ABC Company has two support departments (Power and Maintenance) and two producing departments (Assembly and Finishing). The direct allocation method is currently used to assign support department costs to the producing departments. The causal factor for the power costs is kilowatt hours; the causal factor for the maintenance costs is repair hours. Assume the following information                     Power Maintenance Assembly  Finishing Direct Costs $100K $150K $75K $50 KW Hours   10K 90K 100K Repair Hours 500   2500 2000                           ABC decides to switch to Step-down method and cost allocation sequence is based on a ranking of percentage of services provided to other support departments, which of the following best describes this procedure?    A. Power department’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing, then Maintenance’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.      B. Power department’s costs are allocated first to Maintenance, Assembly and Finishing, then Maintenance’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.      C. Maintenance department’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing, then Power’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.     D. Maintenance department’s costs are allocated to Power, Assembly and Finishing, then Power’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
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ISBN:9781259964947
Author:Libby
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Chapter1: Financial Statements And Business Decisions
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*Note: the correct answer is D per the professor. Can anyone explain the reasoning behind this? See below:

 

ABC Company has two support departments (Power and Maintenance) and two producing departments (Assembly and Finishing). The direct allocation method is currently used to assign support department costs to the producing departments. The causal factor for the power costs is kilowatt hours; the causal factor for the maintenance costs is repair hours. Assume the following information

                 

  Power Maintenance Assembly  Finishing
Direct Costs $100K $150K $75K $50
KW Hours   10K 90K 100K
Repair Hours 500   2500 2000

                         

ABC decides to switch to Step-down method and cost allocation sequence is based on a ranking of percentage of services provided to other support departments, which of the following best describes this procedure?

  
A. Power department’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing, then Maintenance’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.
 
  
B. Power department’s costs are allocated first to Maintenance, Assembly and Finishing, then Maintenance’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.
 
  
C. Maintenance department’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing, then Power’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.
 
 
D. Maintenance department’s costs are allocated to Power, Assembly and Finishing, then Power’s costs are allocated to Assembly and Finishing.
 
 
Question: Why are Maintenance costs allocated out first? It was my understanding that since Power had a larger percentage share of services rendered to it than Maintanence did, its costs would be allocated out first. Maintenance receives only 5% of the total services rendered by power while Power receives 10% of the services rendered by Maintenance. 
 
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