Price and efficiency variances, benchmarking. Nantucket Enterprises manufactures insulated cold beverage cups printed with college and corporate logos, which it distributes nationally in lots of 12 dozen cups. In June 2017, Nantucket produced 5,000 lots of its most popular line of cups, the 24-ounce lidded tumbler, at each of its two plants, which are located in Providence and Amherst. The production manager, Shannon Bryant, asks her assistant, Joel Hudson, to find out the precise per-unit budgeted variable costs at the two plants and the variable costs of a competitor, Beverage Mate, who offers similar-quality tumblers at cheaper prices. Hudson pulls together the following information for each lot:
- 1. What is the budgeted variable cost per lot at the Providence Plant, the Amherst Plant, and at Beverage Mate?
Required
- 2. Using the Beverage Mate data as the standard, calculate the direct materials and direct manufacturing labor price and efficiency variances for the Providence and Amherst plants.
- 3. What advantage does Nantucket get by using Beverage Mate’s benchmark data as standards in calculating its variances? Identify two issues that Bryant should keep in mind in using the Beverage Mate data as the standards.
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Horngren's Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis (16th Edition)
- Leather Works is a family-owned maker of leather travel bags and briefcases located in the northeastern part of the United States. Foreign competition has forced its owner, Heather Gray, to explore new ways to meet the competition. One of her cousins, Wallace Hayes, who recently graduated from college with a major in accounting, told her about the use of cost variance analysis to learn about efficiencies of production. In May of last year, Heather asked Matt Jones, chief accountant, and Alfred Prudest, production manager, to implement a standard costing system. Matt and Alfred, in turn, retained Shannon Leikam, an accounting professor at Hardings College, to set up a standard costing system by using information supplied to her by Matts and Alfreds staff. To verify that the information was accurate, Shannon visited the plant and measured workers output using time and motion studies. During those visits, she was not accompanied by either Matt or Alfred, and the workers knew about Shannons schedule in advance. The cost system was implemented in June of last year. Recently, the following dialogue took place among Heather, Matt, and Alfred: HEATHER: How is the business performing? ALFRED: You know, we are producing a lot more than we used to, thanks to the contract that you helped obtain from Lean, Inc., for laptop covers. (Lean is a national supplier of computer accessories.) MATT: Thank goodness for that new product. It has kept us from sinking even more due to the inroads into our business made by those foreign suppliers of leather goods. HEATHER: What about the standard costing system? MATT: The variances are mostly favorable, except for the first few months when the supplier of leather started charging more. HEATHER: How did the union members take to the standards? ALFRED: Not bad. They grumbled a bit at first, but they have taken it in stride. Weve consistently shown favorable direct labor efficiency variances and direct materials usage variances. The direct labor rate variance has been flat. MATT: It should be since direct labor rates are negotiated by the union representative at the start of the year and remain the same for the entire year. HEATHER: Matt, would you send me the variance report for laptop covers immediately? The following chart summarizes the direct materials and direct labor variances from November of last year through April of this year (extracted from the report provided by Matt). Standards for each laptop cover are as follows: a. Three feet of direct materials at 7.50 per foot b. Forty-five minutes of direct labor at 14 per hour In addition, the data for May of this year, but not the variances for the month, are as follows: Actual direct labor cost per hour exceeded the budgeted rate by 0.10 per hour. Required: 1. For May of this year, calculate the price and quantity variances for direct labor and direct materials. 2. Discuss the trend of the direct materials and labor variances. 3. What type of actions must the workers have taken during the period they were being observed for the setting of standards? 4. What can be done to ensure that the standards are set correctly? (CMA adapted)arrow_forward[The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Ferry Electronics produces a wide variety of video and audio systems for home entertainment. One of the Ferry plants (Lakeview) produces home theatre systems. The plant produces three models, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, which differ in the quality of the components and capability to "fill" the room with sound. The financial team at Ferry is completing the planning for the coming quarter. Information on volumes and costs expected for the quarter follow: Units produced Machine-hours Direct labor-hours Revenues Direct materials costs Direct labor costs Manufacturing overhead Operating Profit Total profit (loss) Silver 2,000 590 600 Silver $ 583,600 310,000 9,600 Gold Gold 1,500 2,100 1,200 $ 793,050 533,250 28,800 Platinum 500 1,050 750 $493,350 303,000 25,350 The team has been discussing two issues. First, there is disagreement about how best to allocate the manufacturing overhead among the products. The current cost…arrow_forwardHaresharrow_forward
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- Colby Company makes cases for cell phones of all sizes and types for sale through specialty retailers. The company makes a standard model for the most recent iPhone as well as a deluxe model. Management has designed an ABC system with the following activity cost pools and activity rates for these models: Activity Cost Pool Supporting manufacturing Order processing Customer service Management would like an analysis of the profitability of a particular customer, Cell City, which has ordered the following products over the last 12 months: Number of cases Number of orders Direct labour-hours per case Selling price per case Direct materials cost per case The company's direct labour rate is $19 per hour. Sales Costs: Activity Rates $3 per direct labour-hour $15 per order $50 per customer Direct materials Direct labour Supporting manufacturing Order processing Customer service Customer margin Standard Deluxe Model Model 120 35 23 ta ta OSOF 0.20 $ $ 5 35 10 64 $9 $ Required: Using the…arrow_forwardManagement would like an analysis of the profitability of a particular customer, Cell City, which has ordered the following products over the last 12 months: Number of cases Number of orders. Direct labour-hours per case Selling price per case. Direct materials cost per case Sales Costs: Direct materials Direct labour Supporting manufacturing Order processing Customer service The company's direct labour rate is $30 per hour. Required: Using the company's ABC system, compute the customer margin of Cell City. Customer margin Standard Model 290 5 0.25 $49 $ 26 70 Deluxe Model 105 2 $ 0.40 $ 69 $29 70 (70)arrow_forwardMess Free Litter, Inc. (MFL) recently patented its new electronic and remote-controlled litter box. Research indicates that the scooping of the litter is the task most abhorred by cat owners. MFL's new product automatically "scoops" and fills the pan with fresh litter from the reservoir. MFL has budgeted 23,500 units for production and sales in the first year of operation. Practical capacity is 58,750 units. Variable manufacturing costs per unit are as follows:arrow_forward
- Rahularrow_forwardBritt, located in Port St. Lucie, Florida, produces two lines of electric toothbrushes: deluxe and standard. Because Britt can sell all the toothbrushes it can produce, the owners are expanding the plant. They are deciding which product line to emphasize. To make this decision, they assemble the following data: E (Click the icon to view the data.) After expansion, the factory will have a production capacity of 4,000 machine hours per month. The plant can manufacture either 50 standard electric toothbrushes or 23 deluxe electric toothbrushes per machine hour. Read the requirements. Requirements Requirement 1. Identify the constraining factor for Britt. Britt's constraint is 1. Identify the constraining factor for Britt. 2. Prepare an analysis to show which productline to emphasize. direct materials labor hours Print Done machine hours Data Table Per Unit Deluxe Toothbrush Standard Toothbrush Sales price 82 $ 52 Variable costs 25 18 Contribution margin $ 57 $ 34 Contribution margin ratio…arrow_forwardBritt, located in Port St. Lucie, Florida, produces two lines of electric toothbrushes. deluxe and standard. Because Britt can sell all the toothbrushes it can produce, the owners are expanding the plant. They are deciding which product line to emphasize. To make this decision, they assemble the following data: E (Click the icon to view the data.) After expansion, the factory will have a production capacity of 4,000 machine hours per month. The plant can manufacture either 50 standard electric toothbrushes or 23 deluxe electric toothbrushes per machine hour Read the requirements. Requirement 1. Identify the constraining factor for Britt. Britt's constraint is Data Table direct materials labor hours Per Unit machine hours Deluxe Standard Toothbrush Toothbrush 82 $ 52 Sales price 25 18 Variable costs 57 $ 34 Contribution margin 69 5% 65.4% Contribution margin ratio Print Done Requirements 1. Identify the constraining factor for Britt. 2. Prepare an analysis to show which product line to…arrow_forward
- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage Learning