Determining cost relationships
Midst ate Containers Inc. manufactures cans for the canned food industry. The operations manager of a can manufacturing operation wants to conduct a cost study investigating the relationship of tin content in the material (can stock) to the energy cost for enameling the cans. The enameling was necessary to prepare the cans for labeling. A higher percentage of tin content in the can stock increases the cost of material. The operations manager believed that a higher tin content in the can stock would reduce the amount of energy used in enameling. During the analysis period, the amount of tin content in the steel can stock was increased for every month, from April to September. The following operating reports were available from the controller:
Differences in materials unit costs were entirely related to the amount of tin content. In addition, inventory changes are negligible and are ignored in the analysis.
Interpret this information and report to the operations manager your recommendations with respect to tin content.
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 3 Solutions
Managerial Accounting
- Chocolate Bars, Inc. (CBI), manufactures creamy deluxe chocolate candy bars. The firm has developed three distinct products: Almond Dream, Krispy Krackle, and Creamy Crunch. CBI is profitable, but management is quite concerned about the profitability of each product and the product costing methods currently employed. In particular, management questions whether the overhead allocation base of direct labor-hours accurately reflects the costs incurred during the production process of each product. In reviewing cost reports with the marketing manager, Steve Hoffman, who is the cost accountant, notices that Creamy Crunch appears exceptionally profitable and that Almond Dream appears to be produced at a loss. This surprises both him and the manager, and after much discussion, they are convinced that the cost accounting system is at fault and that Almond Dream is performing very well at the current market price. Steve decides to hire Jean Sharpe, a management consultant, to study the…arrow_forwardThe crash testing department of Hyundai tests new vehicle models for safety before they go into mass production. Which of the following would be the most appropriate cost driver for this department? O number of new vehicle designs number of direct labor hours used in manufacturing O advertising costs incurred to increase the sales of new vehicles number of production setups used in manufacturing O number of machine hours used in manufacturingarrow_forwardJim Salters, the COO of CryoDerm, has asked his cost management team for a product-line profitability analysis for his firm’s two products, Zderm and Bderm. The two skincare products require a large amount of research and development and advertising. After receiving the following statement fromCryoDerm’s costing team, Jim concludes that Zderm is the more profitable product and that perhaps cost-cutting measures should be applied to Bderm. Zderm Bderm Total Sales $3,000,000 $2,000,000 $5,000,000 Cost of Goods Sold ($1,900,000) ($1,600,000) ($3,500,000) Gross Profit $1,100,000 $ 400,000 $1,500,000 R&D (900,000) Selling expenses (100,000) Profit before taxes $ 500,000 Required:(i) Briefly explain why Jim may be wrong in his assessment of the relative performance of the twoproducts. (ii) Suppose that 80% of the R&D and selling expenses are traceable to Zderm. Prepare life-cycle income statements for each product. What does this indicate…arrow_forward
- The Chocolate Baker specializes in chocolate baked goods. The firm has long assessed the profitability of a product line by comparing revenues to the cost of goods sold. However, Barry White, the firms new accountant, wants to use an activity-based costing system that takes into consideration the cost of the delivery person. Following are activity and cost information relating to two of Chocolate Bakers major products: Using activity-based costing, which of the following statements is correct? a. The muffins are 2,000 more profitable. b. The cheesecakes are 75 more profitable. c. The muffins are 1,925 more profitable. d. The muffins have a higher profitability as a percentage of sales and, therefore, are more advantageous.arrow_forwardQuincy Farms is a producer of items made from farm products that are distributed to supermarkets. For many years, Quincys products have had strong regional sales on the basis of brand recognition. However, other companies have been marketing similar products in the area, and price competition has become increasingly important. Doug Gilbert, the companys controller, is planning to implement a standard costing system for Quincy and has gathered considerable information from his coworkers on production and direct materials requirements for Quincys products. Doug believes that the use of standard costing will allow Quincy to improve cost control and make better operating decisions. Quincys most popular product is strawberry jam. The jam is produced in 10-gallon batches, and each batch requires six quarts of good strawberries. The fresh strawberries are sorted by hand before entering the production process. Because of imperfections in the strawberries and spoilage, one quart of strawberries is discarded for every four quarts of acceptable berries. Three minutes is the standard direct labor time required for sorting strawberries in order to obtain one quart of strawberries. The acceptable strawberries are then processed with the other ingredients: processing requires 12 minutes of direct labor time per batch. After processing, the jam is packaged in quart containers. Doug has gathered the following information from Joe Adams, Quincys cost accountant, relative to processing the strawberry jam. a. Quincy purchases strawberries at a cost of 0.80 per quart. All other ingredients cost a total of 0.45 per gallon. b. Direct labor is paid at the rate of 9.00 per hour. c. The total cost of direct material and direct labor required to package the jam is 0.38 per quart. Joe has a friend who owns a strawberry farm that has been losing money in recent years. Because of good crops, there has been an oversupply of strawberries, and prices have dropped to 0.50 per quart. Joe has arranged for Quincy to purchase strawberries from his friends farm in hopes that the 0.80 per quart will put his friends farm in the black. Required: 1. Discuss which coworkers Doug probably consulted to set standards. What factors should Doug consider in establishing the standards for direct materials and direct labor? 2. Develop the standard cost sheet for the prime costs of a 10-gallon batch of strawberry jam. 3. Citing the specific standards of the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice described in Chapter 1, explain why Joes behavior regarding the cost information provided to Doug is unethical. (CMA adapted)arrow_forwardAnalyzing process cost elements across product types Mystic Bottling Company bottles popular beverages in the Bottling Department. The beverages are produced by blending concentrate with water and sugar. The concentrate is purchased from a concentrate producer. The concentrate producer sets higher prices for the more popular concentrate flavors. A simplified Bottling Department cost of production report separating the cost of bottling the four flavors follows: Beginning and ending work in process inventories are negligible, so they are omitted from the cost of production report. The flavor changeover cost represents the cost of cleaning the bottling machines between production runs of different flavors. A production ran of a new flavor is produced after a flavor changeover from the previous flavor. Higher-demand flavors are produced in larger production runs, while smaller-demand flavors are produced in smaller production runs. Prepare a memo to the production manager, analyzing this comparative cost information. In your memo, provide recommendations for further action, along with supporting schedules showing the total cost per case and cost per case by cost element. Round supporting calculations to the nearest cent.arrow_forward
- Freidrich is working with the operations manager to determine what the standard material cost is for a spice chest. He has watched the process from start to finish and taken detailed notes on what material is used. The easiest material to measure is the wood. Each chest uses 5 board feet and produces 1.5 feet of scrap. He is not sure what to do with the scrap that is produced; the company cannot buy the boards in any other dimensions. What amount of materials should be included in the standard for material costs?arrow_forwardBucknum Boys, Inc., produces hunting gear for buck hunting. The companys main production departments are Molding and Finishing. Production of the hunting gear cannot be accomplished without the supporting tasks of Materials Management and meals for production employees provided by the Cafeteria. Cafeteria costs are always higher than Materials Management costs. The company believes that the number of employees in each department is the best driver of Cafeteria costs. The number of employees in each department is as follows: The company also believes that the value of support materials used in each department is the best driver for Materials Management costs. The support materials used in the Molding and Finishing departments are valued at 1,800 and 2,700, respectively. Using the sequential method for support department cost allocation (allocating Cafeteria costs first), determine (a) the percentage of Cafeteria costs that should be allocated to the Molding Department and (b) the percentage of Materials Management costs that should be allocated to the Finishing Department.arrow_forwardLarsen, Inc., produces two types of electronic parts and has provided the following data: There are four activities: machining, setting up, testing, and purchasing. Required: 1. Calculate the activity consumption ratios for each product. 2. Calculate the consumption ratios for the plantwide rate (direct labor hours). When compared with the activity ratios, what can you say about the relative accuracy of a plantwide rate? Which product is undercosted? 3. What if the machine hours were used for the plantwide rate? Would this remove the cost distortion of a plantwide rate?arrow_forward
- Leno Company makes swimsuits and sells these suits directly to retailers. Although Leno has a variety of suits, it does not make the All- Body suit used by highly skilled swimmers. The market research department believes that a strong market exists for this type of suit. The department indicates that the All-Body suit would sell for approximately $100. Given its experience, Leno believes the All-Body suit would have the following manufacturing costs. Direct materials Direct labor Manufacturing overhead Total costs (a1) Selling price $ eTextbook and Media $29 Save for Later 29 Assume that Leno uses cost-plus pricing, setting the selling price 26% above its costs. What would be the price charged for the All- Body swimsuit? 42 $100 Assistance Used Attempts: 0 of 3 used Submit Answerarrow_forwardDetailed processarrow_forwardValue- and Nonvalue-Added Costs Waterfun Technology produces engines for recreational boats. Because of competitive pressures, the company was makong an effort to reduce costs. A part of this effort, management implemented an activity-based management system and began focusing its attention an procetses and activties. Receiving was among the processes (activities) that were carefully studied. The study revealed that the number of receiving orders was a good dnver fur receiving costs. During the last year, the company incurred fixed receiving costs of $630,000 (salaries of 10 empleyees). These fxed costa provide a capacity of processing 72,000 receiving orders (7,200 per employee at practical capacity). Management decided that the efficient level for receiving should use 36,000 receiving orders. Requiredi 1. Explain why receiving would be viewed as a value-added activity. Which of these are possible reasons that explain why the demand for receiving is more than the efficient level of…arrow_forward
- Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337912020Author:Carl Warren, Ph.d. Cma William B. TaylerPublisher:South-Western College PubFinancial And Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337902663Author:WARREN, Carl S.Publisher:Cengage Learning,Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage Learning
- Principles of Accounting Volume 2AccountingISBN:9781947172609Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax College