Financial and nonfinancial performance measures, goal congruence. (CMA, adapted) Precision Equipment specializes in the manufacture of medical equipment, a field that has become increasingly competitive. Approximately 2 years ago, Pedro Mendez, president of Precision, decided to revise the bonus plan (based, at the time, entirely on operating income) to encourage division managers to focus on areas that were important to customers and that added value without increasing cost. In addition to a profitability incentive, the revised plan includes incentives for reduced rework costs, reduced sales returns, and on-time deliveries. The company calculates and rewards bonuses semiannually on the following basis: A base bonus is calculated at 2% of operating income; this amount is then adjusted as follows: i. Reduced by excess of rework costs over and above 2% of operating income ii. No adjustment if rework costs are less than or equal to 2% of operating income i. Increased by $4,000 if more than 98% of deliveries are on time and by $1,500 if 96–98% of deliveries are on time ii. No adjustment if on-time deliveries are below 96% i. Increased by $2,500 if sales returns are less than or equal to 1.5% of sales ii. Decreased by 50% of excess of sales returns over 1.5% of sales If the calculation of the bonus results in a negative amount for a particular period, the manager simply receives no bonus, and the negative amount is not carried forward to the next period. Results for Precision’s Central division and Western division for 2017, the first year under the new bonus plan, follow. In 2016, under the old bonus plan, the Central division manager earned a bonus of $20,295 and the Western division manager received a bonus of $15,830. 1. Why did Mendez need to introduce these new performance measures? That is, why does Mendez need to use these performance measures in addition to the operating-income numbers for the period? 2. Calculate the bonus earned by each manager for each 6-month period and for 2017 overall. 3. What effect did the change in the bonus plan have on each manager’s behavior? Did the new bonus plan achieve what Mendez wanted? What changes, if any, would you make to the new bonus plan?

At the end of 20x1, Mejorar Company implemented a low-cost strategy to improve its competitive position. Its objective was to become the low-cost producer in its industry. A Balanced Scorecard was developed to guide the company toward this objective. To lower costs, Mejorar undertook a number of improvement activities such as JIT production, total quality management, and activity-based management. Now, after two years of operation, the president of Mejorar wants some assessment of the achievements. To help provide this assessment, the following information on one product has been gathered: Required: 1. Compute the following measures for 20x1 and 20x3: a. Actual velocity and cycle time b. Percentage of total revenue from new customers (assume one unit per customer) c. Percentage of very satisfied customers (assume each customer purchases one unit) d. Market share e. Percentage change in actual product cost (for 20x3 only) f. Percentage change in days of inventory (for 20x3 only) g. Defective units as a percentage of total units produced h. Total hours of training i. Suggestions per production worker j. Total revenue k. Number of new customers 2. For the measures listed in Requirement 1, list likely strategic objectives, classified according to the four Balance Scorecard perspectives. Assume there is one measure per objective.

Suspicious Acquisition of Data, Ethical Issues Bill Lewis, manager of the Thomas Electronics Division, called a meeting with his controller, Brindon Peterson, and his marketing manager, Patty Fritz. The following is a transcript of the conversation that took place during the meeting: Bill: Brindon, the variable costing system that you developed has proved to be a big plus for our division. Our success in winning bids has increased, and as a result our revenues have increased by 25%. However, if we intend to meet this years profit targets, we are going to need something extraam I right, Patty? Patty: Absolutely. While we have been able to win more bids, we still are losing too many, particularly to our major competitor, Kilborn Electronics. If we knew more about their bidding strategy, we could be more successful at competing with them. Brindon: Would knowing their variable costs help? Patty: Certainly. It would give me their minimum price. With that knowledge, Im sure that we could find a way to beat them on several jobs, particularly on those jobs where we are at least as efficient. It would also help us to identify where we are not cost competitive. With this information, we might be able to find ways to increase our efficiency. Brindon: Well, I have good news. Ive been talking with Carl Penobscot, Kilborns assistant controller. Carl doesnt feel appreciated by Kilborn and wants to make a change. He could easily fit into our team here. Plus, Carl has been preparing for a job switch by quietly copying Kilborns accounting files and records. Hes already given me some data that reveal bids that Kilborn made on several jobs. If we can come to a satisfactory agreement with Carl, hell bring the rest of the information with him. Well easily be able to figure out Kilborns prospective bids and find ways to beat them. Besides, I could use another accountant on my staff. Bill, would you authorize my immediate hiring of Carl with a favorable compensation package? Bill: I know that you need more staff, Brindon, but is this the right thing to do? It sounds like Carl is stealing those files, and surely Kilborn considers this information confidential. I have real ethical and legal concerns about this. Why dont we meet with Laurie, our attorney, and determine any legal problems? Required: 1. Is Carls behavior ethical? What would Kilborn think? 2. Is Bill correct in supposing that there are ethical and/or legal problems involved with the hiring of Carl? (Reread the section on corporate codes of conduct in Chapter 1.) What would you do if you were Bill? Explain.

The corporate office is giving the managers of each channel the option of a customer relationship management system that will allow the managers to gather data about their customers and be more effective in their marketing efforts. The system will cost $930,000 and is expected to generate $168,000 in additional annual segment margin. Calculate the residual income of each distribution channel assuming it purchases the new customer relationship management system. (If the residual income is a loss then enter with a negative sign preceding the number, e.g. -5,125 or parenthesis, e.g. (5,125).) $ Retail $ Online $ Catalog Residual Income

In attempting to achieve better results in the marketplace, management has been looking at changing the reward system for marketing, distribution and sales personnel. This would result in an increase in variable marketing and administrative costs by $2 per unit, and would reduce fixed marketing and distribution costs by $100,000: Calculate the number of units required to breakeven if management implemented the changes and Would you suggest that management pursue the changes? Explain By reference to the above data:How can a company effectively use CPV (Cost-Volume-Profit) analysis to make strategic decisions about its product pricing and production levels?

Harry Haney, manager of the Eastern Division of MertockCo., made the following comment to the manager of theCentral Division: It’s all well and good for you to say that I should dis-regard sunk costs when I consider whether to replace the old, inefficient equipment with new, more efficientequipment. But my performance evaluation is based onnet operating profits divided by total assets. The newequipment will increase my total asset base and lowerthe ratio of profits to assets, hurting my performance.Thus, I will not sell the old equipment.Do you agree with Haney’s statement? Why or why not?

Balanced scorecard, social performance. Comtex Company provides cable and Internet services in the greater Boston area. There are many competitors that provide similar services. Comtex believes that the key to nancial success is to offer a quality service at the lowest cost. Comtex currently spends a signicant amount of hours on installation and postinstallation support. This is one area that the company has targeted for cost reduction. Comtex’s balanced scorecard for 2017 follows.

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Choice of Strategic Business UnitRequired For each of the following cases, determine whether the business unit should be evaluated asa cost center or a profit center and explain why. If you choose cost center, then explain which type of costcenter—the discretionary-cost center or the engineered-cost center.1. A trucking firm has experienced a rapid increase in fuel costs and has only been partly successful inpassing along the increased costs to customers. In recent months, fuel prices have come back down, butthe firm’s management knows to expect a continued volatility in the cost of fuel. To secure the firm’sprofits when fuel costs are rising, the company has established an Office of Sustainability to developand implement a strategy for reducing costs and reducing the firm’s overall carbon footprint.2. To more effectively compete in a dynamic market for consumer electronics, a manufacturer of consumer electronics products has established a new department for Innovation and Refinement…

The Southern Division manager of Texcaliber Inc. is growing concerned that the division will not be able to meet its current period income objectives. The division uses absorption costing for internal profit reporting and had an appropriate level of inventory at the beginning of the period. The division manager knows that he can boost profits by increasing production at the end of the period. The increased production will allocate fixed costs over a greater number of units, reducing cost of goods sold and increasing earnings. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that additional production will be sold, resulting in a large ending inventory balance. The division manager has come to Aston Melon, the divisional controller, to determine exactly how much additional production is needed to increase net income enough to meet the division's profit objectives. Aston analyzes the data and determines that the division will need to increase inventory by 30% in order to absorb enough fixed costs to meet…

Balanced scorecard, social performance. Comtex Company provides cable and Internet services in the greater Boston area. There are many competitors that provide similar services. Comtex believes that the key to financial success is to offer a quality service at the lowest cost. Comtex currently spends a significant amount of hours on installation and post-installation support. This is one area that the company has targeted for cost reduction. Comtex’s balanced scorecard for 2017 follows in the attatched: Q.Was Comtex successful in implementing its strategy in 2017? Explain.

Balanced scorecard, social performance. Comtex Company provides cable and Internet services in the greater Boston area. There are many competitors that provide similar services. Comtex believes that the key to financial success is to offer a quality service at the lowest cost. Comtex currently spends a significant amount of hours on installation and post-installation support. This is one area that the company has targeted for cost reduction. Comtex’s balanced scorecard for 2017 follows in the attatched: Q. Why do you think Comtex included balanced scorecard measures relating to employee safety and community engagement? How well is the company doing on these measures?

Balanced scorecard, social performance. Comtex Company provides cable and Internet services in the greater Boston area. There are many competitors that provide similar services. Comtex believes that the key to financial success is to offer a quality service at the lowest cost. Comtex currently spends a significant amount of hours on installation and post-installation support. This is one area that the company has targeted for cost reduction. Comtex’s balanced scorecard for 2017 follows in the attatched: Q.Is there a cause-and-effect linkage between the measures in the internal-business-process perspective and the customer perspective? That is, would you add other measures to the internal-business-process perspective or the customer perspective? Why or why not? Explain briefly.

Solution Summary: The author explains the balanced scorecard approach, which is a trade-off between innovations and cost effectiveness. It measures the performance of managers and rewards based on performance level.

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Chapter 23 Solutions