costs, But Only If Market And Technological Conditions Are Stable. Past Costs Still Might Be Useful Guides Of What Costs To Look For, Since Many Types Of Costs Incurred Or Used In The Past May Reappear. Costs To Supply Resources May Have Occurred In The Past, And Future Out-Of-Pocket Or Opportunity Costs For Using Those Resources May Be Quite Different Now. It Is Relatively Easy To Rely On Past Costs When Estimating Future Costs, But These Costs Are Often Unreliable As Guides To Future Costs In Companies Experiencing A Lot Of Change. 4.30 This critique of ABC alleges that managers who apply ABC will focus on maximizing the profits from existing activities and processes, but these may not be meeting either customers’ needs or the challenges of the competition. The critique presumes that customers really want high quality products and services in the least time possible. Though there may be other important attributes of quality and customer value, the message is clearly, “Do not develop a myopic focus on improving what you are currently doing. Look at the market and the competition to see whether your products and services are competitive. Then work to provide them efficiently.” One way to reconcile these conflicting approaches is to combine target costing (discussed in chapter 5) and ABC. Target costing focuses on designing and providing products and services that meet market needs, and ABC can help redesign products, services, and processes to achieve required cost reductions while meeting customer needs. SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES 4.31 (10 min) Identifying cost drivers 4.32 (10 min) Identifying cost drivers 4.33 (15 min) Identifying different levels of activities and resources 4.34 (15 min) Identifying different levels of activities and resources 4.35 (20 min) Matching activity levels and possible cost-driver bases to activities (The possible cost-driver bases are suggestions, there is often more than one correct answer). Activity Possible cost-driver base Activity Level Sales calls -- existing commercial customers No. of calls Customer Sales calls -- new commercial customers No. of calls Customer Commercial loan negotiation No. of applications Unit Commercial loan review No. of applications Unit or Batch Customer file maintenance No. of customers Customer Community involvement Hours of time Facility Employee relations No. of employees Facility Commercial loan customer service No. of commercial customers Customer Consumer loan customer service No. of consumer customers Customer Consumer loan review No. of applications Unit or Batch Consumer deposit/withdrawal processing No. of deposits/withdrawals Unit Commercial deposit/withdrawal processing No. of deposits/withdrawals Unit Advertising particular products No. of products being advertised Product or Customer 4.36 (30 min) Limitations of traditional costing methods. a Data given in the first table of the exercise in the text b Data given in the first table of the exercise in the text c $24,000 per run = $1,200,000 in production run costs  50 total runs d $50,000 per test = $1,500,000 in quality costs  30 total tests e $2,000 per order = $300,000 in shipping costs  150 total orders f $960,000 = $24,000 per production run x 40 runs for Standard g $600,000 = $50,000 per quality test x 12 tests for Standard h $200,000 = $2,000 per order shipped x 100 orders shipped i $1,361.11 = $4,900,000 total costs for Standard  3,600 units produced j $2,583.33 = $3,100,000  1,200 units produced Using the information above, we can see that the total overhead assigned is $1,760,000 and $1,240,000 for Standard and High-Grade, respectively. The total cost per unit is the total cost per product divided by the total units produced; $1,361.11 per Standard unit and $2,583.33 per High-Grade unit. b. Rate Standard High-Grade Total Direct labora $1,740,000 $ 660,000 $2,400,000 Direct materialsb 1,400,000 1,200,000 2,600,000 Total overhead 1.25 2,175,000d 825,000 3,000,000 Total costs $5,315,000 $2,685,000 $8,000,000 Total unit cost $1,476.39e $2,237.50f _______________ a Data given in the first table of the exercise in the text b Data given in the first table of the exercise in the text c 1.25 per direct labor dollar = $3,000,000 total overhead  $2,400,000 total direct labor d $2,175,000 = 1.25 per direct labor dollar x $1,740,000 direct labor for standard units e $1,476.39 = $5,315,000  3,600 Standard units produced f $2,237.50 = $2,685,000  1,200 High-Grade units produced 4.36 (continued) From the information above, total overhead allocated to Standard and High-Grade is $2,175,000 and $825,000 respectively. The unit cost for Standard and High-Grade is $1,476.39 and $2,237.50 respectively. The total overhead of $3,000,000 is the same whether using the traditional labor cost based overhead application or ABC. The choice of ABC or the traditional method affects the division of the total overhead between the products. The calculation of ABC costs does not affect the total amount of overhead incurred in the short run. It provides information that can help cost managers to reduce overhead in the long run by measuring cost rates for cost drivers and by identifying unprofitable products for which managers should take action (e.g., drop the product, raise prices, outsource production to reduce costs). c. By allocating overhead on the basis of direct labor, the company has been understating the cost to manufacture High-Grade units and, therefore, overstating High-Grade’s profits. In particular, note from the activity-based costing analysis that quality testing is much higher for High-Grade than it is for Standard. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.37 (30 min) Activity-based costing in a service environment a $133,000 = 7,000 hours x $19 per hour; $286,000 = 13,000 hours x $22 b $70,000 = 7,000 hours x $10 per hour c $266.67 per client = $16,000  60 clients d $6 per hour = $36,000  6,000 equipment hours e $0.36 per square yard = $72,000  200,000 square yards f $4,000 = $266.67 x 15 commercial clients g $24,000 = $6 x 4,000 equipment-hours h $46,800 = $0.36 x 130,000 square yards The total overhead is the same whether using the traditional labor-hour based overhead application or ABC. The choice between ABC and the traditional method affects the division of the total overhead of $124,000 between the products. ABC does not affect the amount of overhead incurred in the short run. It provides information that can help cost managers to reduce overhead in the long run by measuring cost rates for cost drivers and by identifying unprofitable products for which managers should take action (e.g., drop the product, raise prices, outsource production to reduce costs). c. The recommendation is to consider dropping the commercial business but definitely continue the residential business. Alternatively, the company should find a way to make the Commercial business profitable. Some ideas include cutting costs, outsourcing some of the work to cheaper subcontractors, and raising prices to commercial customers. Note that the area for commercial clients is much larger which explains the greater supplies costs assigned to commercial customers and likely explains the greater equipment use. We can explain the differences in profits under the two cost methods by explaining that there is little correlation in costs between direct labor and the overhead costs. d. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.38 (30 min) Limitations of traditional costing methods a. Rate Single Bulb Dual Bulb Total Production setup $2,000a $24,000d $36,000 $60,000 Materials handling 500b 4,500e 9,000 13,500 Packaging and shipping 0.25c 10,000f 20,000 30,000 Total overhead $38,500 $65,000 $103,500 _______________ a $2,000 per setup = $60,000  30 setups b $500 per part = $13,500  27 parts c $0.25 per unit shipped = $30,000  120,000 units shipped d $24,000 = $2,000 x 12 setups e $4,500 = $500 x 9 parts f $10,000 = $0.25 x 40,000 units shipped b. Single Bulb Dual Bulb Total Direct labor hours 20,000a 80,000 100,000 Overhead $20,700b $82,800c $103,500 _______________ a 20,000 hours = 0.5 hours per unit x 40,000 units; 80,000 = 1 hour x 80,000 units b $20,700 = ($103,500 overhead / 100,000 hours) x 20,000 hours c $82,800 = ($103,500 overhead / 100,000 hours) x 80,000 hours The total overhead of $103,500 is the same whether using the traditional labor-hour based overhead application or ABC. The choice between ABC and the traditional method affects the division of the total overhead between the products. The calculation of ABC costs does not affect the amount of overhead incurred in the short run. It provides information that can help cost managers to reduce overhead in the long run by measuring cost rates for cost drivers and by identifying unprofitable products for which managers should take action (e.g., drop the product, raise prices, outsource production to reduce costs). c. The traditional costing method has appeared to allocate too little overhead to Single Bulb and too much overhead to Dual Bulb. Dual Bulb appears more costly (and therefore less profitable) than it should, which could affect a number of decisions such as whether to continue producing the product and the price at which to sell it. Activity-based costing provides a more detailed and accurate allocation of overhead costs. However, the more accurate method is also more expensive. The ABC system should be adopted if the benefits from improved information exceed the additional costs required to obtain the information. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.39 (30 min) Activity-based versus traditional costing The total overhead of $300,000 is the same whether using the traditional labor-hour based overhead application or ABC. The choice between ABC and the traditional method affects the division of the total overhead between the products. The calculation of ABC costs does not affect the total amount of overhead incurred in the short run. It provides information that can help cost managers to reduce overhead in the long run by measuring cost rates for cost drivers and by identifying unprofitable products for which managers should take action (e.g., drop the product, raise prices, outsource production to reduce costs). c. Under the labor-based overhead allocation, tax work appears to be more profitable than it does under ABC, and might lead Eisner to concentrate more heavily on tax work. d. ABC and traditional costing systems generally yield comparable product-line profits when overhead is a small portion of costs, or when cost drivers are highly correlated with direct-labor hours. In this case, labor hours were distributed 32.5% to Tax and 67.5% to Consulting. If Eisner’s three cost drivers were each also distributed 32.5% to Tax and 67.5% to Consulting, the labor-hour and ABC allocation would be identical. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS 4.40 (30 min) Comparison of traditional costing and activity-based costing: service organization If you are confident that your ABC analysis is a better way to accurately match an activity performed with a cost incurred (or resource used), then the new information indicates that you are not bidding appropriately. If the existing contracts were negotiated in good faith by both sides, there does not seem to be a compelling reason to renegotiate them now or to think that doing so would be successful. The government agency was willing to pay $2,800 for your services. While it might be delighted to receive a refund, it is doubtful that the private party would agree to pay a higher fee just because you miscalculated your costs. This situation also has an interesting ethical twist because truthfully using ABC costs could result in less profit overall. For example, if the government reimbursement rate is 40 percent and you maintained your resource base and successfully bid on four comparable, government jobs and no private jobs, your profits would be: But this is less than the original profit of $1,800 that was based on inaccurate costs. You may be inclined to ignore your new knowledge and continue to bid on jobs as before, effectively using government jobs to subsidize private jobs. Government costing rules may permit using traditional costing, but it probably is only a matter of time before competitors figure out their ABC costs, win the profitable jobs, and leave unprofitable jobs for you. Future contract negotiations should reflect your new knowledge about the costs of various activities and contracts. The analysis indicates that you are making no money on the private contract. Either you need to charge more, provide that type of service more efficiently, or seek other types of work. For example, you appear to be more efficient than expected in providing government services, and you may be able to be even more successful obtaining those jobs by bidding more accurately. On the other hand, you may see some value in diversifying your customer base and might be unwilling to only serve government customers. You may be able to quantify the business risk of relying on only one type of customer by reviewing how often in the past, for example, government agencies cut back on outside contracts to meet budget crises. 4.41 (45 min) Limitations of traditional costing methods 4.41 (continued) d. The discrepancy between our product costs using direct-labor hours as the allocation base versus activity-based costing is found in the way overhead costs are allocated. Our traditional direct-labor cost method distorts our product costs because there is little correlation between our direct-labor costs and overhead. Activity-based costing is more accurate. It allocates the individual components of our overhead to our products based upon the product’s use of that overhead component. With the more accurate product costs, we should begin to concentrate our efforts upon reducing the costs of our more expensive overhead operations. As seen in the activity-based costing report, a large share of our total overhead is comprised of materials handling and production setup costs – costs which were not visible under the direct-labor approach. Reducing our materials handling and production setup costs should be a new priority. We recommend assessing the cost of using an activity-based system in our company. We will proceed with activity-based costing if we find the cost of the new system is less than the benefits of the more accurate information we will receive. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.42 (60 min) Limitations of traditional costing methods d. The discrepancy between our product costs using direct-labor hours as the allocation base versus activity-based costing is found in the way overhead costs are allocated. Our existing method of assigning overhead using direct-labor costs as the allocation base distorts our product costs because there is little correlation between our direct-labor costs and overhead. Activity-based costing is more accurate. It allocates the individual components of our overhead to our products based upon the product’s use of that overhead component. With the more accurate product costs, we should begin to concentrate our efforts upon reducing the costs of our more expensive overhead operations. As seen in the activity-based costing report, a large share of our total overhead is comprised of order processing, quality management, and equipment maintenance & depreciation--costs that were not visible under the direct-labor approach. Reducing these costs should be a top priority. We recommend assessing the cost of using an activity-based system in our company. We will proceed with activity-based costing if we find the cost of the new system is less than the benefits of the more accurate information we will receive. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.43 (60 min) Limitations of traditional costing methods c. The activity-based costing method provides a more detailed breakdown of the costs. This additional information should enable Cannonball management to make better decisions. For example, if Cannonball wants to reduce costs, activity-based costing lists the activities on which management should focus its cost reducing efforts. Also, the company will probably have more accurate product cost information for pricing and other decisions. d. Some costs may have no relationship to any volume or activity base. To artificially allocate these costs would distort the accounting information used for pricing and other decisions. A preferable method of handling such costs might be to require a “contribution margin” from each product that must cover a portion of the unallocated plant administration and fixed overhead costs. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.44 (30 min.) Benefits of activity-based costing Activity-based costing typically provides more detailed product cost information for management. By breaking down costs into cost drivers (i.e., activities that drive costs), management is able to see the relationship between product complexity, product volume and product cost. This is vital information for pricing decisions and strategic planning. Management is also better able to make the production process more efficient by reviewing activities and costs to identify where improvements can be made. The first step to improving the production process is to reduce or eliminate costly non value-added activities such as machine setups (by running larger batches). 4.45 (30 min.) Benefits of activity-based costing Activity-based costing can help address the president’s concerns by identifying the activities that drive overhead costs. She might find that the additional $200,000 in overhead costs come from the additional depreciation and maintenance for the new equipment. As companies shift from labor-intensive operations to capital-intensive operations (through increased automation), overhead costs tend to increase and labor costs tend to decrease. 4.46 (30 min) Cost-driver rate computation and cost assignment to services; missing information 4.47 (30 min) Cost-driver rate computation and cost assignment to services; missing information 4.48 (30 min) Cost-driver rate computation and cost assignment to services; missing information 4.49 (60 min) Computing product profitability a. Answer is in the last column labeled “Rate per Unit of Measure.” EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.49 (continued) b. Product costs using activity-based costing 4.49 (continued) c. Product costs using traditional costing d. Since direct labor and direct material costs are the same for both traditional costing and ABC, the difference must be attributed to the allocation of overhead costs. If direct labor hour is the primary allocation base (as is the case with the traditional approach), then those products requiring more direct labor per unit will be allocated more overhead per unit. In this case, Product B requires more direct labor hours per unit than product A (2,100 / 900,000 = .0023 versus 1,600 / 800,000 = .0020, respectively), so it is allocated more overhead per unit. Activity-based costing uses several different allocation bases to allocate overhead. Product A consumes more overhead resources than product B for almost all activities, and thus is assigned more overhead than product B. This results in an increase in unit cost for product A and a decrease in unit cost for product B when compared to traditional costing. 