Identifying Cost Behavior Patterns
Steve Silversmith produces unique and exclusive sterling silver rings, pendants, buckles, and chains. Steve pays one supervisor to oversee the work performed by several part-time silversmiths. He pays each silversmith to work 20 bows per week or 40 hours week, depending on production demand. He also hires a jewelry expert to perform quay assurance inspections and pays her based on the weight (per ounce of silver) of each piece inspected. The controller and the sales manager e discussing potential pace increases due to the increasing cost of silver and increases in other costs. The following are several costs they are discussing:
a. Depreciation on production equipment
b. Supervisor salary
c. Packaging (each piece is packaged in a designer carton)
d. Silver
e. Part-time labor (silversmith)
f. Production facility utilities
g. Quality assurance
h. Mortgage on the production facility
Indicate whether each cost is a variable, fixed, step, or mixed cost within Steve’s relevant range of activity.
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 5 Solutions
Managerial Accounting
- Cassidy Manning is the assistant controller at LeMar Packaging, Inc., a manufacturer of cardboard boxes and other packaging materials. Manning has just returned from a packaging industry conference on activity-based costing. She realizes that ABC may help LeMar meet its goal of reducing costs by 5% over each of the next three years. LeMar Packaging’s Order Department is a likely candidate for ABC. While orders are entered into a computer that updates the accounting records, clerks manually check customers’ credit history and hand-deliver orders to shipping. This process occurs whether the sales order is for a dozen specialty boxes worth $80 or 10,000 basic boxes worth $8,000. Manning believes that identifying the cost of processing a sales order would justify (1) further computerization of the order process and (2) changing the way the company processes small orders. However, the significant cost savings would arise from the elimination of two positions in the Order Department. The…arrow_forwardAlbedo 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_forwardHiebert Chocolate, Ltd. is located in Memphis. The company prepares gift boxes of chocolates for private parties and corporate promotions. Each order contains a selection of chocolates determined by the customer, and the box is designed to the customer’s specifications. Accordingly, Hiebert uses a job order costing system and allocates manufacturing overhead based on direct labor cost. One of Hiebert’s largest customers is the Goforth and Leos law firm. This organization sends chocolates to its clients each Christmas and also provides them to employees at the firm’s gatherings. The law firm’s managing partner, Bob Goforth, placed the client gift order in September for 500 boxes of cream-filled dark chocolates. But Goforth and Leos did not place its December staff-party order until the last week of November. This order was for an additional 100 boxes of chocolates identical to the ones to be distributed to clients. Hiebert budgeted the cost per box for the original 500-box order as…arrow_forward
- Marvin's Kitchen Supply delivers restaurant supplies throughout the city. The firm adds 10 percent to the cost of the supplies to cover the delivery cost. The delivery fee is meant to cover the cost of delivery. A consultant has analyzed the delivery service using activity- based costing methods and identified four activities. Data on these activities follow. Activity Processing order Loading truck Delivering merchandise Processing invoice Total overhead Order value Number of orders Number of items Number of invoices Cost Driver Number of orders Number of items Number of orders Number of invoices Two of Marvin's customers are City Diner and Le Chien Chaud. Data for orders and deliveries to these two customers follow. City Diner Le Chien Chaud $75,000 $90,000 110 1,500 150 Required A Cost Driver Volume 52 600 12 Cost $ 75,000 150,000 90,000 72,000 $387,000 Required B City Diner Le Chien Chaud Driver Volume 5,000 orders 100,000 items Required: a. What would the delivery charge for each…arrow_forwardVentana Window and Wall Treatments Company provides draperies, shades, and various window treatments. Ventana works with the customer to design the appropriate window treatment, places the order, and installs the finished product. Direct materials and direct labor costs are easy to trace to the jobs. Ventanas income statement for last year is as follows: Ventana wants to find a markup on cost of goods sold that will allow them to earn about the same amount of profit on each job as was earned last year. Required: 1. What is the markup on cost of goods sold (COGS) that will maintain the same profit as last year? (Round the percentage to two significant digits.) 2. A customer orders draperies and shades for a remodeling job. The job will have the following costs: What is the price that Ventana will quote given the markup percentage calculated in Requirement 1? (Round the price to the nearest dollar.) 3. What if Ventana wants to calculate a markup on direct materials cost, since it is the largest cost of doing business? What is the markup on direct materials cost that will maintain the same profit as last year? (Round the percentage to two significant digits.) What is the bid price Ventana will use for the job given in Requirement 2 if the markup percentage is calculated on the basis of direct materials cost? (Round to the nearest dollar.)arrow_forwardThe following describes the job responsibilities of two employees of Barney Manufacturing. Joan Dennison, Cost Accounting Manager. Joan is responsible for measuring and collecting costs associated with the manufacture of the garden hose product line. She is also responsible for preparing periodic reports that compare the actual costs with planned costs. These reports are provided to the production line managers and the plant manager. Joan helps to explain and interpret the reports. Steven Swasey, Production Manager. Steven is responsible for the manufacture of the high-quality garden hose. He supervises the line workers, helps to develop the production schedule, and is responsible for seeing that production quotas are met. He is also held accountable for controlling manufacturing costs. Required: CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION Identify Joan and Steven as line or staff and explain your reasons.arrow_forward
- Big Mikes, a large hardware store, has gathered data on its overhead activities and associated costs for the past 10 months. Nizam Sanjay, a member of the controllers department, believes that overhead activities and costs should be classified into groups that have the same driver. He has decided that unloading incoming goods, counting goods, and inspecting goods can be grouped together as a more general receiving activity, since these three activities are all driven by the number of receiving orders. The 10 months of data shown below have been gathered for the receiving activity. Required: 1. Prepare a scattergraph, plotting the receiving costs against the number of purchase orders. Use the vertical axis for costs and the horizontal axis for orders. 2. Select two points that make the best fit, and compute a cost formula for receiving costs. 3. Using the high-low method, prepare a cost formula for the receiving activity. 4. Using the method of least squares, prepare a cost formula for the receiving activity. What is the coefficient of determination?arrow_forwardClassification of costs, service sector. Market Focus is a marketing research firm that organizes focus groups for consumer-product companies. Each focus group has eight individuals who are paid $60 per session to provide comments on new products. These focus groups meet in hotels and are led by a trained, independent marketing specialist hired by Market Focus. Each specialist is paid a fixed retainer to conduct a minimum number of sessions and a per session fee of $2,200. A Market Focus staff member attends each session to ensure that all the logistical aspects run smoothly. Direct or indirect (D or I) costs of each individual focus group. Variable or fixed (V or F) costs of how the total costs of Market Focus change as the number of focus groups conducted changes. (If in doubt, select on the basis of whether the total costs will change substantially if there is a large change in the number of groups conducted.) You will have two answers (D or I; V or F) for each of the following…arrow_forwardWoolCorp WoolCorp buys sheep’s wool from farmers. The company began operations in January of this year, and is making decisions on product offerings, pricing, and vendors. The company is also examining its method of assigning overhead to products. You’ve just been hired as a production manager at WoolCorp. Currently WoolCorp makes three products: (1) raw, clean wool to be used as stuffing or insulation; (2) wool yarn for use in the textile industry, and (3) extra-thick yarn for use in rugs. Upper management would like your recommendations regarding a production decision regarding their current and proposed product lines. Continue/Discontinue For the past year, WoolCorp has experimented with its third product, extra-thick rug yarn. The company wishes to consider whether to continue or discontinue manufacturing and selling this product. You decide to prepare a differential analysis of the income related to all three products. To begin your analysis, you review the following condensed…arrow_forward
- WoolCorp WoolCorp buys sheep’s wool from farmers. The company began operations in January of this year, and is making decisions on product offerings, pricing, and vendors. The company is also examining its method of assigning overhead to products. You’ve just been hired as a production manager at WoolCorp. Currently WoolCorp makes two products: (1) raw, clean wool to be used as stuffing or insulation and (2) wool yarn for use in the textile industry. The company would like you to evaluate its costing methods for its raw wool and wool yarn. Single Plantwide Rate WoolCorp is currently using the single plantwide factory overhead rate method, which uses a predetermined overhead rate based on an estimated allocation base such as direct labor hours or machine hours. The rate is computed as follows: Single Plantwide Factory Overhead Rate = (Total Budgeted Factory Overhead) ÷ (Total Budgeted Plantwide Allocation Base) WoolCorp has been using combing machine hours as its allocation base.…arrow_forwardOberti Guitar Company makes high-quality customized guitars. Oberti uses a job order costing system. Because the guitars are handmade, the company applies overhead based on direct labor hours. At the beginning of the year, the company estimated that total manufacturing overhead costs would be $300,000 and that 20,000 direct labor hours would be worked. At year-end, Anthony, the company's founder and CEO, gives you the following information regarding Oberti's operations. 1. The beginning balances in the inventory accounts were: Raw Materials Inventory $8,000 Work in Process Inventory $26,000 Finished Goods Inventory $32,000 2. During the year, the company purchased raw materials costing $97,000. All purchases were made on account. 3. The production department requisitioned $100,000 of raw materials for use in production. Of those, 70% were direct materials and 30% were indirect materials. 4. The company used 21,000 direct labor hours at a cost of $14 per hour during the year (credit…arrow_forwardWoolCorp buys sheep’s wool from farmers. The company began operations in January of this year, and is making decisions on product offerings, pricing, and vendors. The company is also examining its method of assigning overhead to products. You’ve just been hired as a production manager at WoolCorp. Currently WoolCorp makes three products: (1) raw, clean wool to be used as stuffing or insulation; (2) wool yarn for use in the textile industry, and (3) extra-thick yarn for use in rugs. Upper management would like your recommendations regarding a production decision regarding their current and proposed product lines. For the past year, WoolCorp has experimented with its third product, extra-thick rug yarn. The company wishes to consider whether to continue or discontinue manufacturing and selling this product. You decide to prepare a differential analysis of the income related to all three products. To begin your analysis, you review the following condensed income statement. Then scroll…arrow_forward
- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage LearningManagerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Busines...AccountingISBN:9781337115773Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. HeitgerPublisher:Cengage LearningPrinciples of Accounting Volume 2AccountingISBN:9781947172609Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax College