C Analysis of divisional performance
A Costing for income tax purposes
B Determining how many units to produce in the coming week
1–2.
Descriptions
... [Show More] of the six business functions in the value chain are as follows:
1. Research and development: the creation and development of ideas related to new products, services,
or processes.
2. Design: the detailed development and engineering of products, services, or processes.
3. Production: the collection and assembly of resources to produce a product or deliver a service.
4. Marketing: the process that informs potential customers about the attributes of products or services, and
leads to the sale of those products or services.
5. Distribution: the process established to deliver products or services to customers.
6. Customer Service: product or service support activities provided to customers.
1–3.
Value-added activities are activities that customers perceive as adding utility to the goods or services they
purchase. Nonvalue-added activities do not add value to the goods or services.
1–4.
Differential costs are important for managerial decision making, but other cost data can provide
management with additional important information. For example, inventory values and costs of goods sold
are important for income tax and financial reporting purposes as well as for most bonus and cost-plus
contracting purposes. Costs for performance evaluation are not necessarily differential costs. Companies try
to recover all costs, hence some estimate of total costs is needed. (This could be an opportunity to discuss
short-run and long-run costs with students, noting that in the long run, all costs must be covered.)
© The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1997
2 Cost Accounting, 5/e
1–5.
Costs that could be shared among housemates might include a share of the rent, food, utilities, and other
related costs. Costs that would differ with the addition of another person are the differential costs. These
differential costs might include food. It would be necessary to negotiate an agreement between you and the
other person considering all factors. For example, should you split the total costs or charge only the
differential costs of the additional person.
Businesses are often faced with similar decisions on finding the appropriate cost base for splitting costs.
There are no generally accepted accounting rules for determining appropriate shared costs in either
situation. Hence, it is important to specify arrangements about costs precisely when agreements are made.
1–6.
Performance evaluation systems are designed for a specific company’s needs. The systems should be
flexible to adapt to the circumstances which exist in that company. A common set of accounting principles
would tend to reduce flexibility and usefulness of these systems. As long as all parties know the accounting
basis used by the system, the exact rules can be designed in whatever manner the parties deem
appropriate.
1–7.
Most utilities are characterized by the need to install a substantial amount of equipment to meet peak loads.
The peak load for the telephone company is during business hours, particularly in the mid-morning. At other
times this equipment is operating at less than capacity. That is, there are lines available for use. By
encouraging users to shift their usage from the peak times to such off-peak hours as evenings, nights and
weekends, less equipment is required and the existing equipment is utilized more heavily.
The considerations in the decision would include: (a) the savings from not having to purchase more
equipment; (b) the revenues that could be generated on off-peak hours when existing equipment would be
sufficient; (c) the revenues that could be generated from telephone calls that would not be made at all at the
higher prices; and (d) the costs of operating the telephone system in off-peak hours. Offsetting these
benefits would be the reduction in revenues from calls that would be made during off-peak hours even if full
rates were in effect. Apparently the telephone company has found that the benefits outweigh the loss in
revenues from using off-peak rates.
1–8.
While a manager, and not the controller, has the business expertise to make management decisions, the
decisions will not be good ones if the manager does not understand the data used to make them. For
example, the manager may be working with the costs of a product, and not realize which costs are fixed and
which are variable. The controller understands the types of data that are available, the rules used to
accumulate the data, and the limitations that exist on the data. Therefore, the manager and the controller
need to interact in the decision-making process. The controller can provide the manager with the relevant
data, and an explanation of its suitable uses. The manager then can make better decisions.
© The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1997
Solutions Manual, Chapter 1 3
1–9.
In decision making, managers or supervisors may wish to take actions that are not economically justifiable.
In most cases, upon receipt of a well-developed cost analysis, a production manager is satisfied whether an
action is feasible. If the action is not economically justifiable, the matter is dropped without conflict. In a few
cases, however, managers may wish to pursue a project because of personal reasons, and hope to have an
economic analysis to support it. In these situations, care must be taken to ascertain the economic merits of
the plan, and, if the plan cannot be justified on economic grounds, the manager must make the case for the
project on another basis. The final responsibility for the decision rests with the manager. Therefore, plans
that cannot be justified on a cost analysis basis may still be adopted at the discretion of management.
In the control area, the accountant is charged with the responsibility of making certain that plans are
executed in an optimal and efficient manner. In some cases this may be viewed as placing restrictions on
management actions. Under these circumstances the manager may view the accounting function as placing
too great a constraint on the manager while the accountant may view the manager as attempting to
circumvent the rules.
1–10.
The marketing people at Lever Bros. rely on accounting information for decisions. For example, accounting
provides information about distribution costs, and helps marketing people determine the cost of materials
and packaging if management decides to change a product.
1–11.
The nonvalue-added activity—the amount of time employees are idle during normal trash pickups as a result
of their trucks breaking down—occurred because workers did not inspect their trucks at the end of shifts for
maintenance and repairs needs. So trucks broke down during normal trash pickups. The threat of
privatization created incentives probably because workers thought they would not be hired by private trash
collectors (or their working conditions would be worse or their wages would be lower).
1–12.
The answer is simple—you get what you motivate.
© The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1997
4 Cost Accounting, 5/e
Solutions to Exercises
1–13. (20 min.) Cost data for managerial purposes.
a. Differential costs are costs that would change; that is, the materials costs in this
situation. Other costs would presumably not be affected by the change in materials.
Other issues include the quality and availability of the new materials.
Differential costs next year are $.90 (= $6.00 – $5.10) calculated as follows:
Cost
Old Materials New Materials
Next year $6.00 $5.10 (85% x $6.00)
b. Management would use the information to help decide whether to use the new
materials. Management would also want to know the quality of materials and the
reliability of the vendor.
1–14. (20 min.) Cost data for managerial purposes: Technology, Inc.
This exercise demonstrates the importance of determining what is differential, and not
being misled by the “bottom line.”
All costs except corporate administration would be differential. Here is the calculation of
the lost contribution:
Revenue lost ...................................................... $430,000
Costs saved (excluding corporate admin.)......... 393,000
Contribution lost, before taxes ........................... 37,000
Taxes saved (40% of the lost contribution) ........ 14,800
Net contribution lost ........................................... $ 22,200
Management must decide whether the contribution toward corporate administrative costs
and profits is sufficient to justify continuing operations, or whether it should seek a more
profitable line of business. Unless there is a better alternative use of corporate resources,
the division should not be closed in the short run, despite the reported loss on the
financial statement.
© The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1997
Solutions Manual, Chapter 1 5
1–15.
Cost Value Chain Classification
Transportation [Show Less]