The administrator of Scotland Yard would like a cost formula linking the costs involved in processing law offenders to the number of offenders processed during a month. The processing costs and the number of offenders for the preceding twelve months are given in the following table:   Month Number of Offenders Processing Costs August 200 182,700 September 440 410,600 October 420 391,000 November 450 437,100 December  510 434,000 January 380 395,950 February 610 801,800 March 330 367,150 April 260 220,500 May 370 404,250 June 320 362,400 July 380 323,950 The administrator has estimated that the institution's relevant range of monthly activity in the future will be 260 to 520 offenders. Required: 1. Use the high-low method to express the cost function for processing costs. The cost function needs to be able to reasonably predict future monthly costs for Scotland Yard. 2. Explain whether you will use this cost function to predict the processing costs for 600 law offenders.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
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Author:Libby
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Chapter1: Financial Statements And Business Decisions
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The administrator of Scotland Yard would like a cost formula linking the costs involved in processing law offenders to the number of offenders processed during a month. The processing costs and the number of offenders for the preceding twelve months are given in the following table:

 

Month Number of Offenders Processing Costs
August 200 182,700
September 440 410,600
October 420 391,000
November 450 437,100
December  510 434,000
January 380 395,950
February 610 801,800
March 330 367,150
April 260 220,500
May 370 404,250
June 320 362,400
July 380 323,950


The administrator has estimated that the institution's relevant range of monthly activity in the future will be 260 to 520 offenders.

Required:
1. Use the high-low method to express the cost function for processing costs. The cost function needs to be able to reasonably predict future monthly costs for Scotland Yard.
2. Explain whether you will use this cost function to predict the processing costs for 600 law offenders.

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