Concept explainers
Close or Retain a Store
Superior Markets. Inc., operates three stares in a large metropolitan area. A segmented absorption costing income statement for the company for the last quarter is given below:
The North Store has consistently shown losses over the past two years. For this reason, management is giving consideration to closing the store. The company has asked you to make a recommendation as to whether the store should be closed or kept open. The following additional information is available for your use:
a. The breakdown of the selling and administrative expenses that are shown above is as follows:
b. The lease on the building housing the North Store can be broken with no penalty.
c. The fixtures being used in the North Store would be transferred to the other two stores if the North Store were closed.
d.The general manager of the North Store would be retained and transferred to another position in the company if the North
Store were closed. She would be filling a position that would otherwise be filled by hiring a new employee at a salary of
$11,000 per quarter. The general manager of the North Store would continue to earn her normal salary of $12,000 per quarter.
All other managers and employees in the North store would be discharged.
e.The company has one delivery crew that serves all three stores. One delivery person could be discharged if the North Store
were closed. This person's salary is $4,000 per quarter. The delivery equipment would be distributed to the other stores. The
equipment does not wear out through use, but does eventually become obsolete.
f. The company pays employment taxes equal to 15% of their employees’ salaries.
g. One-third of the insurance in the North Store is on the store's fixtures.
h. The "General office salaries" and ''General office—other" relate to the overall management of Superior Markets, Inc. If the North Store were closed, one person in the general office could be discharged because of the decrease in overall workload. This person's compensation is $6,000 per quarter.
Required:
- How much employee salaries will the company avoid if it closes the North Store?
- How much employment taxes will the company avoid if it closes the North Store?
- What is the financial advantage (disadvantage) of closing the North Store?
- Assuming that the North Store's floor space can't be subleased, would you recommend closing the North Store?
- Assume that the North Store's floor space can't be subleased. However, let's introduce three more assumptions. First, assume that if the North Store were closed, one-fourth of its sales would transfer to the East Store, due to strong customer loyalty to Superior Markets. Second, assume that the East Store has enough capacity to handle the increased sales that would arise from closing the North Store. Third, assume that the increased sales in the East Store would yield the same gross margin as a percentage of sales as present sales in the East store. Given these new assumptions, what is the financial advantage (disadvantage) of closing the North Store?
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Introduction To Managerial Accounting
- At the beginning of the last quarter of 20x1, Youngston, Inc., a consumer products firm, hired Maria Carrillo to take over one of its divisions. The division manufactured small home appliances and was struggling to survive in a very competitive market. Maria immediately requested a projected income statement for 20x1. In response, the controller provided the following statement: After some investigation, Maria soon realized that the products being produced had a serious problem with quality. She once again requested a special study by the controllers office to supply a report on the level of quality costs. By the middle of November, Maria received the following report from the controller: Maria was surprised at the level of quality costs. They represented 30 percent of sales, which was certainly excessive. She knew that the division had to produce high-quality products to survive. The number of defective units produced needed to be reduced dramatically. Thus, Maria decided to pursue a quality-driven turnaround strategy. Revenue growth and cost reduction could both be achieved if quality could be improved. By growing revenues and decreasing costs, profitability could be increased. After meeting with the managers of production, marketing, purchasing, and human resources, Maria made the following decisions, effective immediately (end of November 20x1): a. More will be invested in employee training. Workers will be trained to detect quality problems and empowered to make improvements. Workers will be allowed a bonus of 10 percent of any cost savings produced by their suggested improvements. b. Two design engineers will be hired immediately, with expectations of hiring one or two more within a year. These engineers will be in charge of redesigning processes and products with the objective of improving quality. They will also be given the responsibility of working with selected suppliers to help improve the quality of their products and processes. Design engineers were considered a strategic necessity. c. Implement a new process: evaluation and selection of suppliers. This new process has the objective of selecting a group of suppliers that are willing and capable of providing nondefective components. d. Effective immediately, the division will begin inspecting purchased components. According to production, many of the quality problems are caused by defective components purchased from outside suppliers. Incoming inspection is viewed as a transitional activity. Once the division has developed a group of suppliers capable of delivering nondefective components, this activity will be eliminated. e. Within three years, the goal is to produce products with a defect rate less than 0.10 percent. By reducing the defect rate to this level, marketing is confident that market share will increase by at least 50 percent (as a consequence of increased customer satisfaction). Products with better quality will help establish an improved product image and reputation, allowing the division to capture new customers and increase market share. f. Accounting will be given the charge to install a quality information reporting system. Daily reports on operational quality data (e.g., percentage of defective units), weekly updates of trend graphs (posted throughout the division), and quarterly cost reports are the types of information required. g. To help direct the improvements in quality activities, kaizen costing is to be implemented. For example, for the year 20x1, a kaizen standard of 6 percent of the selling price per unit was set for rework costs, a 25 percent reduction from the current actual cost. 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Calculate the target cost for expanding the Tulsa plants market share by 20 percent, assuming that the per-unit profitability is maintained as requested by the plant manager. 2. Calculate the non-value-added cost per unit. Assuming that non-value-added costs can be reduced to zero, can the Tulsa plant match the Kansas City per-unit cost? Can the target cost for expanding market share be achieved? What actions would you take if you were the plant manager? 3. Describe the role that benchmarking played in the effort of the Tulsa plant to protect and improve its competitive position.arrow_forwardThe Home Depot is a leading specialty retailer of hardware and home improvement products and is the second-largest retail store chain in the United States. It operates large warehouse-style stores. Despite declining sales and difficult economic conditions in 20X1 and 20X2, The Home Depot continued to invest in new stores. The following table provides summary hypothetical data for The Home Depot. 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