Comparative Income Statements and Management Analysis
EZ-Seat, Inc., manufactures two types of reclining chairs, Standard and Ergo. Ergo provides support for the body through a complex set of sensors and requires great care in manufacturing to avoid damage to the material and frame. Standard is a conventional recliner, uses standard materials, and is simpler to manufacture. EZ-Seat’s results for the last fiscal year are shown in the statement below.
EZ-Seat currently uses labor costs to allocate all
Required
- a. Complete the income statement using the preceding activity bases.
- b. Write a brief report indicating how management could use activity-based costing to reduce costs.
- c. Restate the income statement for EZ-Seat using direct labor costs as the only overhead allocation base.
- d. Write a report to management stating why product line profits differ using activity-based costing compared to the traditional approach. Indicate whether activity-based costing provides more accurate information and why (if you believe it does provide more accurate information). Indicate in your report how the use of labor-based overhead allocation could cause EZ-Seat management to make suboptimal decisions.
a.
Complete the income statement using preceding activity bases.
Explanation of Solution
Activity-based costing:
Activity-based costing refers to the method of costing where the overhead cost is assigned to various products. This costing method identifies the relationship between the manufacturing overhead costs and the activities. This relationship is then used to allocate indirect costs to the products.
Complete the income statement using preceding activity bases:
Particulars | Ergo | Standard | Total |
Sales revenue | $2,925,000 | $2,760,000 | $5,685,000 |
Direct materials | $550,000 | $500,000 | $1,050,000 |
Direct labor | $400,000 | $200,000 | $600,000 |
Overhead costs: | |||
Add: Administration | $312,000 | $156,000 | $468,000 |
Add: Production setup | $360,000 | $720,000 | $1,080,000 |
Add: Quality control | $360,000 | $360,000 | $720,000 |
Add: Distribution | $288,000 | $1,152,000 | $1,440,000 |
Total overhead costs | $1,320,000 | $2,388,000 | $3,708,000 |
Operating profit | $655,000 | ($328,000) | $327,000 |
Table: (1)
Working note 1:
Compute the percentage of direct labor applicable:
Working note 2:
Compute the rate per setup:
Working note 3:
Compute the rate per inspection:
Working note 4:
Compute the shipping cost per unit:
b.
Write a brief report indicating how management could use activity-based costing to reduce costs
Explanation of Solution
Activity-based costing:
Activity-based costing (ABC) refers to the method of costing where the overhead cost is assigned to various products. This costing method identifies the relationship between the manufacturing overhead costs and the activities. This relationship is then used to allocate indirect costs to the products.
ABC method for reducing the cost:
Reduction in the cost of activities may not be the direct result of implementing the ABC method of costing, but it can highlight the activities where the cost reduction can be made. Reducing the setup costs or other overhead costs specifically from the perspective of cost reduction can be identified using the ABC method of costing.
c.
Restate the income statement according to the information given in the question.
Explanation of Solution
Recompute the income statement according to the information given in the question:
Particulars | Ergo | Standard | Total |
Sales revenue | $2,925,000 | $2,760,000 | $5,685,000 |
Direct materials | $550,000 | $500,000 | $1,050,000 |
Direct labor | $400,000 | $200,000 | $600,000 |
Overhead costs | $2,472,000 | $1,236,000 | $3,708,000 |
Operating profit | ($497,000) | $824,000 | $327,000 |
Table: (2)
Working note 5:
d.
Write a report to management stating why product line profits differ using activity-based costing compared to the traditional approach. Indicate whether activity-based costing provides more accurate information and provide a reason for the same.
Explanation of Solution
Purpose of the report:
To explain the difference between the implementation of ABC costing and traditional labor-based costing method for the computation of the product line profits.
The implication of both methods:
Direct costs do not differ in both the methods implemented. While using the labor-based method, all the overhead costs are computed under one single head, and while using ABC the bifurcation of cost drivers is relevant to their respective cost of allocation
Result using the traditional labor-based method of costing:
The result shows that the product Ergo has incurred a loss of $497,000 which is 17% percent of the sales revenue. And the product standard has attained a profit of $824,000 which is 30% of sales revenue.
Result using the ABC method of costing:
The result shows that the product Ergo has attained a profit of $655,000 which is 22% percent of the sales revenue. And the product Standard has incurred the loss of $328,000 which is 11% of sales revenue.
Conclusion:
The choice of the method adopted should be ABC costing as the results computed from the traditional labor-based method are very high as compared to ABC costing.
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Chapter 9 Solutions
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