Chapter 25: Q25-20RQ (page 1407)
What is the decision rule concerning products to emphasize when facing a constraint?
Answer
The decision ruleis to select the high contribution margin per unit product when facing a constraint.
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Mary Tan is the controller for Duck Associates, a property management company in Portland, Oregon. Each year, Tan and payroll clerk Toby Stock meet with the external auditors about payroll accounting. This year, the auditors suggest that Tan consider outsourcing Duck Associates’s payroll accounting to a company specializing in payroll processing services. This would allow Tan and her staff to focus on their primary responsibility: accounting for the properties under management. At present, payroll requires 1.5 employee positions—payroll clerk Toby Stock and a bookkeeper who spends half her time entering payroll data in the system.
Tan considers this suggestion, and she lists the following items relating to outsourcing payroll accounting:
The current payroll software that was purchased for \(4,000 three years ago would not be needed if payroll processing were outsourced.
Duck Associates’ bookkeeper would spend half her time preparing the weekly payroll input form that is given to the payroll processing service. She is paid \)450 per week.
Duck Associates would no longer need payroll clerk Toby Stock, whose annual salary is \(42,000.
The payroll processing service would charge \)2,000 per month.
Requirements
1. Would outsourcing the payroll function increase or decrease Duck Associates’ operating income?
2. Tan believes that outsourcing payroll would simplify her job, but she does not like the prospect of having to lay off Stock, who has become a close personal friend. She does not believe there is another position available for Stock at his current salary. Can you think of other factors that might support keeping Stock, rather than outsourcing payroll processing? How should each of the factors affect Tan’s decision if she wants to do what is best for Duck Associates and act ethically?
Suppose the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, has approached Collector-Cardz with a special order. The Hall of Fame wishes to purchase 56,000 baseball card packs for a special promotional campaign and offers \(0.38 per pack, a total of \)21,280. Collector-Cardz’s total production cost is \(0.58 per pack, as follows:
Variable costs:
Direct materials \)0.11
Direct labor 0.09
Variable overhead 0.08
Fixed overhead 0.30
Total cost \(0.58
Collector-Cardz has enough excess capacity to handle the special order.
Requirements
1. Prepare a differential analysis to determine whether Collector-Cardz should accept the special sales order.
2. Now assume that the Hall of Fame wants special hologram baseball cards. Collector-Cardz will spend \)5,700 to develop this hologram, which will be useless after the special order is completed. Should Collector-Cardz accept the special order under these circumstances, assuming no change in the special pricing of $0.38 per pack?
What are the two keys in short-term decision making?
Sea Blue manufactures flotation vests in Charleston, South Carolina. Sea Blue’s contribution margin income statement for the month ended December 31, 2018, contains the following data:
SEA BLUE
Income Statement
For the Month Ended December 31, 2018
Sales in units 32,000
Net Sales Revenue \(608,000
Variable Costs:
Manufacturing 96,000
Selling and Administrative 108,000
Total Variable Costs 204,000
Contribution Margin 404,000
Fixed Costs:
Manufacturing 124,000
Selling and Administrative 94,000
Total Fixed Costs 218,000
Operating Income \)186,000
Suppose Overboard wishes to buy 4,600 vests from Sea Blue. Sea Blue will not incur any variable selling and administrative expenses on the special order. The Sea Blue plant has enough unused capacity to manufacture the additional vests. Overboard has offered \(15 per vest, which is below the normal sales price of \)19.
Requirements
1. Identify each cost in the income statement as either relevant or irrelevant to Sea Blue’s decision.
2. Prepare a differential analysis to determine whether Sea Blue should accept this special sales order.
3. Identify long-term factors Sea Blue should consider in deciding whether to accept the special sales order.
What is differential analysis?
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