Calculate labor variances in a hotel (Learning Objective 3)
This case is a continuation of the Caesars Entertainment Corporation serial case that began in Chapter 1. Refer to the introductory story in Chapter 1 for additional background. (The components of the Caesars serial case can be completed in any order.)
Housekeeping is a significant cost in running a hotel; housekeeping includes daily cleaning of occupied guest rooms and guest bathrooms. Before the late 2015 renovation, the Roman Tower, formerly known as the Julius Tower, had 567 rooms. What follows is a table of selected hypothetical data regarding 2015 housekeeping costs in the Roman Tower:
Data table for Roman Tower housekeeping usage5 | |
STANDARD DATA – Roman Tower 2015 | |
Standard hours per hotel room cleaning | 0.25 |
Total standard housekeeping hours in 2015—Roman Tower | 36,399.25 |
Standard average housekeeper wage rate per hour | $ 14.50 |
Budgeted number of rooms to be cleaned in 2015 | 147,375 |
ACTUAL DATA - Roman Tower 2015 | |
Actual hours per hotel room cleaning | 0.30 |
Total actual housekeeping hours in 2015—Roman Tower | 43,679.10 |
Actual average housekeeper wage rate per hour | $ 13.50 |
Actual number of rooms cleaned in 2015 | 145,597 |
5 All of these Roman Tower housekeeping assumptions are hypothetical and provided for educational use only.
Requirements
- 1. Calculate the Labor Rate Variance (LRV) for the Roman Tower housekeeping in 2015.
Hint: LRV = Actual Hours × (Actual Rate – Standard Rate). Answer the following questions about the LRV:
- a. Is the LRV favorable or unfavorable? How do you know?
- b. What are some possible reasons for this labor rate variance?
- 2. Calculate the Labor Efficiency Variance (LEV) for the Roman Tower housekeeping in 2015.
Hint: LEV = Standard Rate × (Actual Hours – Standard Hours). Answer the following questions about the LEV:
- a. Is the LEV favorable or unfavorable? How do you know?
- b. What are some possible reasons for this labor efficiency variance?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 11 Solutions
Managerial Accounting (5th Edition)
- Albedo Incorporated manufactures high-end replacement telescope lenses for amateur and professional astronomers who are seeking to upgrade the performance of their telescopes. You have just become employed as a staff accountant at Albedo, and Jordan Coleman, the controller, has asked you to help with maintenance cost estimation for the lens manufacturing process. You review the manufacturing process and decide that the best cost driver for maintenance costs is machine hours. The data below are from the previous fiscal year for maintenance costs and machine hours: Month Maintenance Costs Machine Hours $ 3,210 4,650 5,175 3,350 3,100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2,950 2,900 2,900 4,120 4,350 3,500 3,775 2,750 3,900 4,050 2,690 2,500 2,580 2,300 2,500 3,160 3,325 2,780 3,000 Required: 1. What is the cost equation for maintenance costs using the high-low method? (Round "slope (unit variable cost)" to 2 decimal places. Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign.)arrow_forwardexample paper for this weeks individual project This list contains costs that various organizations incur; they fall into three categories: direct materials (DM), direct labor (DL), or overhead (OH). Classify each of these items as direct materials, direct labor, or overhead, and provide the rationale for your classification decision. Glue used to attach labels to bottles containing a patented medicine. Compressed air used in operating paint sprayers for Student Painters, a company that paints houses and apartments. Insurance on a factory building and equipment. A production department supervisor’s salary. Rent on factory machinery. Iron ore in a steel mill. Oil, gasoline, and grease for forklift trucks in a manufacturing company’s warehouse. Services of painters in building construction. Cutting oils used in machining operations. Cost of paper towels in a factory employees’ washroom. Payroll taxes and fringe benefits related to direct labor. The plant electricians’ salaries. Crude…arrow_forwardDanielle Hastings was recently hired as a cost analyst by CareNet Medical Supplies Inc. One of Danielle’s first assignments was to perform a net present value analysis for a new warehouse. Danielle performed the analysis and calculated a present value index of 0.75. The plant manager, Jerrod Moore, is very intent on purchasing the warehouse because he believes that more storage space is needed. Jerrod asks Danielle into his office and the following conversation takes place: Jerrod: Danielle, you’re new here, aren’t you? Danielle: Yes, I am. Jerrod: Well, Danielle, I’m not at all pleased with the capital investment analysis that you performed on this new warehouse. I need that warehouse for my production. If I don’t get it, where am I going to place our output? Danielle: Well, we need to get product into our customers’ hands. Jerrod: I agree, and we need a warehouse to do that. Danielle: My analysis does not support constructing a new warehouse. The numbers don’t lie; the warehouse does…arrow_forward
