Concept explainers
Evaluating a Company’s Budget Procedures LOB—1
Springfield Corporation operates on a calendar-year basis. It begins the annual budgeting process in late August, when the president establishes targets for total sales dollars and net operating income before taxes for the next year.
The sales target is given to the Marketing Department, where the marketing manager formulates a sales budget by product line in both units and dollars. From this bud pet, sales quotas by product line in units and dollars are established for each of the corporation’s sales districts.
The marketing manager also estimates the cost of the marketing activities required to support the target sales volume and prepares a tentative marketing expense budget.
The executive vice president uses the sales and profit targets, the sales budget by product line, and the tentative marketing expense budget to determine the dollar amounts that can be devoted to manufacturing and corporate office expense. The executive vice president prepares the budget for corporate expenses, and then forwards to the Production Department the product-line sales budget in units and the total dollar amount that can be devoted to manufacturing.
The production manager meets with the factory managers to develop a manufacturing plan that will produce the required units when needed within the cost constraints set by the executive vice president. The budgeting process usually comes to a halt at this point because the Production Department does not consider its allocated financial resources to be adequate.
When this standstill occurs, the vice president of finance, the executive vice president, the marketing manager, and the production manager meet to determine the final budgets for each of the areas. This normally results in a modest increase in the total amount available for
Although the participants are seldom pleased with the compromise, these budgets are final. Each executive then develops a new detailed budget for the operations in his or her area.
None of the areas has achieved its budget in recent years. Sales often run below the target. Whenbudgeted sales are not achieved, each area is expected to cut costs so that the president profit target can still be met. However, the profit target is seldom met because costs are not cut enough. In fact, costs often run above the original budget in all functional areas. The president is disturbed that Springfield has not been able to meet the sales and profit targets. He hired a consultant with considerable relevant industry experience. The consultant reviewed the budgets for the past four years. He concluded that the product-line sales budgets were reasonable and that the cost and expense budgets were adequate for the budgeted sales and production levels.
Required:
1 Discuss how Springfield Corporation’s budgeting process contributes to its failure to achieve thepresidents sales and profit targets.
2. Suggest how Springfield Corporation’s budgeting process could be revised to correct the problem.
3. Should the functional areas be expected to cut their costs when sales volume falls below budget? Explain your answer.
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Chapter 8 Solutions
Introduction To Managerial Accounting
- Budgeted income statement and supporting budgets The budget director of Gold Medal Athletic Co., with the assistance of the controller, treasurer, production manager, and sales manager, has gathered the following data for use in developing the budgeted income statement for March: Estimated sales for March: Estimated inventories at March 1: Desired inventories at March 31: Direct materials used in production: Anticipated cost of purchases and beginning and ending inventory of direct materials: Direct labor requirements: Estimated factory overhead costs for March: Estimated operating expenses for March: Estimated other revenue and expense for March: Estimated tax rate: 30% Instructions Prepare a sales budget for March. Prepare a production budget for March. Prepare a direct materials purchases budget for March. Prepare a direct labor cost budget for March. Prepare a factory overhead cost budget for March. Prepare a cost of goods sold budget for March. Work in process at the beginning of March is estimated to be 15,300, and work in process at the end of March is desired to be 14,800. Prepare a selling and administrative expenses budget for March. Prepare a budgeted income statement for March.arrow_forwardBudgeted income statement and supporting budgets The budget director of Birding Homes Feeders Inc., with the assistance of the controller, treasurer, production manager, and sales manager, has gathered the following data for use in developing the budgeted income statement for January: Estimated sales for January: Estimated inventories at January 1: Desired inventories at January 31: Direct materials used in production: Anticipated cost of purchases and beginning and ending inventory of direct materials: Direct labor requirements: Estimated factory overhead costs for January: Estimated operating expenses for January: Estimated other revenue and expense for January: Estimated tax rate: 25% Instructions Prepare a sales budget for January. Prepare a production budget for January. Prepare a direct materials purchases budget for January. Prepare a direct labor cost budget for January. Prepare a factory overhead cost budget for January. Prepare a cost of goods sold budget for January. Work in process at the beginning of January is estimated to be 9,000, and work in process at the end of January is estimated to be 10,500. Prepare a selling and administrative expenses budget for January. Prepare a budgeted income statement for January.arrow_forwardA companys controller is adjusting next years budget to reflect the impact of an expected 3 percent inflation rate. Listed below are selected items from next years budget before the adjustment. After adjusting for the 3 percent inflation rate, what is the companys total budget for the selected items before taxes for next year? a. 858,150 b. 860,412 c. 810,971 d. 858,971arrow_forward
- Relevant data from the Poster Companys operating budgets are: Additional data: Capital assets were sold in January for $10,000 and $4,500 in May. Dividends of $4,500 were paid in February. The beginning cash balance was $60,359 and a required minimum cash balance is $59,000. Use this information to prepare a cash budget for the first two quarters of the yeararrow_forwardBudgeted income statement and balance sheet As a preliminary to requesting budget estimates of sales, costs, and expenses for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 20Y9, the following tentative trial balance as of December 31, 20Y8, is prepared by the Accounting Department of Mesa Publishing Co.: Factory output and sales for 20Y9 are expected to total 3,800 units of product, which are to be sold at 120 per unit. The quantities and costs of the inventories at December 31, 20Y9, are expected to remain unchanged from the balances at the beginning of the year. Budget estimates of manufacturing costs and operating expenses for the year are summarized as follows: Balances of accounts receivable, prepaid expenses, and accounts payable at the end of the year are not expected to differ significantly from the beginning balances. Federal income tax of 35,000 on 20Y9 taxable income will be paid during 20Y9. Regular quarterly cash dividends of 0.20 per share are expected to be declared and paid in March, June, September, and December on 20,000 shares of common stock outstanding. It is anticipated that fixed assets will be purchased for 22,000 cash in May. Instructions Prepare a budgeted income statement for 20Y9. Prepare a budgeted balance sheet as of December 31, 20Y9, with supporting calculations.arrow_forwardCash budget The controller of Bridgeport Housewares Inc. instructs you to prepare a monthly cash budget for the next three months. You are presented with the following budget information: The company expects to sell about 10% of its merchandise for cash. Of sales on account, 70% are expected to be collected in the month following the sale and the remainder the following month (second month following sale). Depreciation, insurance, and property tax expense represent 50,000 of the estimated monthly manufacturing costs. The annual insurance premium is paid in January, and the annual property taxes are paid in December. Of the remainder of the manufacturing costs, 80% are expected to be paid in the month in which they are incurred and the balance in the following month. Current assets as of September 1 include cash of 40,000, marketable securities of 75,000, and accounts receivable of 300,000 (60,000 from July sales and 240,000 from August sales). Sales on account for July and August were 200,000 and 240,000, respectively. Current liabilities as of September 1 include 40,000 of accounts payable incurred in August for manufacturing costs. All selling and administrative expenses are paid in cash in the period they are incurred. An estimated income tax payment of 55,000 will be made in October. Bridgeports regular quarterly dividend of 25,000 is expected to be declared in October and paid in November. Management desires to maintain a minimum cash balance of 50,000. Instructions Prepare a monthly cash budget and supporting schedules for September, October, and November. On the basis of the cash budget prepared in part (1), what recommendation should be made to the controller?arrow_forward
- Cash budget The controller of Mercury Shoes Inc. instructs you to prepare a monthly cash budget for the next three months. You are presented with the following budget information: The company expects to sell about 10% of its merchandise for cash. Of sales on account, 60% are expected to be collected in the month following the sale and the remainder the following month (second month after sale). Depreciation, insurance, and property tax expense represent 12,000 of the estimated monthly manufacturing costs. The annual insurance premium is paid in February, and the annual property taxes are paid in November. Of the remainder of the manufacturing costs, 80% are expected to be paid in the month in which they are incurred and the balance in the following month. Current assets as of June 1 include cash of 42,000, marketable securities of 25,000, and accounts receivable of 198,000 (150,000 from May sales and 48,000 from April sales). Sales on account in April and May were 120,000 and 150,000, respectively. Current liabilities as of June 1 include 13,000 of accounts payable incurred in May for manufacturing costs. All selling and administrative expenses are paid in cash in the period they are incurred. An estimated income tax payment of 24,000 will be made in July. Mercury Shoes regular quarterly dividend of 15,000 is expected to be declared in July and paid in August. Management desires to maintain a minimum cash balance of 40,000. Instructions Prepare a monthly cash budget and supporting schedules for June, July, and August. On the basis of the cash budget prepared in part (1), what recommendation should be made to the controller?arrow_forwardSales, production, direct materials purchases, and direct labor cost budgets The budget director of Gourmet Grill Company requests estimates of sales, production, and other operating data from the various administrative units every month. Selected information concerning sales and production for July is summarized as follows: Estimated sales for July by sales territory: Estimated inventories at July 1: Desired inventories at July 31: Direct materials used in production: Anticipated purchase price for direct materials: Direct labor requirements: Instructions Prepare a sales budget for July. Prepare a production budget for July. Prepare a direct materials purchases budget for July. Prepare a direct labor cost budget for July.arrow_forwardCASH BUDGETING Helen Bowers, owner of Helens Fashion Designs, is planning to request a line of credit from her bank. She has estimated the following sales forecasts for the firm for parts of 2019 and 2020: Estimates regarding payments obtained from the credit department are as follows: collected within the month of sale, 10%; collected the month following the sale, 75%; collected the second month following the sale, 15%. Payments for labor and raw materials are made the month after these services were provided. Here are the estimated costs of labor plus raw materials: General and administrative salaries are approximately 27,000 a month. Lease payments under long-term leases are 9,000 a month. Depreciation charges are 36,000 a month. Miscellaneous expenses are 2,700 a month. Income tax payments of 63,000 are due in September and December. A progress payment of 180,000 on a new design studio must be paid in October. Cash on hand on July 1 will be 132,000, and a minimum cash balance of 90,000 should be maintained throughout the cash budget period. a. Prepare a monthly cash budget for the last 6 months of 2019. b. Prepare monthly estimates of the required financing or excess fundsthat is, the amount of money Bowers will need to borrow or will have available to invest. c. Now suppose receipts from sales come in uniformly during the month (that is, cash receipts come in at the rate of 1/30 each day), but all outflows must be paid on the 5th. Will this affect the cash budget? That is, will the cash budget you prepared be valid under these assumptions? If not, what could be done to make a valid estimate of the peak financing requirements? No calculations are required, although if you prefer, you can use calculations to illustrate the effects. d. Bowers sales are seasonal, and her company produces on a seasonal basis, just ahead of sales. Without making any calculations, discuss how the companys current and debt ratios would vary during the year if all financial requirements were met with short-term bank loans. Could changes in these ratios affect the firms ability to obtain bank credit? Explain.arrow_forward
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