4.50 (40 min) Misreported information: traditional versus activity-based costing a. Recomputed product A costs: Activity-Based Costing EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.50 a. (continued) Traditional Costing b. The new direct labor hours number for product A does affect the cost numbers previously reported. This effect is relatively small because overhead costs are allocated based on activities other than direct labor. Using traditional costing, the product cost per unit also is higher. The reason this increase is more significant with traditional costing is that overhead costs are largely allocated based on direct labor activities. c. This new information does not directly impact the cost computations for product B. However, if the activity rates established in part a of the previous problem were calculated using incorrect direct labor hour information (perhaps again provided by the product manager for product A), the rate would be incorrect. We should investigate this further to determine the accuracy of the data used to establish the overhead. 4.50 (continued) d. Product managers are often evaluated based on the costs they incur to produce a product. The lower the cost, the better their evaluation (and therefore the better their bonuses, compensation increases, advancement, etc.). By understating the direct labor hours associated with Product A, the product manager understates the product cost – both through the understatement of direct labor costs and the understatement of overhead allocated based on direct labor hours. This assumes that traditional costing is used. As discussed in part c, the understatement of direct labor hours does not significantly affect the product cost using activity based costing. 4.51 (40 min) Unit-based cost versus full cost c. Unit-based costing defines product costs (or “unit costs”) as those costs that are clearly and certainly driven by producing units of the goods or services. Simply put, only unit-level costs are included in calculating product costs when using unit-based costing. This results in a much lower product cost (both in total and per unit) than when using activity based costing or traditional costing. ABC and traditional costing assign overhead costs to products in addition to including unit-level costs. 4.52 (60 min) Product profitability in a service organization a. Answer is in the last column labeled “Rate per Unit of Measure.” (A) (B) (=A/B) Rate per Activity Activity Unit of Activity/Resource Cost Volume Unit of Measure Measure 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Acquire medical supplies $80,000 2,000 number of surgeries $40 1.2 Use surgical nursing staff $180,000 1,800 hours of surgery $100 1.3 Clean operating room and setup $100,000 2,000 number of surgeries $50 1.4 Provide recovery room care $120,000 4,000 hours of patient time in recovery room $30 2. Product-Level 2.1 Maintain information for each type surgery performed $40,000 20 types of surgeries performed $2,000 2.2 Provide special equipment for eye surgeries $50,000 1 type of eye surgery $50,000 2.3 Provide hip and knee replacement parts $400,000 80 number of hip and knee replacements $5,000 3. Customer-Level 3.1 Conduct presurgery visit with patient $80,000 4,000 number of pre-surgery patient visits $20 3.2 Make post surgery calls to patients $30,000 6,000 number of calls $5 3.3 Conduct patients' post-surgery visits $50,000 1,000 number of post-surgery visits $50 4. Facility-Level 4.1 Provide supervision $60,000 $400,000 cost amount of activities 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 0.15 4.2 Use operating rooms $720,000 2,400 number of hours of use $300 4.3 Use recovery rooms $200,000 4,000 patient hours in recovery room $50 EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.52 (continued) b. Product costs using activity-based costing Eye Hip Rate per Actual Actual Unit of Activity Activity Eye Hip Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Volume Cost Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Acquire medical supplies number of surgeries $40 50 20 $2,000 $800 1.2 usse surgical nursing staff hours of surgery $100 80 50 $8,000 $5,000 1.3 Clean operating room and setup number of surgeries $50 50 20 $2,500 $1,000 1.4 Provide recovery room care hours of patient time in recovery room $30 100 80 $3,000 $2,400 2. Product-Level 2.1 Maintain information for each type of surgery performed types of surgeries performed $2,000 1 1 $2,000 $2,000 2.2 Provide special equipment for eye surgeries types of eye surgeries $50,000 1 N.A. $50,000 N.A. 2.3 Provide hip and knee replacement parts number of hip and knee replacements $5,000 N.A. 20 N.A. $100,000 3. Customer-Level 3.1 Conduct presurgery visit with patient number of presurgery patient visits $20 80 40 $1,600 $800 3.2 Make postsurgery calls to patients number of calls $5 120 60 $600 $300 3.3 Conduct patients' postsurgery visits number of postsurgery visits $50 50 25 $2,500 $1,250 4. Facility-Level 4.1 Provide supervision cost amount of activities 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 0.15 $13,500 $8,400 $2,025 $1,260 4.2 Use operating rooms number of hours of use $300 80 50 $24,000 $15,000 4.3 Use recovery rooms patient hours in recovery room $50 100 80 $5,000 $4,000 Total Cost $103,225 $133,810 Number of Surgeries 50 20 Cost per Surgery (total cost / surgeries) $2,065 $6,69 4.52 (continued) c. Product costs using traditional costing Eye Hip Rate per Actual Actual Unit of Activity Activity Eye Hip Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Volume Cost Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Acquire medical supplies number of surgeries $40 50 20 $2,000 $800 1.2 Use surgical nursing staff hours of surgery $100 80 50 $8,000 $5,000 1.3 Clean operating room and setup number of surgeries $50 50 20 $2,500 $1,000 1.4 Provide recovery room care hours of patient time in recovery room $30 100 80 $3,000 $2,400 All Other Levels allocated based on: Number of surgeries number of surgeries $815 50 20 $40,750 $16,300 Total Cost $56,250 $25,500 Number of Surgeries 50 20 Cost per Surgery (total cost / surgeries) $1,125 $1,275 d. Using the traditional approach, overhead costs are simply allocated based on the number of surgeries. Some surgeries are more complex than others, and therefore use more resources. The traditional approach does not take this complexity into account when allocating overhead. Activity based costing uses several different allocation bases to allocate overhead based on the consumption of different resources. The surgeries that require more resources (i.e., that are more complex) are allocated more overhead. The cost of eye surgeries was considerably higher using ABC versus traditional costing, and the cost of hip replacement surgeries also were considerably higher using ABC versus traditional costing. The significantly higher cost of hip replacement surgeries is attributed to the high complexity of the surgery (as indicated by the high number of replacement parts required). The traditional approach spreads these replacement part costs over all surgeries rather than attaching these costs to the surgeries that use the replacement parts. Thus, ABC provides a more accurate view of the costs incurred for each type of surgery. 4.53 (40 min.) Information misreported; traditional versus activity-based costing a. Activity-Based Costing Rate per Eye Actual Hip Actual Unit of Activity Activity Eye Hip Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Mea- sure Volume Volume Cost Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Provide medical supplies number of surgeries $40 50 20 $2,000 $800 1.2 Provide surgical nursing staff hours of surgery $100 60 50 $6,000 $5,000 1.3 Clean operating room and setup number of surgeries $50 50 20 $2,500 $1,000 1.4 Provide recovery room care hours of patient time in recovery room $30 100 80 $3,000 $2,400 2. Product-Level 1 2.1 Maintain information for each type of surgery performed types of surgeries performed $2,000 1 1 $2,000 $2,000 2.2 Provide special equipment for eye surgeries types of eye surgeries $50,000 N.A. N.A. $50,000 N.A. 2.3 Provide hip and knee replacement parts number of hip and knee replacements $5,000 20 N.A. $100,000 3. Customer-Level 3.1 Conduct presurgery visit with patient number of presurgery patient visits $20 80 40 $1,600 $800 3.2 Post surgery calls to patients number of calls $5 120 60 $600 $300 3.3 Patients' postsurgery visits number of postsurgery visits $50 50 25 $2,500 $1,250 4. Facility-Level 4.1 Provide supervision cost amount of activities 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 $0.15 $11,500 $8,400 $1,725 $1,260 4.2 Use operating rooms number of hours of use $300 80 50 $24,000 $15,000 4.3 Use recovery rooms patient hours in recovery room $50 100 80 $5,000 $4,000 Total Cost $100,925 $133,810 Number of Replacements (surgeries) 50 20 Corrected Cost per Surgery (total cost / surgeries) $2,019 $6,691 Incorrect Cost per Surgery (from previous problem part b) $2,065 n/a EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.53 a. (continued) Traditional Costing Eye Hip Rate per Actual Actual Unit of Activity Activity Eye Hip Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Volume Cost Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Acquire medical supplies number of surgeries $40 50 20 $2,000 $800 1.2 Use surgical nursing staff hours of surgery $100 60 50 $6,000 $5,000 1.3 Clean operating room and setup number of surgeries $50 50 20 $2,500 $1,000 1.4 Provide recovery room care hours of patient time in recovery room $30 100 80 $3,000 $2,400 All other levels allocated based on: Number of surgeries number of surgeries $815 50 20 $40,750 $16,300 Total Cost $54,250 $25,500 Number of Replacements (surgeries) 50 20 Corrected Cost per Surgery (total cost / surgeries) $1,085 $1,275 Incorrect Cost per Surgery (from previous problem part c) $1,125 n/a b. The new information does affect the cost numbers. The number of surgery hours changed so the allocation of costs based on surgery hours changed. c. This new information does not affect the cost computations for hip replacement surgeries. 4.54 (30 min.) Comparison of unit-based cost and ABC full costing a. & b. Unit-Based Costing Eye Hip Rate per Actual Actual Unit of Activity Activity Eye Hip Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Volume Cost Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Acquire medical supplies number of surgeries $40 50 20 $2,000 $800 1.2 use surgical nursing staff hours of surgery $100 80 50 $8,000 $5,000 1.3 Clean operating room and setup number of surgeries $50 50 20 $2,500 $1,000 1.4 Provide recovery room care hours of patient time in recovery room $30 100 80 $3,000 $2,400 Total Cost $15,500 $9,200 Number of Replacements (surgeries) 50 20 Cost per Surgery (total cost / surgeries) $310 $460 c. Unit-based costing defines product costs (or “unit costs”) as those costs that are clearly and certainly driven by producing units of the goods or services. Simply put, only unit-level costs are included in calculating product costs when using unit-based costing. This results in a much lower product cost (both in total and per unit) than when using activity based costing or traditional costing. ABC and traditional costing assign overhead costs to products in addition to including unit-level costs. 4.55 (60 min) Product profitability in a merchandising organization; traditional versus ABC a. Answer is in the last column labeled “Rate per Unit of Measure.” (A) (B) (=A/B) Rate per Activity Activity Unit of Activity/Resource Cost Volume Unit of Measure Measure 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Sell goods on commission $23,000 $230,000 sales dollars 10% 2. Batch-Level 2.1 Process purchases $6,000 200 number of purchase orders $30.00 3. Product-Level 3.1 Provide product-level advertising $2,000 200 number of promotions $10.00 3.2 Provide product-inventory record-keeping $3,000 600 number of products $5.00 4. Customer-Level 4.1 Accept customer returns $12,000 800 number of returns $15.00 5. Facility-Level 5.1 Supervise sales personnel $3,910 $23,000 cost amount of activity 1.1 17% 5.2 Use building $32,000 8,000 square feet of shelf space $4.00 EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.55 (continued) b. Product costs using activity-based costing Tennis Fishing Racquets Rods Rate per Actual Actual Tennis Fishing Unit of Activity Activity Racquets Rods Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Volume Cost Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Sell goods on commission sales dollars 10% $2,000 $1,000 $200.00 $100.00 2. Batch-Level 2.1 Process purchases number of purchase orders $30.00 2 3 $60.00 $90.00 3. Product-Level 3.1 Provide product-level advertising number of promotions $10.00 2 2 $20.00 $20.00 3.2 Provide product-inventory record-keeping number of products $5.00 1 1 $5.00 $5.00 4. Customer-Level 4.1 Accept customer returns number of returns $15.00 6 2 $90.00 $30.00 5. Facility-Level 5.1 Supervise sales personnel cost amount of activity 1.1 17% $200 $100 $34.00 $17.00 5.2 Use building square feet of shelf space $4.00 80 60 $320.00 $240.00 Total Cost $729.00 $502.00 Units of Product 20 10 Cost per Unit (excluding Merchandise Cost) $36.45 $50.20 4.55 (continued) c. Product costs using traditional costing Tennis Fishing Racquets Rods Rate per Actual Actual Tennis Fishing Unit of Activity Activity Racquets Rods Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Volume Cost Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Sell goods on commission sales dollars 10% $2,000 $1,000 $200 $100 All Other Levels allocated based on: Number of Sales units sold $8.70 20 10 $174 $87 Total Cost $374 $187 Units of Product 20 10 Cost per Unit (total cost / units of product) $18.70 $18.70 d. Comparing the bottom line in requirement b with the bottom line in requirement c, one sees a significant difference in product costs. If we think about a sporting goods store that has 600 different products, as Sporti Gus does, then many of the products have a lower value than tennis racquets and fishing rods. In many cases, companies average the batch through facility-level costs over the products. This averaging process understates the cost of relatively high value products such as fishing rods and tennis racquets and overstates the cost of relatively low value products (such as tennis balls and sweat bands). That could explain the difference in product costs between the traditional and ABC methods. 4.56 (40 min) Information misreported: traditional versus activity-based costing a. Activity-Based Costing Fishing Rods Rate per Actual Fishing Unit of Activity Rods Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Sell goods on commission sales dollars 10% $800 $80.00 2. Batch-Level 2.1 Process purchases number of purchase orders $30.00 3 $90.00 3. Product-Level 3.1 Provide product-level advertising number of promotions $10.00 2 $20.00 3.2 Provide product-inventory record-keeping number of products $5.00 1 $5.00 4. Customer-Level 4.1 Accept customer returns number of returns $15.00 2 $30.00 5. Facility-Level 5.1 Supervise sales personnel cost amount of activity 1.1 0.17 $80 $13.60 5.2 Use building square feet of shelf space $4.00 60 $240.00 Total Cost $478.60 Units of Product 8 Corrected Cost Per Unit (total cost / units of product) $59.825 Incorrect Cost Per Unit (from previous problem part b) $50.20 EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.56 (continued) a. Traditional Costing Fishing Rods Rate per Actual Fishing Unit of Activity Rods Activity/Resource Unit of Measure Measure Volume Cost 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Sell goods units sold 10% $800 $80.00 All Other Levels allocated based on: Number of Sales units sold $8.70 8 $69.60 Total Cost $149.60 Units of Product 8 Corrected Cost Per Unit (total cost / units of product) $18.70 Incorrect Cost Per Unit (from previous problem part c) $18.70 b. Using the traditional costing approach, this new information does not affect the per unit cost information for the fishing rods because all costs are allocated based on units sold. If the reported number of units sold decreases, the total costs allocated also decreases (and the per unit cost stays at $18.70). Using ABC, only the unit-level costs and the costs based on unit-level costs (i.e., supervision) will decrease in total. All other costs remain the same in total. Thus, the other overhead costs are spread out over fewer units (8 instead of 10) resulting in a higher cost per unit. c. This new information does not directly impact the cost computations for tennis rackets. However, if the activity rates established in part a of the previous problem were calculated using an incorrect number of units sold, the rate would be incorrect. We should investigate this further to determine the accuracy of the data used to establish the overhead rates. 4.57 (60 min) Activity analysis Cost driver rates (A) (B) (=A/B) Predetermined Activity Activity Cost Driver Activity/Resource Cost Volume Cost Driver Base Rate 1. Unit-Level 1.1 Materials - board A $40,000 3,500 number of board A produced & shipped $11.42857 1.2 Materials - board B $40,000 2,000 number of board B produced & shipped $20.00 1.3 Labor to produce boards $14,000 60,000* number of parts $0.23333 1.4 Packaging and shipping $31,500 5,500 number of boards produced & shipped $5.72727 2. Batch-Level 2.1 Setup labor - board A $1,000 5 batches of board A run $200.00 2.2 Setup labor - board B $600 2 batches of board B run $300.00 2.3 Setup materials $4,200 7 batches run $600.00 4. Facility-Level 4.1 Equipment $25,000 n/a Equip usage: 60% board A; 40% board B n/a 4.2 Custodial and security service $3,000 n/a Building usage: 50% board A; 50% board B n/a * 60,000 manually assembled parts = (8 parts x 3,500 units of A) + (16 parts x 2,000 units of B) EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.58 (30 min, assuming 4.57 has been worked) Profitability analysis Board A Board B Total Revenues Board A ($30 x 3,500 units) $105,000 $105,000 Board B ($30 x 2,000 units) $60,000 60,000 Total revenue $165,000 Costs traced to products Unit level costs $66,578 $58,922 $125,500 Batch level costs 4,000 1,800 5,800 Facility level costs 16,500 11,500 28,000 Total costs traced to products $87,078 $72,222 $159,300 Operating income $17,922 ($12,222) $5,700 The argument could be made that Intellig should eliminate the Board B product since it shows a loss of $12,222. However, it is unclear (and probably unlikely) that the facility costs will be eliminated upon eliminating Board B. Instead, the facility costs might simply be allocated to Board A. A better approach for the company is to review the process required to produce Board B to find areas where future cost savings might exist. Board B costs significantly more to produce than Board A, but is priced the same as Board A. Intellig should also review its pricing structure for Board B to see if the market will pay more than the current $30 per unit price. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.59 (40 min) Activity analysis in a service organization Cost driver rate fro telemarketing: (A) (B) (=A/B) Predetermined Activity Activity Cost Driver Activity/Resource Cost Volume Cost Driver Base Rate Telemarketing labor $176,000 446,000 minutes* number of survey and telemarketing call minutes $0.39462 * 446,000 minutes = (22,000 surveys x 8 minutes each) + (90,000 calls x 3 minutes each) = 176,000 survey minutes + 270,000 telemarketing call minutes Now compute the costs per unit. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.60 (30 min, assuming problem 4.59 has been worked) Profitability analysis Profitability report (see results for problem 4.59 for details of unit, product and facility-level costs. Surveys Telemarket-ing calls Total Revenues Surveys ($5 x 22,000 units) $110,000 $110,000 Sales calls ($2 x 90,000 units) $180,000 180,000 Total revenue $290,000 Costs Unit-level costs $69,453 $106,547 $176,000 Product-level costs 25,200 4,000 29,200 Facility-level costs 18,400 18,400 36,800 Total costs $113,053 $128,947 $242,000 Revenues minus costs ($3,053) $51,053 $48,000 The argument could be made that Marketing Solutions should eliminate surveys because it shows a loss. However, it is unclear (and probably unlikely) that the facility costs will be eliminated upon eliminating surveys. Instead, the facility costs might simply be allocated to telemarketing calls. A better approach for the company is to review the process required to produce surveys to find areas where future cost savings might exist. Marketing Solutions should also review its pricing structure for surveys to see if the market will pay more than the current $5 per unit. EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.61 (60 min) Research report Answers will vary. 4.62 (90 min) International Issues Responses to this assignment will vary, but here is one possible analysis: Factor Possible impact on adoption Language Most ABC articles are written in English. Though English apparently is the “language of business,” systematic lack of English reading skills may prevent or delay dissemination of ABC (and other practices) in a particular country, region, or organization. European Union The rise of the European Union has seen a growth in international business awareness (on all sides), which is more accepting of new ideas, but also a growth of competitiveness and desire for “homegrown” solutions. Importing of US practices may be resisted because of their origin and potential suppression of independent, local solutions. Existing cost system Current cost systems may serve current needs, and the costs of switching may be perceived to be unreasonably high. Management style Most devotees of ABC believe that the technique requires sharing of information between managers and employees. This may not be feasible in an organization (or culture) where managers are used to issuing directives, top-down. Class barriers Cultural barriers between managers and employees also may prevent flow of information in both directions – either how ABC could improve the organization or what ABC really says about the efficiency of the organization. Performance evaluation Managers, employees, and owners may have fully adjusted performance measures or interpretations of existing measures to any inaccuracies of non-ABC costing. Changing to ABC-based measures may upset this equilibrium. Perhaps this is for the better, but the implications of changes may be too unknown or, if known, may be considered undesirable. SOLUTIONS TO CASES 4.63 (120 min) Activity-based costing in health care Sample sales pitch: “Yes, manufacturing companies were among the first to develop and use ABC, but many service organizations, hospitals included, have found that ABC can describe their work and costs, too. All organizations share commonalities of transforming inputs into outputs by supplying resources to activities and using resources in productive activities to generate valued outputs. Community Hospital is no different. The resources you supply are highly skilled and motivated physicians, nurses, technicians, and administrators and state-of-the-art facilities. Community Hospital uses these resources in its preventive, diagnostic, and healing activities to improve the health of patients and the community. Unfortunately, your current costing system is designed for reporting purposes, not for improving your management of these resources. We can help you develop an ABC system that will accurately identify where you are supplying resources, how those resources are being used, and where those resources can be used more effectively. At the same time, this system will generate more accurate and meaningful cost reports.” Requirements a through g Answers to requirements a through g will vary. The following represents one of many possible approaches. a. The objective of an ABC analysis is to provide more refined cost information to management allowing for improvement in the use of resources throughout the organization. b. Using average cost per patient day for all levels of care will almost certainly understate the cost of more intensive care and overstate the cost of the least intensive care. This can lead to poor decision making on the part of management related to pricing and product (service) development (i.e., which services to offer, and which services not to offer). c., d., and e. Data typically starts at the financial accounting level. However, additional data is needed and can be obtained from many different sources including cost accountants within the company, payroll, timesheets, and surveys of employees. The accuracy of any data collected depends on the reliability of the source. For example, if time is tracked by job responsibilities, nurses may have an incentive to misstate the information to help justify the number of nurses working on a particular shift. Those involved in providing data must be assured that their jobs will not be eliminated based on the results of the data provided. 4.63 (continued) f. Many different analyses for part f are possible using the available data. Here is one. 1. Define the unit of activity to be a “weighted patient day” for supervision and nursing care 2. Define the unit of activity for cleaning and laundry to be an unweighted “patient day” Develop activity costs per unit of cost-driver base: A B C D E F Nursing activity Annual cost Cost driver base Cost driver base level Cost driver rate = B/D Supervision $70,000 wtd patient days 4,400 $15.91 per wtd patient day Nursing care 250,000 wtd patient days 4,400 $56.82 per wtd patient day Cleaning & laundry 60,000 patient days 2,000 $30.00 per patient day Total annual costs $380,000 Total patient days 2,000 Average nursing cost per patient day $190 Example nursing station costs per patient: A B C D E Nursing care Patient 1 unweighted days Patient 1 weighted days Patient 2 unweighted days Patient 2 weighted days Level 1 (weight = 1) 5 5 2 2 Level 2 (weight = 2) 3 6 3 6 Level 3 (weight = 4) 2 8 8 32 Total patient days 10 19 13 40 Cost analysis Supervision $302 $636 Nursing care 1,080 2,273 Cleaning & laundry (unweighted) 300 390 total $1,682 $3,299 Using average cost per unweighted patient day $1,900 $2,470 Difference in cost - ($218) $829 Percentage difference - -11% 34% 4.63 (continued) g. This sample analysis demonstrates that nursing costs using average cost per patient day are overstated for patients who spend relatively little time in Level 3 care relative to Level 1, but understated for those needing extended Level 3 care. Charging nursing station costs based on overall average costs of $190 per patient day effectively subsidizes high-level care by overcharging patients who do not use it. Because average costs understate the cost of providing Level 3 care, Community Hospital may be perceived as a low-cost provider of intensive nursing care. This will attract more of this type of patient care, which could displace Level 1 care patients who appear to be overcharged. If the hospital does not raise its rates for Level 3 care, it could become a drain on the hospital’s resources, resulting in the need to shift resources from other hospital areas, or reducing the quality of intensive-care nursing. None of these outcomes seems desirable, and the hospital would be advised to revise its charges as indicated by the ABC analysis. 4.64 (120 min) Choice of cost systems a. Job costs using current cost system Current cost system Budgeted overhead…….. $420,000,000* Budgeted labor hours….. Employees……………… 1,000 Hours per year………… 2,000 Total labor hours……… 2,000,000 Budgeted overhead rate $ 210 per labor hour Job Labor hours Material Overhead** Total cost 1 22.5 $ 30,000 $ 4,725 $ 34,725 2 160 100,000 33,600 $133,600 3 21 28,000 4,410 $ 32,410 4 120 40,000 25,200 $ 65,200 5 60 20,000 12,600 $ 32,600 *19 old machines cost $190M ($10M per machine). Remove six old machines which reduces old equipment costs to $130M. Add six new machines that are three times as expensive as the old ones adds $180M (=6 x $30M) to the equipment costs, so total equipment costs = $310M. Total costs = $90m for labor, $310M for equipment, and $20m for management and engineering = $420M. ** at $210 per labor hour EXCEL SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN EXCEL SOLUTIONS FILE 4.64 (continued) b. Answers will vary in developing an alternative cost system. The following proposal considers that multi-axis machines are three times as costly to operate and separates labor costs from machining costs. Management and engineering costs are treated like equipment costs because engineering costs include programming the computer-controlled machines. Perhaps management costs should be in a separate cost pool, but the case does not give enough information to do so. A proposed cost system Labor costs Budgeted labor…………………. $90,000,000 Budgeted labor hours………… ÷ 2,000,000 Budgeted labor rate…………….. $45.00 per labor hour Management and engineering $20,000,000 Machine hours 114,000 M & E cost rate $175.44 per machine hour Single axis machines $130,000,000 Machine hours 78,000 Single axis rate $1,666.67 per single axis hour Multi- axis machines $180,000,000 Machine hours 36,000 Multi- axis rate $5,000.00 per multi- axis hour 4.64 (continued) * $1,013 = $45 x labor hours in column (D) ** $1,666.67 per machine hour for S machines or $5,000 per machine hour for M machines times the machine hours reported in column (C). Differences in costs using the current and proposed systems Job Current system Proposed system Difference % Difference 1 $ 34,725 $69,828 $35,103 101.1% 2 133,600 125,621 (7979) -6.0% 3 32,410 74,230 41820 129.0% 4 65,200 68,426 3226 4.9% 5 32,600 31,911 (689) -2.1% d. Differences in decision making The current costing system appears to cost jobs that use the single-axis machines reasonably well (jobs 2, 4, and 5), compared to the proposed system. The proposed costing system, however, assigns considerably more overhead cost to jobs that use the multi-axis machines, which are more costly to operate. This outcome seems reasonable, and the cost differences for these jobs are great. If the proposed system more accurately reflects use of TBU resources, it is no wonder that work is always backordered at the multi-axis machines. At only the average cost per labor hour charge, customers perceive this work to be bargain priced. If TBU revises its charges to more accurately reflect use of its resources (e.g., as proposed above), it should see a reduction in demand for multi-axis work, or at least only requests for multi-axis machining from those who are willing to pay for it. e. Customers of TBU may consider other sources for multi-axis machining if cheaper sources are available. Customers may redesign products to need less multi-axis machining and more single-axis machining, depending on how TBU manages throughput on single-axis machines. Solution Manual for Cost Management: Strategies for Business Decisions Ronald W. Hilton, Michael W. Maher, Frank H. Selto 9780073526805, 9780072430332, 9780072830088, 9780072299021, 9780072881820, 9780072882551, 9780070874664, 9780072388404, 9780072343533