Concept explainers
Refer to Problem 14.41. In the environmental benefits section of the report, three types of benefits are listed: income, savings, and cost avoidance. Now, consider the following data for selected items for a four-year period:
The engineering design costs were incurred to redesign the production processes and products. Redesign of the product allowed the substitution of a material that produced less ozone-depleting substances. Modifications in the design of the processes also accomplished the same objective. Because of the improvements, the company was able to reduce the demand for pollution control equipment (with its attendant depreciation and operating costs) and avoid fines and litigation costs. All of the savings generated in a given year represent costs avoided for future years. The engineering costs are investments in design projects. Once the results of the project are realized, design costs can be reduced to lower levels. However, since some ongoing design activity is required for maintaining the system and improving it as needed, the environmental engineering cost will not be reduced lower than the $90,000 reported in 20x5.
Required:
- 1. Prepare a partial environmental financial statement, divided into benefit and cost sections for 20x3, 20x4, and 20x5.
- 2. Evaluate and explain the outcomes. Does this result support or challenge ecoefficiency? Explain.
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Chapter 14 Solutions
Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Series)
- The following items are listed in an environmental financial statement (issued as part of an environmental progress report): Environmental benefits (savings, income, and cost avoidance): Ozone-depleting substances cost reductions Hazardous waste disposal cost reductions Hazardous waste material cost reductions Nonhazardous waste disposal cost reductions Nonhazardous waste material cost reductions Recycling income Energy conservation cost savings Packaging cost reductions Environmental costs: Corporate-level administrative costs Auditor fees Environmental engineering Facility professionals and programs Packaging professionals and programs for packaging reductions Pollution controls: Operations and maintenance Pollution controls: Depreciation Attorney fees for cleanup claims, and notices of violations (NOVs) Settlements of government claims Waste disposal Environmental taxes for packaging Remediation/cleanup: On-site Remediation/cleanup: Off-site Required: 1. Classify each item in the statement as prevention, detection, internal failure, or external failure. In classifying the items listed in the environmental benefits category, first classify the underlying cost item (e.g., the cost of hazardous waste disposal). Next, think of how you would classify the cost of the activities that led to the cost reduction. That is, how would you classify the macro activity: reducing hazardous waste cost disposal? 2. Assuming ecoefficiency, what relationship over time would you expect to observe between the environmental benefits category and the environmental costs category?arrow_forwardTwo products, Product A and Product B, are associated with the following environmental activities and associated data: Driver data: Which of the two products has the greatest environmental impact? a. Product A because its total environmental cost is 400,000. b. Product A because it causes more waste and pollution control than Product B. c. Product B because its total environmental cost is 400,000. d. Product B because its environmental cost per unit is five times more than Product As unit environmental cost.arrow_forwardClassify the following environmental activities as prevention costs, detection costs, internal failure costs, or external failure costs. For external failure costs, classify the costs as societal or private. Also, label those activities that are compatible with sustainable development (SD). 1. A company takes actions to reduce the amount of material in its packages. 2. After the activated carbons useful life, a soft-drink producer returns this material used for purifying water for its beverages to the supplier. The supplier reactivates the carbon for a second use in nonfood applications. As a consequence, many tons of material are prevented from entering landfills. 3. An evaporator system is installed to treat wastewater and collect usable solids for other uses. 4. The inks used to print snack packages (for chips) contain heavy metals. 5. Processes are inspected to ensure compliance with environmental standards. 6. Delivery boxes are used five times and then recycled. This prevents 112 million pounds of cardboard from entering landfills and saves 2 million trees per year. 7. Scrubber equipment is installed to ensure that air emissions are less than the level permitted by law. 8. Local residents are incurring medical costs from illnesses caused by air pollution from automobile exhaust pollution. 9. As part of implementing an environmental perspective for the Balanced Scorecard, environmental performance measures are developed. 10. Because of liquid and solid residues being discharged into a local lake, the lake is no longer fit for swimming, fishing, and other recreational activities. 11. To reduce energy consumption, magnetic ballasts are replaced with electronic ballasts, and more efficient light bulbs and lighting sensors are installed. As a result, 2.3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity are saved per year. 12. Due to a legal settlement, a chemicals company must spend 20,000,000 to clean up contaminated soil. 13. A soft-drink company uses the following practice: In all bottling plants, packages damaged during filling are collected and recycled (glass, plastic, and aluminum). 14. Products are inspected to ensure that the gaseous emissions produced during operation follow legal and company guidelines. 15. Operating pollution control equipment incurs costs. 16. An internal audit is conducted to verify that environmental policies are being followed.arrow_forward
- Robotic Construction Toys Corp. is using a costs-of-quality approach to evaluate design engineering efforts for a new toy robot. The company's senior managers expect the engineering work to reduce appraisal, internal failure, and external failure activities. The predicted reductions in activities over the two-year life of the toy robot follow. Also shown are the cost allocation rates for the activities. (Click on the icon to view the information.) Data table Activity Inspection of incoming materials Inspection of finished goods.... Number of defective units discovered in-house. Number of defective units discovered by customers.. Lost sales to dissatisfied customers Requirements ...... **** Predicted Reduction in Activity Units 3. What major difficulty would management have had in implementing this costs-of-quality approach? What alternative approach could it use to measure quality improvement? 