ACC 406 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Cost Driver, Quality Costs
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AirComp Corporation produces component parts for the aircraftindustry. In prior years, they maintained a job-costing systemconsisting of direct materials and direct labor cost andmanufacturing overhead. Manufacturing overhead was allocated toproduction jobs using a single-indirect cost allocation rate, whichwas $115 per direct labor hour.
For 20x1, the Company decided to change the method of allocatingmanufacturing overhead to production jobs from the single-indirectcost allocation approach to the activity-based costing (âABCâ)indirect cost allocation approach. For purposes of developing theABC allocation rates, AirCompâs cost accounting team prepared thefollowing analysis:
Activity | Cost Driver | Allocation Rate |
Material handling | Parts handled | $0.40 |
Lathe work | No. of lathe turns | $0.20 |
Milling | Machine hours | $20.00 |
Grinding | No. of parts ground | $0.80 |
Testing | No. of units tested | $15.00 |
For 20x1, AirCompâs cost accountant team prepared the followinganalysis of the direct costs and indirect cost activities for Job100 and Job 200, the only production jobs in process for theperiod:
Job 100 | Job 200 | |
Direct materials cost | $9,700 | $59,900 |
Direct labor cost | $750 | $11,250 |
No. of direct manufacturing labor hours | 25 | 375 |
No. of parts ground | 500 | 2,000 |
No. of lathe turns | 20,000 | 60,000 |
Machine hours | 150 | 1,050 |
No. of units produced during period (all are tested) | 10 | 200 |
Required
1.For each job, determine total per unit cost using direct laborhours to allocate manufacturing overhead to each job.
2.For each job, determine total per unit cost using anactivity-based costing approach to allocate manufacturing overheadcost to job.
3.Compare the per unit cost figures for each job computed instep a. and step b., above. Why do the new ABC approach differ fromthe single-indirect cost allocation systems differ in the amount ofthe per unit indirect cost allocated to each job (i.e. what was theimplications of the cost allocation method change on the amount ofper unit cost allocated to each job and what factors caused theobserved changes).
4.How might AirComp Corporation use the information from ABCallocation approach to better manage its business, i.e. what arethe advantages of using an activity-based costing approach?
Section IV: Alternative Costing Method
Hampshire has always produced stick umbrellas. However, it isconsidering expanding its production to include collapsibleumbrellas. This consideration has been spurred by Tours Today, atouring company that is interested in providing its customers withcollapsible umbrellas imprinted with its logo. The management atHampshire is currently working out a deal with the touring companyto produce 3,000 collapsible umbrellas and believes it can sellthose umbrellas for $14.00 each. Here are the costs that can bedirectly traced to this special order:
Direct Materials: $9,300
Direct Labor Hours: 600
Hourly Rate of Direct labor: $8.00
In the traditional costing approach, overhead is applied at therate of $24.60 per labor hour. This expansion in production willadd additional overhead costs. The total overhead costs (assumingproduction of the stick and collapsible umbrellas) to include thecost pools and cost drivers are provided in Table 2.
An alternative costing method that might benefit Hampshire isthe implementation of activity-based costing (ABC).Hampshire would like to implement an ABC approach to analyze theproduction of this special order of collapsible umbrellas. Thecontroller has assembled the following information:
Stick | Collapsible | |
Units Sold | 60,000 | 3,000 |
Selling Price | $12.50 | $14.00 |
Direct Material Cost per Unit | $3 | $3.10 |
Direct Labor Cost per Hour | $7.50 | $8.00 |
Variable Manufacturing Overhead | $0.40 | $0.40 |
Variable Selling Costs | $1.10 | $1.10 |
Labor Hours per Unit | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Sales Orders | 120 | 1 |
Purchase Orders | 50 | 3 |
Production Runs | 45 | 6 |
Material Moves | 86 | 10 |
Machine Setups | 130 | 6 |
Machine Hours | 525 | 32 |
Inspections | 200 | 10 |
Shipments | 60 | 3 |
Table 1: Direct Cost Information and Activities
Activity | Activity Cost | Activity Cost Driver |
Order Processing | $35,000 | Number of Sales Orders |
Purchasing | $36,000 | Number of Purchase Orders |
Material Handing | $28,000 | Material Moves |
Machine Setup | $14,000 | Machine Setups |
Production | $99,000 | Production Runs |
Assembly | $80,000 | Machine Hours |
Inspecting | $11,000 | Number of Inspections |
Shipping | $7,500 | Number of Shipments |
Table 2: Activity Cost Pools and Cost Drivers
Another alternative to traditional costing and ABC istime-driven activity-based costing (TDABC). You will need todetermine which of these three methods would be the best approachfor the Hampshire Company. The following article may assist you inyour analysis: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing. Additionally,you may want to use the Shapiro Library to conduct further researchon the three methods. You will need to defend your position whenanswering the prompts for the written portion of this section.
Using the information provided above, complete the following inthe Hampshire Company Spreadsheet in order to assist you inresponding to all components of Section IV:
1.Calculate the allocation rates foreach cost driver using ABC.
2.Use the traditional costing approachto calculate the total cost and the unit cost of the stick andcollapsible umbrellas.
3.Use ABC to compute the total costsand the unit cost for the stick and collapsible umbrellas.
4.Compute the difference between theproduct cost per stick and collapsible umbrellas using the unitcost that you computed with the traditional approach and the onethat you computed using ABC.
Bushman Case
The Bushman Company is a publicly traded corporation that produces different types of digital control systems. My name is Alan Smith and I have worked for this company for the last ten years in the controllerâs office. I was both an accounting and finance major in university. The company currently produces 300 products and does not anticipate any new products coming out over the next three years. I have previously mentioned to my superiors that it is not appropriate for our firm to use a traditional accounting system (where overhead costs are allocated across products at a rate of 400% of direct labor costs) when different products require different amounts of indirect overhead resources. For example, under the traditional system all costs associated with testing of products for quality assurance purposes are part of overhead costs and therefore allocated across products based on direct labor costs. Yet, some of our products require as much as 5 hours of testing whereas some products require less than 1 minute of testing with no connection to direct labor costs. Given that traditional costing systems result in significant cost distortions when determining products costs and given that the firm now has revenues of over $700,000,000 a year, Bushman has decided to adopt activity based costing over the next year or two.
Bushmanâs management has hired Deloitte Consulting to help us implement activity based costing. I will be acting as the liaison between our firm and Deloitte. As part of the initial implementation phase, I have asked Deloitte to derive the costs and product margins associated with two of our products, delta and vega, so that these costs and product margins could be compared with the costs and product margins under our current traditional accounting system. I picked these products since Bushman management believe they have very different demands on indirect overhead resources. Further, delta is sold in large quantities whereas vega is sold in small quantities and traditional accounting systems can cause large cost distortions in different directions for products sold in large and small quantities.
Current information from our existing system on a per unit basis is shown in Exhibit 1.
Exhibit 1
| delta | vega | |
| Direct material | $10 | $10 |
| Direct labor hours | 1 | 1 |
| Direct labor wage rate per hour | $20 | $20 |
| Sales price per unit | $160 | $170 |
My staff has identified for Deloitte five activity cost pools. Information on those cost pools and the related activity measures are provided in Exhibit 2.
Exhibit 2
| Activity cost pool | Total costs | Activity measure | Activity level |
| Equipment setups | $20,000,000 | number of setups | 50,000 |
| Purchase orders | $15,000,000 | number of purchase orders | 300,000 |
| Machining | $90,000,000 | number of machine hours | 2,000,000 |
| Testing | $13,300,000 | number of testing hours | 700,000 |
| Packaging | $24,000,000 | number of containers | 2,000,000 |
Although fixed costs are lumped in with variable costs across the five different cost pools, I am aware that machining related costs consists almost exclusively of depreciation costs. Hence, with respect to all questions asked in this case, machining costs will be treated as entirely fixed with respect to machine hours. Each machine is used in the production of multiple product lines. The resale value of machines is only affected by the passage of time and not by how much they are used in a given year.
In all questions asked in this case, the firm will assume that costs associated with equipment setups, purchase orders, testing, and packaging are variable with respect to their respective activity measures. Currently, we believe our assumptions on cost behavior patterns are quite reasonable.
All products are produced in batches, where the size of a batch differs across products. For example, if we produce 80 units of a product in batch sizes of 40, then the product will be produced in two batches. An equipment setup must be performed before producing each batch of a product. Hence, in the example above, two equipment setups would be performed. Units of product are packaged in containers and sent to distributors.
Production volumes are set equal to sales volumes since the company only produces products that they have orders for. Consequently, the firm never has a beginning or ending work in process inventory, and it does not have a beginning or ending finished goods inventory.
Further information on our two products is provided in Exhibit 3
Exhibit 3
| delta | vega | |
| annual sales and production in units | 800,000 | 12,000 |
| number of units per batch | 200 | 150 |
| number of purchase orders | 400 | 100 |
| number of machine hours per unit | 0.2 | 3 |
| total number of testing hours | 7,000 | 21,000 |
| total number of containers | 5,000 | 2,000 |
REQUIRED:
1. (20 Points) Prepare an income statement for delta and an income statement for vega using the traditional accounting system where overhead is applied at a rate of 400% of direct labor costs. (For simplicity, there are no SG&A expenses for the firm.) The income statements should be prepared on a total basis and then show the average net operating income per unit using the following template for guidance:
delta vega
Sales $$$ $$$
Direct materials $$$ $$$
Direct labor $$$ $$$
Manufacturing overhead $$$ $$$
Total Costs $$$ $$$
Net operating income $$$ $$$
Average net operating income
per unit $$$ $$$
2. (20 Points) Calculate the five activity rates under activity based costing.
3. (35 Points) Prepare an income statement for delta and an income statement for vega using activity based costing. (For simplicity, there are no SG&A expenses for the firm.) The income statements should be prepared on a total basis and then show the average net operating income per unit using the following template for guidance:
delta vega
Sales $$$ $$$
Direct materials $$$ $$$
Direct labor $$$ $$$
Equipment Setups $$$ $$$
Purchase orders $$$ $$$
Machining $$$ $$$
Testing $$$ $$$
Packaging $$$ $$$
Total Costs $$$ $$$
Net operating income $$$ $$$
Average net operating income
per unit $$$ $$$
4. (10 Points) Assume next year that the activity rates remain the same as you calculated in question (2). Assume that the demand for delta is expected to increase significantly. Consequently, the firm expects to produce more batches of delta next year than this year and the firm plans to produce in batch sizes of 500 rather than 200. Calculate what the equipment setup cost per unit of delta will be next year if it can be calculated. If it cannot be calculated, then explain in words why the equipment setup cost per unit of delta cannot be determined in the absence of more information. Excluding your quantitative analysis if any, your explanation should not be more than 1/3 page double spaced with a 12 font size. Your grade will be lowered for poor writing (e.g., grammar).
5. (15 Points) Question 5 is independent of question 4. Next year, because of an expected increase in product demand, machine hours are expected to increase from 2,000,000 to 2,500,000. The company will not need any new machinery since the current machinery is highly underutilized. Also, the number of purchase orders will increase from 300,000 to 360,000. Assume that these new levels of operations are within the firmâs relevant range. Calculate what the activity rate for the cost pool of machining would be next year if it can be calculated. Also, calculate what the activity rate for the cost pool of purchase order would be next year if it can be calculated. If one or both rates cannot be calculated, then explain in words why the calculations cannot be determined in the absence of more information. Excluding any quantitative analysis, your explanation should not be more than 1/3 page double spaced with 12 font. Your grade will be lowered for poor writing (e.g., grammar).