- Emery Manufacturing Company produces component parts for the farm equipment industry and has recently undergone a major computer system conversion. Jake Murray, the controller, has established a troubleshooting team to alleviate accounting problems that have occurred since the conversion. Jake has chosen Gus Swanson, assistant controller, to head the team that will include Linda Wheeler, cost accountant; Cindy Madsen, financial analyst; Randy Lewis, general accounting supervisor; and Max Crandall, financial accountant. The team has been meeting weekly for the last month. Gus insists on being part of all the team conversations in order to gather information, to make the final decision on any ideas or actions that the team develops, and to prepare a weekly report for Jake. He has also used this team as a forum to discuss issues and disputes about him and other members of Emerys top management team. At last weeks meeting, Gus told the team that he thought a competitor might purchase the common stock of Emery, because he had overheard Jake talking about this on the telephone. As a result, most of Emerys employees now informally discuss the sale of Emerys common stock and how it will affect their jobs. Required: Is Gus Swansons discussion with the team about the prospective sale of Emery unethical? Discuss, citing specific standards from the code of ethical conduct to support your position. (CMA adapted)arrow_forwardWhen a company has post-acquisition expenditures related to Property, Plant, and Equipment it must determine whether the amount should be expensed as an ordinary repair or capitalized as a major repair, addition, or betterment. This requires considering the nature of the expenditure and the use of judgment. Many companies use a threshold amount. Any expenditure below the threshold is expensed. Items over the threshold are examined and a decision is made about whether to expense or capitalize the item. This approach is justified by both materiality and considering costs and benefits. For example, a company with $94 million in net property, plant, and equipment and $250 million of operating expenses would not consider a $100 repair as material. Plus, if the company had to spend thousands of dollars examining every repair expenditure, the costs of doing the analysis could easily outweigh the benefits. SouthEast Equipment has a large number of machines and equipment that are available for…arrow_forwardLast year (2016), Bramble Condos installed a mechanized elevator for its tenants. The owner of the company, Ron Richter, recently returned from an industry equipment exhibition where he watched a computerized elevator demonstrated. He was impressed with the elevator's speed, comfort of ride, and cost efficiency. Upon returning from the exhibition, he asked his purchasing agent to collect price and operating cost data on the new elevator. In addition, he asked the company’s accountant to provide him with cost data on the company’s elevator. This information is presented below. Old Elevator New Elevator Purchase price $103,500 $159,000 Estimated salvage value 0 0 Estimated useful life 5 years 4 years Depreciation method Straight-line Straight-line Annual operating costs other than depreciation: Variable $34,000 $11,000 Fixed 23,900 8,200 Annual revenues are…arrow_forward
- Danielle Hastings was recently hired as a cost analyst by CareNet Medical Supplies Inc. One of Danielle's first assignments was to perform a net present value analysis for a new warehouse. Danielle performed the analysis and calculated a present value index of 0.75. The plant manager, Jerrod Moore, is intent on purchasing the warehouse because he believes that more storage space is needed. Jerrod asks Danielle to come to his office, where the following conversation takes place: Jerrod: Danielle, you're new here, aren't you? Danielle: Yes, I am. Jerrod: Well, Danielle, I'm not at all pleased with the capital investment analysis that you performed on this new warehouse. I need that warehouse for my production. If I don't get it, where am I going to place our output? Danielle: Well, we need to get product into our customers' hands. Jerrod: I agree, and we need a warehouse to do that. Danielle: My analysis does not support constructing a new warehouse. The numbers…arrow_forwardCain Components manufactures and distributes various plumbing products used in homes and other buildings. Over time, the production staff has noticed that products they considered easy to make were difficult to sell at margins considered reasonable, while products that seemed to take a lot of staff time were selling well despite recent price increases. A summer intern has suggested