300 $ 300 $ 3,200 $ 900 $ 320 $ - 1. Calculate the predicted quality cost savings from the…arrow_forwardThe table below shows the various levels of a city's pollution cleanup along with the marginal benefit and marginal cost. Pollution Cleanup Marginal Benefit (dollars) $500 400 300 200 100 Quantity of Pollution Cleanup (units) 25 50 100 150 200 Marginal Cost (dollars) $100 200 300 400 500 Instructions: Enter your answers as a whole number. a. Suppose the city decides to undertake a cleanup level of 25 units. The marginal benefit of cleaning up the 25th unit is $ The marginal cost of cleaning up the 25th unit is $ Since the marginal benefit is [(Click select) the marginal cost, the city should clean up (Click to select) b. Suppose the city decides to undertake a cleanup level of 200 units. The marginal benefit of cleaning up the 200th unit is $ The marginal cost of cleaning up the 200th unit is $ Since the marginal benefit is (Click to select) c. The optimal level of pollution cleanup is the marginal cost, the city should clean up units. (Click to select) pollution. pollution.arrow_forwardEnvironmental Financial Reporting, Ecoefficiency, Improving Environmental Performance The following items are listed in an environmental financial statement (issued as part of an environmental progress report): Environmental benefits (savings, income, and cost avoidance): Ozone-depleting substances cost reductions Hazardous waste disposal cost reductions Hazardous waste material cost reductions Nonhazardous waste disposal cost reductions Nonhazardous waste material cost reductions Recycling income Energy conservation cost savings Packaging cost reductions Environmental costs: Corporate-level administrative costs Auditor fees Environmental engineering Facility professionals and programs Packaging professionals and programs for packaging reductions Pollution controls: Operations and maintenance Pollution controls: Depreciation Attorney fees for cleanup claims, and notices of violations (NOVs) Settlements of government claims Waste disposal Environmental taxes for packaging…arrow_forward
- Clarke, Inc. manufactures door panels. Suppose Clarke, Inc. is considering spending the following amounts on a new total quality management (TQM) program: View the spending amounts. Clarke, Inc. expects the new program would save costs through the following: View the savings amounts. Requirements 1. Classify each cost as a prevention cost, an appraisal cost, an internal failure cost, or an external failure cost. 2. Should Clarke, Inc. implement the new quality program? Give your reason. Requirement 1. Classify each cost as a prevention cost, an appraisal cost, an internal failure cost, or an external failure cost. Type of Cost Strength-testing one item from each batch of panels Training employees in TQM Training suppliers in TQM Identifying suppliers who commit to on-time delivery of perfect-quality materials Lost profits from lost sales due to disappointed customers Rework and spoilage Inspection of raw materials Warranty costs Savings Avoid lost profits from lost sales due to…arrow_forwardEnvironmental Financial Reporting, Ecoefficiency, Improving Environmental Performance The following items are listed in an environmental financial statement (issued as part of an environmental progress report): Environmental benefits (savings, income, and cost avoidance): Ozone-depleting substances cost reductions Hazardous waste disposal cost reductions Hazardous waste material cost reductions Nonhazardous waste disposal cost reductions Nonhazardous waste material cost reductions Recycling income Energy conservation cost savings Packaging cost reductions Environmental costs: Corporate-level administrative costs Auditor fees Environmental engineering Facility professionals and programs Packaging professionals and programs for packaging reductions Pollution controls: Operations and maintenance Pollution controls: Depreciation Attorney fees for cleanup claims, and notices of violations (NOVs) Settlements of government claims Waste disposal Environmental taxes for packaging…arrow_forwardEnvironmental Financial Reporting, Ecoefficiency, Improving Environmental Performance The following items are listed in an environmental financial statement (issued as part of an environmental progress report): Environmental benefits (savings, income, and cost avoidance): Ozone-depleting substances cost reductions Hazardous waste disposal cost reductions Hazardous waste material cost reductions Nonhazardous waste disposal cost reductions Nonhazardous waste material cost reductions Recycling income Energy conservation cost savings Packaging cost reductions Environmental costs: Corporate-level administrative costs Auditor fees Environmental engineering Facility professionals and programs Packaging professionals and programs for packaging reductions Pollution controls: Operations and maintenance Pollution controls: Depreciation Attorney fees for cleanup claims, and notices of violations (NOVs) Settlements of government claims Waste disposal Environmental taxes for packaging…arrow_forward
- Environmental Financial Reporting, Ecoefficiency, Improving Environmental Performance The following items are listed in an environmental financial statement (issued as part of an environmental progress report): Environmental benefits (savings, income, and cost avoidance): Ozone-depleting substances cost reductions Hazardous waste disposal cost reductions Hazardous waste material cost reductions Nonhazardous waste disposal cost reductions Nonhazardous waste material cost reductions Recycling income Energy conservation cost savings Packaging cost reductions Environmental costs: Corporate-level administrative costs Auditor fees Environmental engineering Facility professionals and programs Packaging professionals and programs for packaging reductions Pollution controls: Operations and maintenance Pollution controls: Depreciation Attorney fees for cleanup claims, and notices of violations (NOVs) Settlements of government claims Waste disposal Environmental taxes for packaging…arrow_forwardVerde Company reported operating costs of 50,000,000 as of December 31, 20x5, with the following environmental costs: Required: 1. Prepare an environmental cost report, classifying costs by quality category and expressing each as a percentage of total operating costs. What is the message of this report? 2. Prepare a pie chart that shows the relative distribution of environmental costs by category. What does this report tell you? 3. What if Verde deliberately did not include the cost of damaging the ecosystem because of solid waste disposal in its environmental cost report? Offer possible reasons for this decision. If consciously avoided, is this decision unethical?arrow_forwardFour types of eco-efficiency measures are identified below. Match the following descriptions to the proper eco-efficiency measures:1. Energy efficiency a. Cost savings from recycling and reusing waste and by-product materials2. Fuel efficiency b. Cost savings from reducing the amount of product packaging materials3. Material use efficiency c. Cost savings from replacing lighting fixtures in a production facility with energy-efficient lighting4. Waste efficiency d. Cost savings from replacing gas- powered vehicles with hybrid or alternative energy-source…arrow_forward
- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage Learning