that the cost system might be providing misleading information. The controller decided that a good summer project for the intern would be to develop, in one self-contained area of the plant, an alternative cost system with which to compare the current system. The intern identified the following cost pools and, after discussion with some plant personnel, appropriate cost drivers for each pool. There were: Cost Pools Costs Activity Drivers Receiving $ 600,000 Direct material cost Manufacturing 5,500,000 Machine-hours Machine setup 900,000 Production runs Shipping 1,000,000 Units shipped…arrow_forwardCain Components manufactures and distributes various plumbing products used in homes and other buildings. Over time, the production staff has noticed that products they considered easy to make were difficult to sell at margins considered reasonable, while products that seemed to take a lot of staff time were selling well despite recent price increases. A summer intern has suggested that the cost system might be providing misleading information. The controller decided that a good summer project for the intern would be to develop, in one self-contained area of the plant, an alternative cost system with which to compare the current system. The intern identified the following cost pools and, after discussion with some plant personnel, appropriate cost drivers for each pool. There were: Cost Pools Costs Activity Drivers Receiving $ 600,000 Direct material cost Manufacturing 5,500,000 Machine-hours Machine setup 900,000 Production runs Shipping 1,000,000 Units shipped…arrow_forward
- Alter's Home Center (AHC) sells renovation and remodeling products to both contractors and individual home owners. One of the services AHC offers is delivery of the purchased products to the customer's work site. Because not all customers take advantage of the delivery service option, ACH adds 10 percent to the cost of the products purchased to cover the delivery cost. A business intern spent the summer at ACH. The intern's assignment was to analyze the delivery service and recommend a better way to charge customers for using it. The intern, who had studied activity-based costing, identified the following activities and the data related to them: Activity Cost Driver Annual Cost Annual Driver Volume Picking order Number of items $ 353,875 372,500 items Delivering order Number of orders 1,190,000 35,000 orders Handling complaints Number of complaints 40,500 150 complaints Total delivery cost $ 1,584,375 The intern selected two customers, who were frequent customers,…arrow_forwardAlter's Home Center (AHC) sells renovation and remodeling products to both contractors and individual home owners. One of the services AHC offers is delivery of the purchased products to the customer's work site. Because not all customers take advantage of the delivery service option, ACH adds 10 percent to the cost of the products purchased to cover the delivery cost. A business intern spent the summer at ACH. The intern's assignment was to analyze the delivery service and recommend a better way to charge customers for using it. The intern, who had studied activity-based costing, identified the following activities and the data related to them: Activity Picking order Delivering order Handling complaints Total delivery cost Cost Driver Number of items Number of orders Number of complaints Annual Cost $ 353,875 1,190,000 40,500 $ 1,584,375 Total order value (before delivery charge) Number of orders Total number of items Number of delivery complaints The intern selected two customers,…arrow_forwardCain Components manufactures and distributes various plumbing products used in homes and other buildings. Over time, the production staff has noticed that products they considered easy to make were difficult to sell at margins considered reasonable, while products that seemed to take a lot of staff time were selling well despite recent price increases. A summer intern has suggested that the cost system might be providing misleading information. The controller decided that a good summer project for the intern would be to develop, in one self-contained area of the plant, an alternative cost system with which to compare the current system. The intern identified the following cost pools and, after discussion with some plant personnel, appropriate cost drivers for each pool. There were: Cost Pools Costs Activity Drivers Receiving $ 600,000 Direct material cost Manufacturing 5,500,000 Machine-hours Machine setup 900,000 Production runs Shipping 1,000,000 Units shipped…arrow_forward
- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage LearningManagerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337912020Author:Carl Warren, Ph.d. Cma William B. TaylerPublisher:South-Western College PubPrinciples of Accounting Volume 2AccountingISBN:9781947172609Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax College