Chapter 8 Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs LEARNING OBJECTIVES Chapter 8 addresses the following questions: Q1 What are support departments, departments, and why are their costs allocated to other departments? Q2 What process is is used to allocate support department department costs? Q3 How is the direct method used to allocate support costs costs to operating departments? Q4 How is the step-down method method used to allocate support costs to operating departments? Q5 How is the reciprocal method method used to allocate support costs to operating departments? Q6 What is the the difference between singlesingle- and dual-rate allocations? Q7 What are the limitations limitations of support cost allocations, allocations, and how can the quality of information be improved? These learning questions (Q1 through Q7) are cross-referenced in the textbook to individual exercises and problems.
COMPLEXITY SYMBOLS The textbook uses a coding system to identify the complexity of individual requirements in the exercises and problems. Questions Having a Single Correct Answer: No Symbol This question requires students to recall or apply knowledge as shown in the textbook. This question requires students to extend knowledge beyond the applications e shown in the textbook.
Open-ended questions are coded according to the skills described in Steps for Better Thinking (Exhibit 1.10): Step 1 skills (Identifying) Step 2 skills (Exploring) Step 3 skills (Prioritizing) Step 4 skills (Envisioning)
8-2
Cost Mana anagement
QUESTIONS 8.1
Similarities: All of the methods allocate support department costs to operating departments All of the methods rely on allocation bases to assign costs of support departments to operating departments. All of the methods result in a total allocated cost per unit All of the methods use cost pools, and those are usually departments. •
•
• •
Differences: Direct method ignores all interactions among support departments. The step-down method takes into account accou nt some of the interactions among support departments. The reciprocal method takes into account acc ount all of the interactions among support departments. • •
•
8.2
Support department costs are direct costs of the department, but indirect costs when allocated to other departments. Manufacturing overhead is a direct cost of the production process but it becomes an indirect cost when it is allocated to units.
8.3
Management's objectives should be the determining factor, tempered by the availability of the data and the cost of performing the allocation. For example, if the primary primary purpose is cost control, a method that that recognizes interdepartmental relationships relationships is appropriate. If the firm has a computer and appropriate software, the reciprocal allocation method is preferred. If the primary purpose purpose is product costing and the the firm has a manual system, system, the direct method may be preferred. Following are other factors to consider in choosing ch oosing an appropriate allocation method: As the number of cost pools increase, calculations become more complex under the reciprocal method, When there are four or more support cost pools, software is needed to perform the reciprocal method calculations The degree of interaction among support departments; fewer interactions result in fewer differences in allocation amounts •
•
•
8.4
Costs that include support department allocations using a single cost pool and single allocation base for both fixed and variable costs would overstate the incremental costs used in short-term decisions. decisions. This limits the the use of these costs for for decision-making. However, when a dual rate system is developed, the variable costs are more likely to be relevant information for short-term decision-making.
8-2
Cost Mana anagement
QUESTIONS 8.1
Similarities: All of the methods allocate support department costs to operating departments All of the methods rely on allocation bases to assign costs of support departments to operating departments. All of the methods result in a total allocated cost per unit All of the methods use cost pools, and those are usually departments. •
•
• •
Differences: Direct method ignores all interactions among support departments. The step-down method takes into account accou nt some of the interactions among support departments. The reciprocal method takes into account acc ount all of the interactions among support departments. • •
•
8.2
Support department costs are direct costs of the department, but indirect costs when allocated to other departments. Manufacturing overhead is a direct cost of the production process but it becomes an indirect cost when it is allocated to units.
8.3
Management's objectives should be the determining factor, tempered by the availability of the data and the cost of performing the allocation. For example, if the primary primary purpose is cost control, a method that that recognizes interdepartmental relationships relationships is appropriate. If the firm has a computer and appropriate software, the reciprocal allocation method is preferred. If the primary purpose purpose is product costing and the the firm has a manual system, system, the direct method may be preferred. Following are other factors to consider in choosing ch oosing an appropriate allocation method: As the number of cost pools increase, calculations become more complex under the reciprocal method, When there are four or more support cost pools, software is needed to perform the reciprocal method calculations The degree of interaction among support departments; fewer interactions result in fewer differences in allocation amounts •
•
•
8.4
Costs that include support department allocations using a single cost pool and single allocation base for both fixed and variable costs would overstate the incremental costs used in short-term decisions. decisions. This limits the the use of these costs for for decision-making. However, when a dual rate system is developed, the variable costs are more likely to be relevant information for short-term decision-making.
Chapte Chapterr 8: Measu Measurin ring g and Assig Assignin ning g Support Support Depa Departm rtment ent Costs Costs 8.5
8-3
Following are factors to consider in choosing an allocation base Costs and benefits of the information gathered Does one of the bases b ases better reflect the use of the support department resources? Will the allocation base be easy to measure and apply? Are data available for for the allocation allocation base? How accurate are the the data? • •
• •
8.6
Department 1 is an operating department because it works directly on the firm's final product.
8.7
Operating departments manufacture goods or produce services that are sold to clients. Support departments interact primarily with operating departments and other support departments, and not with outside customers. customers. Support departments provide operating departments with internal services such as accounting, research and development, maintenance, and so on.
8.8
The dual rate separates fixed and variable variable support costs. When this is done, the the variable rate can be used as a s information for making decisions that require incremental costs, such as transfer prices and insource and outsource decisions. A single rate includes both both fixed and variable costs and cannot be used for for any type of decision decision making. Another advantage of the dual rate method is that the allocations more accurately represent the flow of resources because fixed and variable costs are separated and usually allocated using different allocation bases or actual usage of o f some sort.
8.9
Because they include fixed costs and costs allocated from other departments, support department allocations result in very high charges for services. services. Because they are so high, sub-optimal behavior occurs, such as managers duplicating services either by purchasing them from outside the organization organization or providing them in their their own departments. Often support departments are then underused, but the organization still incurs their costs. In addition, extra costs are incurred because internal services are duplicated.
8.10
Better short-term decisions would be made using the dual rate method because the variable costs of the support support departments would be easy to use in decision-making. It would depend on the type of long term decision being made whether either method would provide useful information.
8.11
Estimated (budgeted) cost rates provide information for managers to use in budgeting and some of their decision-making. decision-making. Managers can predict charges as they use the service. In addition, each department’s charges are not affected by other departments’ use of service. A disadvantage of budgeted rates is that user departments have little incentive to use resources efficiently because their charge is already known, an d will not change with usage, if it is based on a fixed rate.
8.12
Accounting department costs could be allocated using number of employees, departmental direct costs, or time spent on activities for individual departments. An advantage of number of employees is that it would be simple simple to use in calculations. calculations. A disadvantage is that it probably does not reflect the use of the department by other
8-4
Cost Mana anagement departments. An advantage of departmental direct costs is that accounting activities activities probably increase as direct costs costs increase, and direct costs are fairly easy to measure. A disadvantage is that there are some accounting activities that do not vary with direct costs. And advantage of time spent on accounting activities activities for every department department is that it is probably most accurately reflects the use of accounting by other departments, but it would be hard to track, and there is likely measurement error when time is not recorded as used, but estimated or recorded after the fact.
8.13
a. GAAP requires requires manufac manufacturi turing ng overhead overhead to be allocated allocated to units units of product product or service service,, generally using a traditional cost accounting method such as job costing or process costing. b. Under GAAP, GAAP, costs for for departments departments that that directly directly support support the manufacturi manufacturing ng function, function, such as material handling are allocated. allocated. However, costs of departments departments that provide non-manufacturing support, such as accounting and human resources are not allocated to units or services, they are expensed as period costs.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
8-5
EXERCISES 8.14 Allocation Rates
A. Estimated costs = $40,000 + $12(5,000) = $100,000 Estimated allocation rate = $100,000/5,000 hours = $20/hour B. Estimated cost at actual output = $40,000 + $12(4,900) = $98,800 Actual rate = $98,800/4,900 hours = $20.16/hour C. An advantage of using an estimated allocation rate is that managers know in advance what their costs will be. A disadvantage is that there is no incentive to use housekeeping hours wisely because the cost rate is known and will not change during the period. An advantage for using an actual allocation rate is that managers have a better idea about the effects of their use of housekeeping services on costs. A disadvantage is that they do not know their costs ahead of time, and they may have little control over whether the rate is higher or lower than expected.
8.15 Allocating Support Costs to Units
Monthly occupancy = 120 beds*0.8*30 days = 2,880 patient days Monthly costs = $240,000 + $90*2,880 = $499,200 Average daily charge = $499,200/2,880 = $173.33
8.16 Devon
A. Direct method allocation using direct labor hours: Dept. A
Support Departments Dept. B Dept. C
Allocation Base: Direct labor hours Costs: Direct costs Department A Department B Department C Total allocated cost
$88,000 (88,000)
$63,000
0
$
0
(40,000) $ 0
Total
6,000 60%
4,000 40%
10,000 100%
$ 52,800 37,800 24,000 $114,600
$35,200 25,200 16,000 $76,400
$191,000 0 0 0 $191,000
$40,000
(63,000) $
Operating Departments Casting Machining
8-6
Cost Management
Direct method allocation using costs to purchase outside: Support Departments Dept. A Dept. B Dept. C Allocation Bases: Department A outside costs Department B outside costs Department C outside costs Costs: Direct costs Department A Department B Department C Total allocated cost
$88,000 (88,000)
$63,000
0
$
0
(40,000) $ 0
Total
$50,000 45.45% $40,000 57.14% $20,000 40.00%
$60,000 54.55% $30,000 42.86% $30,000 60.00%
$110,000 100% $70,000 100% $50,000 100%
$40,000 36,000 16,000 $92,000
$48,000 27,000 24,000 $99,000
$191,000 0 0 0 $191,000
$40,000
(63,000) $
Operating Departments Casting Machining
B. Devon could use the cost of purchasing outside as a benchmark for both departments, but there are some advantages and disadvantages. Using the direct method, no interactions of support department services are reflected. This might understate the cost of services. However, fixed costs are included, and many of these may be sunk costs, for example depreciation expense. These could overstate the support department costs. If the costs for internal and external support services are similar, the cost to purchase outside might provide a good benchmark if it is equal to or less than the cost of internally providing the support. However, if the outside cost is more, incentive exists for increasing both the cost and use of services, which may be inefficient for the company overall. Alternatively, if the outside cost is much less, departments may begin to outsource the services and this duplicates services and may be inefficient for the overall company as well.
8.17 Petro-X
A. Direct method allocation Support Departments Physical Equipment Plant Maintenance Fixed Cost Allocation: Allocation bases: Square feet
Machine hours Fixed costs: $39,000 Physical plant (39,000) Equipment maintenance Allocated fixed cost 0
Operating Departments Dept. X
Dept. Y
5,000
8,000
13,000
38.462%
61.538%
100.00%
10,000
15,000
25,000
40.00%
60.00%
100.00%
$ 24,000 45,000 69,000
$114,000 0 0 114,000
$75,000 (75,000) 0
$15,000 30,000 45,000
Total
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs Variable Cost Allocation: Allocation bases: # of employees
Maintenance hours Variable costs: 18,000 Physical plant (18,000) Equipment maintenance Allocated variable cost 0
(60,000) 0
Total allocated cost (fixed + variable)
$
$
0
40
50
90
44.446%
55.556%
100.00%
200
400
600
33.333%
66.667%
100.00%
8,000 20,000 28,000
10,000 40,000 50,000
78,000 0 0 78,000
$73,000
$119,000
$192,000
60,000
0
8-7
B. Step-down method allocation, with physical plant costs allocated first Support Departments Physical Equipment Plant Maintenance Fixed Cost Allocation: Allocation bases: Square feet
$39,000 (39,000) 0
Total allocated cost (fixed + variable)
$
Total
5,000
8,000
16,900
29.586%
47.337%
100.00%
10,000
15,000
25,000
40%
60%
100.00%
$11,538 33,600 45,138
$ 18,462 50,400 68,862
$114,000 0 0 114,000
12
40
50
102
11.76%
39.22%
49.02%
100.00%
$75,000 9,000 (84,000) 0
Maintenance hours 18,000 (18,000)
Dept. Y
3,900
Variable Cost Allocation: Allocation bases: # of employees
Variable costs: Step 1: Physical plant Step 2: Equip. maint. Allocated variable cost
Dept. X
23.077%
Machine hours Fixed costs: Step 1: Physical plant Step 2: Equip. maint. Allocated fixed cost
Operating Departments
0
60,000 2,118 (62,118) 0
0
$
0
200
400
620
33.333%
66.667%
100.00%
7,059 20,706 27,765
8,823 41,412 50,235
78,000 0 0 78,000
$72,903
$119,097
$192,000
8-8
Cost Management C. Step-down method allocation, with equipment maintenance costs allocated first Support Departments Physical Equipment Plant Maintenance
Fixed Cost Allocation: Allocation bases: Machine hours
Dept. X
Dept. Y
Total
0
10,000
15,000
25,000
0.00%
40%
60%
100.00%
5,000
8,000
13,000
38.462%
61.538%
100.00%
$ 45,000 24,000 69,000
$114,000 0 0 114,000
Square feet Fixed costs: Step 1: Equip. maint. Step 2: Physical plant Allocated fixed cost
$39,000 0 (39,000) 0
Variable Cost Allocation: Allocation bases: Maintenance hours
Operating Departments
$75,000 (75,000) 0
$30,000 15,000 45,000
10
200
400
610
1.639%
32.787%
65.574%
100.00%
40
50
90
44.44%
55.56%
100.00%
19,672 8,437 28,109
39,344 10,547 49,891
78,000 0 0 78,000
$73,109
$118,891
$192,000
# of employees Variable costs: Step 1: Equip. maint. Step 2: Physical plant Allocated variable cost
18,000 984 (18,984) 0
60,000 (60,000) 0 0
Total allocated cost (fixed + variable)
$
$
0
0
D. Ideally, departments should be allocated in the order their services are used, with departments providing more services to other departments according to their rank of services provided. Because services can be difficult to measure, direct costs are often used as a measure of services provided.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs
8-9
8.18 The Brown and Brinkley Brokerage
A sample spreadsheet using Excel Solver for this problem is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). Below are manual calculations. Manual Calculations using Simultaneous Equations: Support Departments Research Administration Allocation Bases: Research hours Number of employees
Department costs: Payroll costs Other costs Total department costs
Operating Departments Institutional Retail
200 20%
500 50% 8 32%
300 30% 10 40%
1,000 100% 25 100.00%
$300,000 150,000 $450,000
$400,000 120,000 $520,000
$550,000 240,000 $790,000
$1,600,000 740,000 $2,340,000
7 28%
$350,000 230,000 $580,000
Total
Given the above calculations, create simultaneous equations for the support costs: Research = $580,000 + 28% x Administration Administration = $450,000 + 20% x Research Set the two equations equal to each other and solve for the fully allocated cost of one support department: Research = $580,000 + 28% x ($450,000 + 20% x Research) Research = $580,000 + $126,000 + 5.6% x Research 94.4% x Research = $706,000 Research = $706,000/94.4% = $747,881 Then solve for the fully allocated cost of the other support department: Administration = $450,000 + 20% x Research = $450,000 + 20% x $747,881 = $450,000 + $149,576 = $599,576
8-10 Cost Management Finally, allocate the full cost of each support department to all departments: Support Departments Research Administration Allocation Bases: Research hours Number of employees
Total department costs Cost allocations: Research Administration Total allocated costs
Operating Departments Institutional Retail
Total
200 20%
500 50% 8 32%
300 30% 10 40%
1,000 100% 25 100.00%
$580,000
$450,000
$ 520,000
$ 790,000
$2,340,000
(747,881) 167,881 $ 0
149,576 (599,576) $ 0
373,941 191,864 $1,085,805
224,364 239,831 $1,254,195
0 0 $2,340,000
7 28%
8.19 Paul’s Valley Protection Service
A sample spreadsheet using Solver for this problem is av ailable on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). Below are manual calculations. Manual Calculations using Simultaneous Equations:
Let S1, S2 and S3 represent the full cost of providing each department's service. The simultaneous equations for support department costs are: S1 = $30,000 + 0.1xS2 + 0.2xS3 S2 = $20,000 + 0.4xS1 + 0.2xS3 S3 = $40,000 + 0.1xS1 + 0.2xS2 Substitute S1 into the equation for S2 and solve for S2: S2 = $20,000 + 0.4($30,000 + 0.1xS2 + 0.2xS3) + 0.2xS3 S2 = $20,000 + $12,000 + 0.04xS2 + 0.08xS3 + 0.2xS3 0.96xS2 = $32,000 + 0.28xS3 S2 = $33,333.33 + 0.291667xS3 Substitute S1 into the equation for S3: S3 = $40,000 + 0.1($30,000 + 0.1xS2 + 0.2xS3) + 0.2xS2 S3 = $40,000 + $3,000 + 0.01xS2 + 0.02xS3 + 0.2xS2 0.98xS3 = $43,000 + .21xS2 Substitute S2 into the equation for S3 and solve for S3: 0.98xS3 = $43,000 + 0.21($33,333.33 + 0.291667xS3) 0.91875xS3 = $43,000 + $7,000 S3 = $54,422
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-11 Substitute S3 back into the equation for S2 and solve for S3: S2 = $33,333.33 + 0.291667($54,422) = $49,206 Substitute S2 and S3 back into the equation for S1 and solve for S1: S1 = $30,000 + 0.1($49,206) + 0.2($54,422) = $45,805 Finally, support costs are allocated to all of the departments: Support Departments S1 S2 S3 40% 10% 10% 20% 20% 20%
S1 S2 S3 Department Costs Cost Allocations: S1 S2 S3 Total Allocated Cost
$30,000
$20,000
$40,000
(45,805) 49,201 10,884 $ 0
18,322 (49,206) 10,884 $ 0
4,581 9,841 (54,422) $ 0
Operating Departments P1 P2 P3 20% 20% 10% 20% 50% 10% 40% 10%
Total 100% 100% 100% $90,000
$ 9,161 9,841 5,442 $24,444
$ 9,161 0 21,769 $30,930
$ 4,581 24,603 5,442 $34,625
$
0 0 0 $90,000
8.20 Software Plus Corporation
A sample spreadsheet showing the calculations for this problem under the direct, step-down, and reciprocal methods is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). A. Software Plus has been using the step-down method that reflects half of the support department interactions. The costs of support departments are allocated one at a time. Once the costs of a particular support department are allocated, that department does not receive allocations from the remaining support departments. B. The direct method ignores all of the support department interactions. The costs of all support departments are allocated directly to operating departments. No support department costs are allocated to other support e departments. C. The reciprocal method uses all of the support department interactions. The costs of support departments are allocated simultaneously to each other, an d then support department costs are allocated to operating departments. D. The following solution for the step-down method allocates the costs of Information Systems first. This department was chosen because it is largest with respect to direct support department costs. The costs of Information Systems are allocated to the other departments based on the percentages given in the problem. Administration is the next largest support department, so it is allocated second. When reviewing the allocation for Administration, remember that Information Systems is now
8-12 Cost Management out of the allocation, so the allocation percentages need to be adjusted. The percentage of Administration service remaining is (100%-50%), or 50%. To allocate Administration’s cost to Maintenance, divide 10% by 50%, so Maintenance receives 1/5, or 20% of Administration cost. Also note that the total cost allocated for Administration is $50,000, which is equal to the direct cost of $40,000 plus the $10,000 allocated from Information Systems. The final support department allocated is Maintenance. Because costs for all other support departments have already been allocated, Maintenance costs are allocated only to the operating departments. The total cost allocated is $34,000, which is the sum of Maintenance direct costs ($20,000) plus the costs allocated from Information Systems ($2,500) and Administration ($11,500). Support Departments Admin. Maint. Info. Sys. Allocation Percentages: Step 1: Information Systems Step 2: Administration Step 3: Maintenance Direct Support Costs Allocations: Step 1: Information Systems Step 2: Administration Step 3: Maintenance Total Allocated Costs
20% 20% — 10%/50% — —
Operating Departments Games Simulation
— 40% — 10%/50% — 40%/70%
$40,000
$20,000
$50,000
17,500 (57,500) 0 $ 0
2,500 11,500 (34,000) $ 0
(50,000) 0 0 $ 0
20% 30%/50% 30%/70%
Total 100% 100% 100% $110,000
20,000 11,500 19,429 $50,929
10,000 34,500 14,571 $59,071
0 0 0 $110,000
E. When Administration is allocated using the direct method, only the percentages from Games and Simulations departments are used. So, Games receives 10%/(10%+30%) ,or 1/4 of Administration’s cost, and Simulations receives the remaining 3/4 of cost. For the allocation of Maintenance, 40%/(40%+30%), or 57.143% goes to Games and the remaining 42.857% goes to Simulations. Information Systems costs are allocated in a similar manner. Support Departments Admin. Maint. Info. Sys. Allocation Percentages: Administration Maintenance Information Systems Direct Support Costs Allocations: Administration Maintenance Information Systems Total Allocated Costs
Operating Departments Games Simulation 10%.40% 40%/70% 40%/60%
$40,000
$20,000
$50,000
(40,000) 0 0 $ 0
0 (20,000) 0 $ 0
0 0 (50,000) $ 0
30%/40% 30%/70% 20%/60%
Total 100% 100% 100% $110,000
$10,000 11,429 33,333 $54,762
$30,000 8,571 16,667 $55,238
0 0 0 $110,000
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-13 F. Below is the solution under the reciprocal method. This solution was obtained using Solver with the following simultaneous equations: Admin = $40,000 + 20%Maint + 20%Info Maint = $20,000 + 10%Admin + 20%Info Info = $50,000 + 50%Admin + 10%Maint Support Departments Admin. Maint. Info. Sys. Use of Services: Administration Maintenance Information Systems Direct Support Costs Allocations: Administration Maintenance Information Systems Total Allocated Costs
— 20% 35%
10% — 5%
50% 10% —
$40,000
$20,000
$50,000
(78,964) 6,507 32,457 $ 0
7,896 (32,533) 4,637 $ 0
39,482 3,253 (92,735) $ 0
Operating Departments Games Simulation 10% 40% 40%
Total
30% 30% 20%
100% 100% 100% $110,000
7,896 13,013 37,094 $58,004
23,689 9,760 18,547 $51,996
0 0 0 $110,000
G. The direct method does not reflect any of the interactions among support departments. The step-down method improves upon this by allocating the costs of each support department to other support departments and operating departments, starting with the department that provides the most service (sometimes measured by the total direct costs assuming that larger departments provide more services to other departments). After each department’s cost is allocated, that department drops out of the allocation scheme, so that not all interactions are reflected, but at least some of them are. H. The reciprocal method improves upon the step-down method by reflecting all of the support department interactions.
8.21 Lake County Library
A sample spreadsheet for this problem is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). A. The only cost not already assigned is the building lease cost of $24,000. Either number of employees or square feet can be used as an allocation base. Square feet is a more logical base, reflecting the amount of space each department occupies. For example, the Janitorial department occupies 500/2,500 square feet, so it is allocated 20% of the lease cost. Total costs assigned to each department are computed by adding direct costs to allocated lease costs. Below is an excerpt from the sample spreadsheet for this problem:
8-14 Cost Management Problem 8.21: Lake County Library
Direct Costs Salaries Supplies Other Costs Building lease Total Costs
Janitorial $20,000 5,000
Administration $40,000 5,000
Books $50,000 15,000
Other Media $70,000 25,000
Total $180,000 50,000 24,000 $254,000
Allocation Base Volumes Square feet Number of employees
500 1
500 1
1,200 2
300 1
2,500 5
20% $4,800
20% $4,800
48% $11,520
12% $2,880
100% $24,000
Building Lease Allocation:
% square feet Allocation Total Assigned Costs
$29,800
$49,800
$76,520
$97,880
$254,000
B. This problem is very similar to direct method problems illustrated in the chapter. However, students need to identify the departments that provide support services (administration and janitorial) and the operating departments (books and other media). The solution shown below assumes that janitorial services are allocated using square feet and administration is allocated using number of employees. Here is an excerpt from the sample spreadsheet for this problem: DIRECT METHOD ALLOCATION
Support Departments Janitorial Administration Allocation Bases: Square feet
1,200 80.00% 2 66.67%
Number of employees
Total Assigned Costs Allocations: Janitorial Administration Total Allocated Costs
Operating Departments Books Other Media 300 20.00% 1 33.33%
Total 1,500 100% 3 100%
$29,800
$49,800
$76,520
$97,880
$254,000
(29,800) 0 $0
0 (49,800) $0
23,840 33,200 $133,560
5,960 16,600 $120,440
0 0 $254,000
C. Under the step-down method, it is necessary to identify the support department that provides the most services. Because Administration is the largest department when comparing support department costs, it will be allocated first. Below is an excerpt from the sample spreadsheet for this problem.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-15 STEP-DOWN METHOD ALLOCATION
Support Departments Janitorial Administration
Operating Departments Books Other Media
Allocation Bases: Square feet Number of employees
Total Assigned Costs Allocations: Administration Janitorial Total Allocated Costs
1,200 80.00% 2 50%
1 25%
300 20.00% 1 25%
Total 1,500 100% 4 100%
$29,800
$49,800
$76,520
$97,880
$254,000
12,450 (42,250) $0
(49,800) 0 $0
24,900 33,800 $135,220
12,450 8,450 $118,780
0 0 $254,000
D. Under the reciprocal method, the simultaneous equations for the support department allocations are developed first. Simultaneous equations: Admin = $49,800 + (500/2,000 square feet) x Janitor Janitor = $29,800 + (1/4 employees) x Admin Here are calculations for solving the simultaneous equations manually. First substitute the Janitor equation into the Admin equation and solve for Admin: Admin = $49,800 + (500/2,000) x [$29,800 + (1/4) x Admin] Admin = $49,800 + $7,450 + 0.0625 Admin Admin = $57,250/0.9375 = $61,067 Now substitute Admin into the Janitor equation and solve for Janitor: Janitor = $29,800 + (1/4) x $61,067 = $45,067 Below is an excerpt from the sample spreadsheet for this problem. It shows the results using Excel Solver to solve the simultaneous equations and allocate the support department costs. Support Departments Janitorial Administration Allocation Bases: Square feet Number of employees
Total Assigned Costs Allocations: Administration Janitorial Total Allocated Costs
500 25% 1 25%
Operating Departments Books Other Media 1,200 60% 2 50%
300 15% 1 25%
Total 2,000 100% 4 100%
$29,800
$49,800
$76,520
$97,880
$254,000
15,267 (45,067) $0
(61,067) 11,267 $0
30,533 27,040 $134,093
15,267 6,760 $119,907
0 0 $254,000
8-16 Cost Management
8.22 Monty
A. Under the stand-alone method, the Frankfurt outlet would pay €250/(€250+€200)* €300 = $167, and Paris would pay the remaining €133. B. Under the incremental cost-allocation method the cost to Frankfurt’s outlet would be €250, and the cost to the Paris outlet would be €50 (€300-€250). C. A criterion is needed to evaluate fairness. In this particular problem, the perception of fairness probably depends on each individual manager’s view. From the perspective of the Frankfurt manager, the difference between the two costs depended only on who called first. If Paris had called at a later time, after the airfare to Frankfurt had already been booked, the cost to Paris would have been the complete round trip fare from London. Thus, the Frankfurt managers would consider the stand-alone method to be fairer than the incremental cost-allocation method. However, the Paris manager would probably argue the other way around. Another way to split the cost between the two outlets would be for each outlet to pay 50% of the total fare. This may be perceived as the most fair. For this specific problem, the differences in amounts that each outlet pays are small, so fairness may not be an issue. However, when differences are larger, perceptions of fairness become more important.
8.23 Kovacik
A sample spreadsheet for this problem is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). A. Under the step-down method, the direct costs of Information Systems are allocated first because they are larger than the direct costs for the other support department (Engineering). In the first step, Information Systems costs are allocated to all other departments using the percent of services used as given in the problem. In the second step, the percentages for Engineering and Design must be adjusted to remove the percent of services used by Information Systems. Thus, the percent allocated to the Plain Bank department is 40%/(100%-10%), or 44.444%. The percent allocated to the Javelina Bank department is 50%/(100%-10%), or 55.5556%. The total cost allocated in step 2 of $4,300 is equal to the Engineering and Design direct costs of $2,700 plus $1,600 in costs allocated from Information Systems.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-17 Support Departments Operating Departments Engineering Information and Design Systems Plain Bank Javelina Bank
Allocation Bases: Information systems Engineering and design
20%
Direct Costs $2,700 Allocations: Step 1: Information systems 1,600 Step 2: Engineering and design (4,300) Total Allocated Costs $ 0
Total
30%
50%
44.4444%
55.5556%
100% 100%
$8,000
$10,000
$20,000
$40,700
(8,000) 0 $ 0
2,400 1,911 $14,311
4,000 2,389 $26,389
0 0 $40,700
B. Calculation of estimated total allocated cost per unit using costs calculated under the step-down method: Allocated Cost/Production Volume Plain bank $14,311/8,000 units Javelina bank $26,389/4,000 units
Allocated Cost Per Unit $1.789 $6.597
C. Actual total allocated costs will be different than budgeted total allocated costs because budgets never exactly predict costs or production levels. Production levels change because of unanticipated changes in product demand, unexpected production stoppages, delays in receipt of materials, and so on. There are many reasons for actual costs differing from budgeted costs, such as: * *
* *
*
There can be unexpected inflation or deflation in the costs of materials, labor, supplies, etc. Employment levels fluctuate because employees leave unexpectedly, it takes longer than expected to hire new employees, or management decides to change the number or types of employees. Unanticipated new types of materials, designs, or technologies can be adopted, altering production costs. Capacity constraints occur if demand is higher than usual. As organizations near their capacity levels, costs of congestion increase and money may be spent to relax the constraint. Changes in product design or the manufacturing process affect the amount and cost of materials and labor.
D. Under the reciprocal method, the simultaneous equations for the two support departments are: Engineer = $2,700 + 20% Info Info = $8,000 + 10% Engineer
8-18 Cost Management Substituting Engineer into the Info equation and solving for Info: Info = $8,000 + 10% ($2,700 + 20% Info) 0.98 Info = $8,000 + $270 Info = $8,439 Substituting Info back into the equation for Engineer: Engineer = $2,700 + 20% ($8,439) = $4,388 The cost allocations are performed as follows: Support Departments Operating Departments Engineering Information and Design Systems Plain Bank Javelina Bank
Services used: Engineering and design Information systems Direct Costs Allocations: Engineering and design Information systems Total Allocated Costs
Total
10%
40% 30%
50% 50%
100% 100%
$2,700
$8,000
$10,000
$20,000
$40,700
(4,388) 1,688 $ 0
439 (8,439) $ 0
1,755 2,532 $14,287
2,194 4,219 $26,413
0 0 $40,700
20%
E. Calculation of estimated total allocated cost per unit using costs calculated under the reciprocal method: Allocated Cost/Production Volume Plain bank $14,287/8,000 units Javelina bank $26,413/4,000 units
Allocated Cost Per Unit $1.786 $6.603
F. Several factors that need to be considered are competitors’ prices, the relation between price and demand, and external factors such as the state of the economy and the industry within which the business operates. Often, an organization cannot set a price that differs much from competitors’ prices. If this is the case for Kovacik, the price should be set according to the market price regardless of total allocated cost.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-19
PROBLEMS 8.24 Physician Brother
A. Both methods are appropriate for allocating support department costs to health program departments. The step-down method ranks support departments in order of service provided and then allocates their costs to other departments according to a cascading method. The support department providing most services is allocated first to all other departments, and is then dropped from the allocation process. Next, the support department providing the second-most services is allocated to the remaining departments, and then it drops out, and so on until all support department costs are allocated. Therefore, this method partially takes into account the fact that the support departments provide services for each other. The reciprocal method uses simultaneous equations to reflect all of the services provided among the support departments. Therefore, the reciprocal method more accurately measures support department costs before those costs are allocated to the health program departments. B. Here are some factors that the physician should consider to choose the best allocation method and best allocation bases. Choosing the allocation method : If you only have a few support activities, the two methods are likely to produce similar allocations. However, the step-down method is easier to calculate and understand, so you may prefer that method. Alternatively, if there are a number of support departments, you will want to use the reciprocal method because it more accurately measures the cost of support services. You can either purchase software for these allocations, or I can set up a spreadsheet and show you how to use it. Choosing an allocation base: An allocation base is some measure of activity that is used to determine the amount of a support department’s cost that is allocated to each of the other departments. Ideally, you would like to choose allocation bases that are also cost drivers, that is, they cause costs to vary. For example, the number of patients would be a good allocation base for the cost of medical records because costs such as supplies and employee time are likely to vary with the number of patients. Square footage might be a good allocation base for the cost of janitorial services because those costs might vary with the square feet of space that is cleaned. If you choose cost drivers for allocation bases, the resulting allocations do a better job of measuring the use of resources. Give some thought to what might cause costs to change when you choose allocation bases for each cost pool.
C. The types of costs in a cost pool depend on the size and structure of the organization and also the manner of service provision. Some organizations may own no vehicles and incur costs only for renting and operating vehicles. Other organizations may have a large motor pool that requires a manager and several employees to maintain the vehicles.
8-20 Cost Management 8.25 Defense Contractor
A. Examples include: new product design, design of the manufacturing process, product redesign, and product testing. B. Possible allocation bases: * * * *
New product design: number of new products, labor hours Design of manufacturing process: labor hours, number of designs Product redesign: number of engineering change orders Product testing: number of hours in testing, number of products tested
C. Factors to consider in choosing cost pools and allocation bases: * * * *
The cost and benefit tradeoffs for collecting information. Whether cost can be measured accurately for each pool. Whether the activity uses as an allocation base that can be measured accurately. Whether the activity uses as an allocation base that reflects the flow of resources used, at least partially.
8.26 Space Products
A. Step-down method allocation: Administrative MIS Direct costs $ 600,000 $ 200,000 Allocation of Administrative Costs: Number of Employees Percent Cost (600,000) Allocation of MIS Costs: CPUs Percent Cost Total Allocated Cost
$
0
Commercial $2,000,000
10 10% 60,000
$(260,000) $ 0
40 40% 240,000
Military $4,000,000
50 50% 300,000
30 70 30% 70% 78,000 182,000 $2,318,000 $4,482,000
Support dept costs allocated to Military: Total allocated cost less direct cost $4,482,000 - $4,000,000 = $482,000 B. Average Cost Per Military Satellite = Total allocated cost ÷ Number of satellites produced = $4,482,000 ÷ 100 = $44,820
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-21 C. The average cost is most likely an overstatement of incremental cost. The average cost includes fixed costs, which do not vary with the level of production (in the short run). D. Direct method allocation; Maximum support costs allocated to military DOD allocation bases for Administrative: Commercial Direct costs $2,000,000 (33%) Employees 40 (44%)
Military $4,000,000 (67%) 50 (56%)
More administrative costs would be allocated to Military if direct costs were used as the allocation base (because 67% is greater than 56%). DOD allocation bases for MIS: Direct costs CPUs
Commercial $2,000,000 (33%) 30 (30%)
Military $4,000,000 (67%) 70 (70%)
In this case, CPUs would maximize the cost allocated to the Military division. Allocations: Administrative (based on direct costs) MIS (based on CPUs) Total Allocated Support Costs
Commercial $200,000 $ 60,000 $260,000
Military $400,000 $ 140,000 $540,000
E. Policy to Maximize DOD Contribution 1. The DOD does not mandate a single allocation method because different defense contractors are organized differently and have different types of costs. In addition, there is always discretion because there are uncertainties in defining cost pools, assigning costs to cost pools, and specifying allocation bases. It would be impossible to prescribe a single allocation method that would accurately measure support costs on defense contracts and that would be fair to all contractors. 2. As a taxpayer, I would prefer that the cost be allocated in a manner that fairly represents the amount of overhead used by military projects. I would prefer not to subsidize the overhead costs of a private corporation. 3. As a competitor, I would prefer that the cost be allocated in such a manner that the contractor did not have an unfair competitive advantage. The government should pay its fair share, but no more. I would like to see some benchmark information about the amount of internal support department cost per job for commercial versus government contracts.
8-22 Cost Management 8.27 Food on Wheels
A. Uncertainties in cost classification: 1. The newsletter costs have no clear classification because the function of the newsletter seems to be partly fundraising and partly educational. Perhaps the cost should be allocated between fundraising and program. However, it might not be possible to identify an appropriate allocation base to separate these activities. Also, it could be argued that providing recipes is not educational. However, the recipes are most likely designed to save costs and to be nutritious, which would support their classification as educational. In addition, classification as “educational” does not necessarily mean that the newsletter is a program activity. On the one hand, knowledge about the needs of low-income individuals is probably conveyed through the newsletter. Educating the public and promoting greater awareness can be important program goals for a charitable organization. It can also be important for the public to learn about the activities of charitable organizations. On the other hand, the newsletter probably provides little, if any, direct benefit to the target of its charitable mission—low-income individuals who are unable to leave their homes. 2. Classification of the director’s salary and benefits is uncertain because the proportion of cost is unknown that relates to fundraising activities, to administration, or to program activities. Even if detailed information were available about the time the director spends on various activities, there would still be uncertainty abou t whether to use time spent to assign her salary and benefits. An alternative might be to identify the proportion of “value” she devotes to various activities. In addition, some of the director’s activities probably relate to more than one cost category. For example, her time at a board of director’s meeting might be considered administrative. However, the board probably discusses program issues such as whether to hire a new cook or to purchase a new delivery vehicle. She might also persuade board members to donate money while at a meeting. B. This situation involves an ethical dilemma for the bookkeeper, who must decide how to assign costs. It also involves an ethical dilemma for the director, who is responsible for the financial statements. Both of these individuals have a responsibility to the organization, to individuals who receive the organization’s services, and to donors and other parties who rely on its financial statements. This situation involves a possible conflict of interest among interested parties, and requires the bookkeeper and director to apply judgment, along with personal and organizational values, in deciding what to do. C. The director probably prefers to classify costs as related to the program cost pool. A larger proportion of program costs makes the organization look more efficient in its use of resources, and also gives the appearance of appropriate effort from management. D. Donors would prefer costs to be assigned in an unbiased way—program costs should include the resources used for program purposes, fundraising costs should include resources used for raising money, and administrative costs should include resources used for general management of the organization. However, as discussed in Part A above, there are many uncertainties about classification. Therefore, it is also not clear how the donors would prefer to see these costs classified.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-23
E. Because of the incentives discussed in C above, costs are likely to be classified in the program cost pool when (1) the classification is uncertain and (2) a reasonable argument can be made for classification as program. This creates a bias in favor of classifying costs as program. Accordingly, program costs on average are likely to be overstated. F. This is an open-ended problem, so there is no single solution. It is possible to argue for different types of allocations. The best solutions: (1) take into account uncertainties about how the costs should be classified, and (2) are designed to create an unbiased classification of costs (i.e., to avoid misleading donors and others).
8.28 Middletown Clinic
A sample spreadsheet using Solver for the allocations in this problem is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). A. Following is a diagram of the direct method allocation for Middletown Children’s Clinic. Support Departments
Operating Departments
Units Medical Patient Visits
Administration Medical Department Cost Pool Accounting
Housekeeping
Dental Department Cost Pool
Dental Patient Visits
8-24 Cost Management B. Following is the dual-rate, direct method allocation for Middletown Children’s Clinic. Support Departments Administration Accounting Housekeeping
Operating Departments Medical Dental
Total
Allocation Bases: Variable and fixed administration costs: Number of employees
5
Variable and fixed accounting costs: Time spent accounting Variable housekeeping costs: Time spent cleaning Fixed housekeeping costs: Square feet
3
8
62.5000%
37.5000%
100%
(50%/75%) 67%
(25%/75%) 33%
100%
(55%/85%) 65%
(30%/85%) 35%
100%
8,000 88.8889%
1,000 11.1111%
9,000 100%
Cost Allocations: Direct support costs $61,400 Allocate administration: Variable (11,052) Fixed (50,348) Allocate accounting: Variable Fixed Allocate housekeeping: Variable Fixed Total Support Allocations $ 0
$36,840
$60,360
$158,600 $
(9,210) (27,630)
$
0
(30,180) (30,180) $ 0
6,908 31,468
$ 4,145 18,881
0 0
6,140 18,420
3,070 9,210
0 0
19,528 26,827 $109,290
10,652 3,353 $49,310
0 0 $158,600
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-25 C. Following is a diagram of the step-down method allocation for Middletown Children’s Clinic. Step 1 Allocation: Other Support Departments:
Administration
Accounting Housekeeping Operating Departments
Medical Department Cost Pool Dental Department Cost Pool Step 2 Allocation: Other Support Department:
Accounting
Administration
Operating Departments:
Medical Department Cost Pool Dental Department Cost Pool
8-26 Cost Management Step 3 Allocation: Operating Departments:
Medical Patient Visits
Medical Department Cost Pool
Accounting
Dental Patient Visits
Dental Department Cost Pool
D. When performing dual-rate allocations under the step-down method, it is necessary to decide whether to rank supports based on their total services performed, or to rank them separately for fixed and variable support services. Solutions for both approaches are shown below. (Differences in addition are due to rounding.) Approach #1: Rank support departments based on total services (fixed and variable costs) Under this approach, Administration costs are allocated first because its total direct c osts are greater than the other two support departments. Housekeeping is allocated second, and Accounting is allocated third. Support Departments Administration Housekeeping Accounting
Operating Departments Medical Dental
Total
Allocation Bases: Variable and fixed administration costs: Number of employees Variable housekeeping costs: Time spent cleaning Fixed housekeeping costs: Square feet Variable and fixed accounting costs: Time spent accounting
2 18.1818%
1 9.0909%
5 45.4545%
3 27.2727%
11 100%
(5%/90%) 5.5556%
(55%/90%) 61.1111%
(30%/90%) 33.3333%
100%
300 3.2258%
8,000 86.0215%
1,000 10.7527%
9,300 100%
50%/75% 66.6667%
25%/75% 33.3333%
100%
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-27 Cost Allocations: Direct support costs $61,400 Step 1: Administration Variable (11,052) Fixed (50,348) Step 2: Housekeeping Variable Fixed Step 3: Accounting Variable Fixed Total Support Allocations $ 0
$36,840
$60,360
2,009 9,154
1,005 4,577
(32,189) (39,334)
1,788 1,269
$
0
(12,003) (33,476) $ 0
$158,600 $
5,024 22,885
$ 3,014 13,731
0 0
19,671 33,836
10,730 4,229
0 0
8,002 22,317 $111,736
4,001 11,159 $46,864
0 0 $158,600
Approach #2: Rank support departments separately for fixed and variable cost allocations For variable support costs under this approach, Housekeeping costs are allocated first because its direct variable costs are greater than the other two support departments. Administration is allocated second, and Accounting is allocated third. For fixed support costs, Administration is allocated first, Housekeeping second, and Accounting third. Support Departments Administration Housekeeping Accounting
Operating Departments Medical Dental
Total
Variable Support Allocation Bases: Variable housekeeping costs: Time spent cleaning
10%
Variable administration costs: Number of employees
5%
55%
30%
100%
1 11.1111%
5 55.5556%
3 33.3333%
9 100%
50%/75% 66.6667%
25%/75% 33.3333%
100%
1 9.0909%
5 45.4545%
3 27.2727%
11 100%
300 3.2258%
8,000 86.0215%
1,000 10.7527%
9,300 100%
50%/75% 66.6667%
25%/75% 33.3333%
100%
$ 9,054 4,690 4,094 17,838
$ 50,442 0 0 0 50,442
Variable accounting costs: Time spent accounting
Fixed Support Allocation Bases: Fixed administration costs: Number of employees
2 18.1818%
Fixed housekeeping costs: Square feet Fixed accounting costs: Time spent accounting
Variable Cost Allocations: Variable support costs Step 1: Housekeeping Step 2: Administration Step 3: Accounting Total Variable
$11,052 3,018 (14,070) 0
$30,180 (30,180)
0
$ 9,210 1,509 1,563 (12,282) 0
$ 16,599 7,817 8,188 32,604
8-28 Cost Management Fixed Cost Allocations: Fixed support costs Step 1: Administration Step 2: Housekeeping Step 3: Accounting Total Fixed
$50,348 (50,348)
Total Allocations
$
$30,180 9,154 (39,334)
0 0
$
0
$27,630 4,577 1,269 (33,476) 0
0
$
0
22,885 33,836 22,317 79,038
13,731 4,229 11,159 29,119
108,158 0 0 0 108,158
$111,642
$46,958
$158,600
E. The dual-rate method requires two sets of simultaneous equations for the reciprocal allocations. Variable support cost simultaneous equations ( Note: These equations were shown in the textbook on page 313): Administration = $11,052 + 15%*Accounting + 10%*Housekeeping Accounting = $9,210 + (1/11)*Administration + 5%*Housekeeping Housekeeping = $30,180 + (2/11)*Administration + 10%*Accounting Fixed support cost simultaneous equations: Administration = $50,348 + (600/9,900)*Housekeeping + 15% * Accounting Accounting = $27,630 + (1/11)*Administration + 300/9,900)*Housekeeping Housekeeping = $30,180 + (2/11)*Administration + 10%*Accounting
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-29 F. Below is an excerpt from the sample spreadsheet for this problem, showing the variable support cost allocation under the reciprocal method. Except for minor rounding differences, these allocations agree with those shown in Exhibit 8.12, textbook page 315. RECIPROCAL ALLOCATIONS FOR VARIABLE SUPPORT COSTS Support Departments Administration Accounting Housekeeping
Allocation Bases: Variable and fixed administration costs: Number of employees
1 9.0909%
Variable and fixed accounting costs: Time spent accounting
15%
Variable housekeeping costs: Time spent cleaning
10%
Operating Departments Medical Dental
Total
2 18.1818%
5 45.4545%
3 27.2727%
11 100%
10%
50%
25%
100%
55%
30%
100%
5%
Solver for Variable Costs Admin
Account
House
Change cells for Solver
$16,354
$12,416
$34,395
Simultaneous equations
$16,354
$12,416
$34,395
Target function: $63,166 Support Departments Administration Accounting Housekeeping
Varible Support Costs Variable Support Allocations: Administration Accounting Housekeeping Total Variable Allocations
$11,052
$9,210
$30,180
(16,354) 1,862 3,440 $0
1,487 (12,416) 1,720 $0
2,973 1,242 (34,395) $0
Operating Departments Medical Dental
Total
$50,442 $7,434 6,208 18,917 $32,559
$4,460 3,104 10,319 $17,883
0 0 0 $50,442
8-30 Cost Management Below is an excerpt from the sample spreadsheet for this problem, showing the fixed support cost allocation under the reciprocal method. Except for minor rounding differences, these allocations agree with those shown in Exhibit 8.12, textbook page 315. RECIPROCAL ALLOCATIONS FOR FIXED SUPPORT COSTS Support Departments Administration Accounting Housekeeping
Allocation Bases: Variable and fixed administration costs: Number of employees
1 9.0909%
Variable and fixed accounting costs: Time spent accounting Fixed housekeeping costs: Square feet
Total
2 18.1818%
5 45.4545%
3 27.2727%
11 100%
10%
50%
25%
100%
15%
600 6.0606%
Operating Departments Medical Dental
300 3.0303%
8,000 80.8081%
1,000 10.1010%
9,900 100%
Solver for Fixed Costs Admin
Account
House
Change cells for Solver
$58,164
$34,256
$44,181
Simultaneous equations
$58,164
$34,256
$44,181
Target function: $136,602 Support Departments Administration Accounting Housekeeping
Fixed Support Costs Fixed Support Allocations: Administration Accounting Housekeeping Total Fixed Allocations
$50,348
$27,630
$30,180
(58,164) 5,138 2,678 ($0)
5,288 (34,256) 1,339 $0
10,575 3,426 (44,181) $0
Operating Departments Medical Dental
26,438 17,128 35,702 $79,268
15,863 8,564 4,463 $28,890
Total $108,158
0 0 0 $108,158
Here is a summary of the reciprocal method variable and fixed support cost allocations to the operating departments:
Variable support costs Fixed support costs Total allocation
Operating Departments Medical Dental $ 32,559 $17,883 79,268 28,890 $111,827 $46,773
Total $ 50,442 108,158 $158,600
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-31 8.29 Danish Hospital A. The fixed costs should be allocated based on total activity during the period, which in this case is a month. If minutes are used as an allocation base, this means that total minutes per month must first be estimated.
Minutes per scan Times number of scans per month Total minutes per month Percent of Combined Minutes
Cancer 30 min 20 scans 600 minutes
Birth Defects 10 min 40 scans 400 minutes
60%
40%
Using total minutes per month as the allocation base, the cost allocations and cost per scan are calculated as follows:
Lease Operator salary Total allocated cost
Cancer $3,000 1,800 $4,800
Birth Defects $2,000 1,200 $3,200
Divided by number of scans
20 scans
40 scans
$240 100 $340
$ 80 50 $130
Allocated cost per scan Add direct costs per scan Total assigned cost per scan
Note: Caution should be exercised in interpreting the $340 as “the cost of a cancer scan.” It is the average cost, including allocated fixed costs. This cost does not represent the incremental cost of a cancer scan. B. Following is a comparison of the percent of costs that would be allocated to each type of scan under each of the allowed allocation bases:
Number of scans Minutes
Cancer 20 (33%) 600 (60%)
Birth Defects 40 (67%) 400 (40%)
The percent of costs allocated to cancer scans would be higher using minutes as an allocation base (60% of allocated costs, compared to only 33% using number of scans). Thus, the maximum reimbursement from the NIH would be achieved using minutes as the allocation base. As computed in part A, this means that the maximum reimbursement would be $340 per scan. C. Since there is ample idle capacity, the total amount of fixed costs would probably not be affected if the hospital receives the contract. The direct costs are primarily for supplies that are consumed with each scan, so these costs are probably variable. The relevant costs for this decision are the costs that Danish would charge under the contract. In this
8-32 Cost Management situation, incremental costs consist only of the direct costs. As long as the fee at least covers the direct cost per scan of $50, the hospital is not expected to lose money and more patients will be served. D. The minimum acceptable fixed fee is the fee that would cover the hospital’s incremental costs, as discussed in Part C. The calculation in Part C assumed that no fixed costs would change based on the state contract. However, the hospital managers cannot be certain that fixed costs would be unaffected by the contract. For example, demand for the machine is uncertain. More paying patients might need the machine, leading to a capacity constraint. In that case, the contract would cause the hospital to forego providing services to other patients (an opportunity cost). Even if no capacity constraint occurs, the hospital managers might want the state contract to cover some of its fixed costs. In that case, the managers would need to decide which fixed costs to include in the bid calculations. They cannot be certain which fixed costs to include because the inclusion of more costs would increase the bid price and reduce the likelihood of obtaining the contract. E. Possible arguments to discuss in favor of using total allocated costs: * * * * *
The organization calculates them for other reports, so the information is readily available. Because the information is available, the cost of providing reports for the state will be low if the hospital wins the contract. By incorporating overhead costs into the bid, the hospital can recover some of those costs. This cost measure approximates the complete cost of providing scan services, at the predicted volume levels It is not fair to require other hospital services to pay for support that is necessary for the scan services.
Possible arguments against using total allocated costs: *
It is not necessary to cover all costs; support costs such as administration are covered by the hospital’s primary activities * Part of the hospital’s mission is to serve indigent individuals; it is unfair to use a cost measure that might reduce the availability of services to those in need. * The hospital might lose the contract if it uses total allocated costs; another hospital could submit a lower cost bid. * The total allocated cost changes as volumes change. If the number of indigent patients varies widely from period to period, this cost can un derestimate or overestimate the hospital’s actual costs by large amounts. Factors such as economic changes and occasional flu epidemics that are worse than usual will affect volumes of indigent patients using services. F. This is an open-ended problem, so there is no single solution. It is possible to reasonably argue for several different types of cost to be included or excluded. The best solutions to this question provide: (1) a clear recommendation for the cost report, (2) reasonable arguments for the recommendation, (3) evidence of having considered multiple cost
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-33 measures, (4) evidence of having considered major issues, and (5) support for the hospital’s interests while also considering interests of other stakeholders, such as the state, taxpayers, and service recipients. In addition, the memo should follow proper formatting and conventions. It should be concise, but at the same time provide sufficient information for the reader to evaluate the quality of the recommendation and to draw his or her own conclusions. In this scenario, the memo can use technical accounting jargon because the hypothetical reader is the head of the accounting department. However, if the memo were written to a non-accountant, technical jargon should be avoided.
8.30 The Gleason Company
A. Building and grounds costs are most often allocated based on square feet. None of the other potential allocation bases relate to the services provided by building and grounds. The proportion of square feet used by each department is as follows: Administration
Square feet Percent Direct Costs Allocation: Building and grounds Total Assigned Costs
Cafeteria
Machining
Assembly
Total
500 5%
1,000 10%
3,500 35%
5,000 50%
10,000 100%
$78,270
$4,920
$104,100
$146,700
$333,990
2,051 $80,321
4,101 $9,021
14,353 $118,453
20,505 $167,205
41,010 $375,000
B. Administration provides services to other departments, making it a support department. Cafeteria provides meals for the employees, so it is a support department. Products are machined and assembled in Machining and Assembly. Because these products are then sold, these departments are considered operating departments. C. The support departments consist of Factory Administration and the Cafeteria, so this question requires selection and justification of an allocation base for the costs of each of these departments. This is an open-ended question; there is no single answer. The best solutions would evaluate the likelihood that a given allocation base would adequately differentiate between the service resources used by the other departments. This means that reasonable judgment needs to be applied in evaluating how well the various allocation base options would correlate with the use of service resources. Following are examples of reasonable arguments for each of the support departments: Allocation Base for Factory Administration: The services of Factory Administration relate to running the factory operations. Square feet might be a reasonable choice if administrative services are driven by the physical space a department occupies. However, this is unlikely. The number of purchase orders might be a reasonable choice if administrative services are driven by responsibility for departmental costs, which may be related to the effort involved in purchasing and paying for supplies. Using this same line of reasoning, the dollar amount of direct or assigned costs in each department might be appropriate as an allocation base. Direct labor hours, total labor hours, or number of
8-34 Cost Management employees are reasonable choices if administrative services tend to be driven by the management of employees. For Gleason, insufficient information is available about the types of activities that are most closely related to administration services. However, the management of employees is often the primary administrative service in a factory, and number of employees is likely to be representative of this effort. Therefore, the solution in Part D uses number of employees as the allocation base. Allocation Base for Cafeteria: The services of the Cafeteria relate to providing meals for employees. Because of this, a measure of employees (number or hours) would be the best choice. Because each employee would probably eat one or two meals a day, regardless of hours worked, hours may not reflect the use of meals as well as number of employees. In the following computations, the number of employees is used as the allocation base.
D. In this part, students are NOT asked to calculate total allocated costs. Instead, they are asked to calculate the amount of overhead costs allocated to each operating department using the step-down method and then to compute an overhead rate per direct labor hour. For this reason, the calculations shown below do not include the operating department direct costs. Although the number of employees is used to allocate the costs for both support departments, the percentages are different because (1) the total volume of the allocation base does not include the volume of the support department being allocated, and (2) under the step-down method the total volume of the allocation base used in the second step excludes the volume of the support department that was allocated in the first step. Support Departments Administration Cafeteria
Number of employees: For administration allocation
2 18.1818%
For cafeteria allocation 10% Support Costs (Part A) Allocations: Step 1: Administration Step 2: Cafeteria Allocated Overhead Costs Divide by direct labor hours Overhead rate per hour
$ 80,321 (80,321) $
0
Operating Departments Machining Assembly
4 36.3636% 4 44.4444%
5 45.4546% 5 55.5556%
$ 9,021 14,604 (23,625) $ 0
Total
11 100% 9 100% $89,342
$29,208 10,500 $39,708
$36,509 13,125 $49,634
3,000
6,000
$13.236
$8.272
0 0 $89,342
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-35 E. Calculate the plant-wide overhead rate by dividing total overhead costs by total direct labor hours as follows: Total overhead costs (Part B) / Total operating department direct labor hours = $89,342 / (3,000+6,000) = $9.927 F. When the step-down method is used, half of the support department interactions are reflected. Because assembly uses more direct labor hours than machining, it receives more overhead cost when direct labor hours are used in a plant-wide, single cost pool. Therefore, it receives more cost than if the services of departments are allocated based on use of the services. The opposite is true for the machining department; it receives less cost under a plant-wide allocation rate than when support costs are allocated based on services used. The step-down method more accurately reflects the use of resources. G. An advantage of this method is that it is easy to calculate and understand. A disadvantage is that the cost per labor hour is likely to be high because it includes fixed costs that do not change with the number of employees or hours worked. High charges could lead other departments to consider reducing the number of employees in the department by outsourcing some service or product when it may not be cost effective to outsource. Another disadvantage is that the allocation does not attempt to match the flow of resources to products, so some products will appear to be subsidizing other products because overhead resources used by all products is aggregated into only one pool. H. The machining department manager would consider the cost of outsourcing versus the cost of using direct labor. Quality could also be a factor. In addition, the manager would want to know how department performance would appear to change as a result of outsourcing. If the manager receives a bonus based on the department’s performance (including allocated costs) and is able to offload part of the overhead allocation by reducing use of labor hours, then he/she would have a greater incentive to outsource. I. The Director of Finance would be unhappy with the decision to outsource. The overhead that is not allocated to machining is spread among other departments, so the overhead allocations to other departments increase. Because the machining manager’s decision increases incremental costs and does not reduce any of the overhead costs, it increases total cost and is suboptimal for the company as a whole.
8.31 Steve Kurl
A. There are many uncertainties in allocating overhead costs to each game, and these uncertainties affect the allocation of costs and, in turn, the measurement of profits. For example, until the season is over, no one knows how many games will be played. Therefore, it is difficult to use number of games as the allocation base. If more games are played than planned, there will also be extra overhead cost incurred, so uncertainties exist about the dollar amount that needs to be allocated. If the number of total hours played is used, these would change with number of games played. The number of players per game could be used, especially if a lot of overhead expense is tied to providing support
8-36 Cost Management for the players (physicians, coaches, etc.) The problem with this measure is that it will change if someone is injured or expelled for a number of games. In addition, the amount of overhead costs that should be allocated against the profits of each game is uncertain. At one extreme, it is possible to argue that administrative costs are not expenses at all for individual games because those costs are fixed and must be incurred to run the organization. When Steve signed his contract, he might not have considered the possibility that any administrative expenses would be allocated to each game. The owners, not surprisingly, would argue the opposite extreme—that all administrative costs occur because of the games and should be total allocated. B. This is an ethical issue for the owners, managers, and accountants of the team. From Steve’s perspective, the team is unfairly allocating overhead expense. Even if the parties agree that overhead should be allocated to each game, the method being used is likely to allocate more costs than the team incurs when there are post-season games. If the allocated overhead is larger than actual overhead and no adjustments are made when profits are measured for player bonuses, Steve’s bonus is smaller than it should be. The owners, managers, and accountants of the team might not view this as unfair to Steve because they might believe that team players are highly compensated through their regular contracts. However, they have an ethical responsibility for fairness in the way they report profits for each game. C. If the budget is based on the number of regular season games, then the allocation might be unbiased if the team fails to play post-season games. However, when the team plays championship games the total amount of allocated overhead is likely to exceed total actual overhead. This bias occurs because many of the overhead costs are likely to be fixed and do not increase proportionately with post-season play. On the other hand, player strikes can cause fewer games to be played. This could cause total allocated overhead to be less than actual costs. D. Some amount of administration work and public relations work needs to be performed for each game. Presumably, these services contribute to both the team’s win-loss record and to ticket sales revenue and, thus, affect the profits of each game. In addition, some portion of these costs is likely to be variable. Additional costs are probably incurred during post-season play. E. Many of the administration and public relations costs are likely to be fixed costs and should not change with number of games. Therefore, any allocation based on number of games is arbitrary and inaccurate. Also, there are questions about what it means to measure the profit of each game. Perhaps overhead costs do not belong in a measure of game profitability. F. This is an open-ended problem, so there is no single solution. If students decide that it is fair to allocate both fixed and variable administration and public relations costs against individual game profits, then one possibility would be to adjust the allocations at the end of the season based on the actual number of games. Another possibility is to separately allocate fixed and variable overhead costs. Fixed costs could be allocated only against regular season games, and the incremental costs would be individually subtracted from
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-37 the profit of each game (regular and post-season). Still another possibility is to avoid allocations to individual games and to base bonuses on the overall profitability for the season. Any logical and unbiased allocation method would be appropriate. If students decide that it is not fair to allocate fixed costs, then they might recommend a system that measures profits for each game based on revenues minus variable costs.
8.32 University Overhead Costs
A. Although cost-based contracts usually provide guidance about which costs to include and which allocation methods are acceptable, there is room for judgment about many different types of costs and about the method that would most fairly allocate costs. The guidance usually provides large categories of costs that are acceptable or not acceptable, but does not address each individual cost. Therefore, a number of costs are likely to require judgment as they are categorized for cost reports. B. Maximizing reimbursements under cost-based contracts is an ethical issue for accountants because of conflicting interests. Managers, shareholders, and regular customers most likely prefer more costs to be assigned to cost-based contracts. This preference conflicts with the interests of cost-based contract customers and, for governmental contracts, with the interests of governmental agencies, competitors, taxpayers, and other potential recipients of governmental funds. The accountants who perform the accounting for cost-based contracts must consider these conflicting interests when using judgment to assign costs. C. Most people would agree that a large overstatement of costs under a cost-based contract is unethical, unless the overstatement is clearly accidental. However, there is likely to be no consensus about smaller overstatements. One perspective is that materiality is irrelevant. An ethical issue concerns the welfare of various stakeholders. Even if the amount seems immaterial, to be fair to everyone, the allocation process should consider the viewpoints of all parties affected by the allocations, no matter how large or small the amounts are. In addition, it can be argued that there is no such thing as a “small” ethical violation. From this perspective, it is not the size of the overstatement that matters, but rather the intent behind the overstatement. Any intentional misstatement would be considered unethical. Another perspective is that misallocations of costs will always occur when judgment is involved. As long as the misallocations are small, then it can be argued that no ethical issue was involved—i.e., that the organization did not attempt to maximize reimbursements under its cost-based contracts. D. The major stakeholder groups were identified in Part B above. Below are brief comments about the preferences of each group. Managers and shareholders: It is simple to say that managers and shareholders prefer receiving greater payments under cost-based contracts and, thus, have incentives to overstate contract costs. However, overstatement of contract costs can also have adverse reputation effects and reduce an organization’s ability to obtain future contracts. Contract customers are also likely to increase their monitoring of contract costs, increasing the organization’s compliance costs.
8-38 Cost Management
Cost-based contract customers: Clearly, these customers prefer for contract costs to be accounted for properly. However, they must be aware that it is impossible to unambiguously define all allowable and unallowable costs. Therefore, they expect the use of judgment, which can lead to disagreements about allowable costs. In addition, these contracts typically include provisions allowing the customer or an independent party (such as a CPA) to periodically audit compliance with contract provisions. Regular customers: Regular customers are not directly affected by these issues. However, companies that obtain greater reimbursement of overhead costs under cost based contracts may be able to charge lower prices to regular customers.
For cost-based governmental contracts: Governmental agencies: Governmental agencies are responsible for monitoring compliance with cost-based governmental contracts. Their preferences are similar to those of the cost-based contract customers discussed above. In addition, governmental agencies are charged with a fiduciary responsibility for spending public funds appropriately. This additional responsibility increases their incentives to monitor contract compliance. Competitors: If a cost-based customer pays more than its fair share of a company’s overhead, the company could be more competitive in pricing other business. Competitors would prefer to have a level playing field. Taxpayers: Taxpayers want to ensure that their funds are being used appropriately. Thus, their preferences are similar to those of cost-based contract customers. However, most taxpayers are not knowledgeable about accounting and might fail to recognize legitimate accounting uncertainties. Other potential recipients of governmental funds: Other potential recipients want a level playing field, in which their opportunity to obtain funds is not diminished because of excessive spending on other organizations’ contracts. Overcharging by other organizations reduces the quantity of available funds. It also has indirect effects, such as a reduced willingness of taxpayers and governmental agencies to fund cost-based projects and an increase in compliance and monitoring costs.
E. The trade-offs made by accountants in deciding whether to help their organizations maximize reimbursements under cost-based contracts include all of the issues discussed in the preceding questions—they must evaluate the implications to their own organization as well as to other stakeholders. In addition, they must consider their own ethical values as they establish criteria for recording costs. To clarify their values, they might consider asking questions such as the following. Is it acceptable to recognize all costs under a cost-based contract except those that are explicitly disallowed? Should an attempt be made to classify costs from the perspective of the customer or other stakeholders? Does materiality matter? What are the short-term and long-term implications of assigning a particular cost to the contract?
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-39 F. There is no one answer to this part. Sample solutions and a discussion of typical student responses will be included in assessment guidance on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg).
8.33 Vines Company
A sample spreadsheet showing the calculations for this problem under the direct, step-down, and reciprocal methods is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). A. Below are excerpts from the sample spreadsheet for this problem, which show the direct, step-down, and reciprocal method allocations of fixed support costs. The reciprocal method allocations were performed using Excel Solver. 1. Direct method DIRECT METHOD ALLOCATION--FIXED SUPPORT COSTS
Support Depart ment s Human Accounting Resources Janitorial Allocation bases for direct method fixed support cost allocation: Direct costs % for allocation Employees % for allocation Square feet % for allocation Fixed support costs Allocations: Accounting Human resources Janitorial Total allocations
$55,260
$100,696
(100,696) $0
Women's $800,000 62% 10 62.50% 5,000 50.0000%
Men's
(60,360) $0
Total
$500,000 $1,300,000 38% 100% 6 16 37.50% 100% 5,000 10,000 50.0000% 100%
$60,360
(55,260)
$0
Operat ing Depart ment s
$216,316 34,006 62,935 30,180 $127,121
21,254 37,761 30,180 $89,195
0 0 0 $216,316
2. Step down method STEP-DOWN METHOD ALLOCATION-- FIXED SUPPORT COSTS
Support Depart ment s Human Accounting Resources Janitorial Allocation bases for ste p-down method fixed support cost allocation: Step 1: Employees 2 4 % for allocation 9.0909% 18.1818% Step 2: Square feet 800 % for allocation 7.4074% Step 3: Direct costs % for allocation Fixed support costs Allocations: Step 1: Human resources Step 2: Janitorial Step 3: Accounting Total allocations
$55,260
$100,696
$60,360
9,154 5,827 (70,241) $0
(100,696) 0 0 $0
18,308 (78,668) 0 $0
Operat ing Depart ment s Women's 10 45.4545% 5,000 46.2963% $800,000 61.5385%
Men's
Total
6 22 27.2727% 100% 5,000 10,800 46.2963% 100% $500,000 $1,300,000 38.4615% 100% $216,316
45,771 36,421 43,226 $125,417
27,463 36,421 27,016 $90,899
0 0 70,241 $216,316
8-40 Cost Management 3. Reciprocal method RECIPROCAL METHOD ALLOCATION--F IXED SUPPORT COSTS
Support Depart ment s Human Accounting Resources Janitorial Allocation bases for reciprocal method fixed support cost allocation: Direct costs $122,800 $120,720 % for allocation 7.9558% 7.8211% Employees 2 4 % for allocation 9.0909% 18.1818% Square feet 800 1,000 % for allocation 6.7797% 8.4746%
Operat ing Depart ment s Women's $800,000 51.8296% 10 45.4545% 5,000 42.3729%
Men's
Total
$500,000 $1,543,520 32.3935% 100% 6 22 27.2727% 100% 5,000 11,800 42.3729% 100%
Solver for Variable Costs: AccountF
HRF
JanitorF
Change cells for Solver
$71,471
$113,723
$86,627
Simultaneous equations
$71,471
$113,723
$86,627
Target function: $271,822
Fixed support costs Allocations: Accounting Human resources Janitorial Total allocations
$55,260
$100,696
$60,360
(71,471) 10,338 5,873 ($0)
5,686 (113,723) 7,341 ($0)
5,590 20,677 (86,627) $0
$216,316 37,043 51,692 36,706 $125,442
23,152 31,015 36,706 $90,874
0 0 0 $216,316
B. Below are excerpts from the sample spreadsheet for this problem, which show the direct, step-down, and reciprocal method allocations of variable support costs. The reciprocal method allocations were performed using Excel Solver. 1. Direct method DIRECT METHOD ALLOC ATION--VARIABLE SUPPORT COSTS
Support Depart ment s Human Accounting Resources Janitorial Allocation bases for direct method variable support cost allocation: Time spent accounting % for allocation Employees % for allocation Time spent cleaning % for allocation Variable support costs Allocations: Accounting Human resources Janitorial Total allocations
$18,420
$22,104
(22,104) $0
Women's 30% 55% 10 62.50% 30% 42.8571%
Men's 25% 45% 6 37.50% 40% 57.1429%
$60,360
(18,420)
$0
Operat ing Depart ment s
(60,360) $0
Total 55% 100% 16 100% 70% 100% $100,884
10,047 13,815 25,869 $49,731
8,373 8,289 34,491 $51,153
0 0 0 $100,884
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-41 2. Step-down method STEP-DOWN METHOD ALLOCATION-- VARIABLE SUPPORT C OSTS
Support Depart ment s Human Accounting Resources Janitorial Allocation bases for step- down method variable support c ost allocat ion: Step 1: Time spent cleaning 5% 10% % for allocation 5.8824% 11.7647% Step 2: Employees 2 % for allocation 11.1111% Step 3: Time spent accounting % for allocation Variable support costs Allocations: Step 1: Janitorial Step 2: Human resources Step 3: Accounting Total allocations
$18,420
$22,104
$60,360
3,551 3,245 (25,216) $0
7,101 (29,205) 0 $0
(60,360) 0 0 $0
Operat ing Depart ment s Women's 30% 35.2941% 10 55.5556% 30% 54.5455%
Men's 40% 47.0588% 6 33.3333% 25% 45.4545%
Total 85% 100% 18 100% 55% 100% $100,884
21,304 16,225 13,754 $51,283
28,405 9,735 11,462 $49,601
0 0 25,216 $100,884
3. Reciprocal method RECIPROCAL METHOD ALLOCATION-- VARIABLE SUPPORT COSTS
Support Depart ment s Human Accounting Resources Janitorial Allocation bases for reciprocal method variable support cost allocation: Time spent accounting 10% 20% % for allocation 11.7647% 23.5294% Employees 2 4 % for allocation 9.0909% 18.1818% Time spent cleaning 5% 10% % for allocation 5.8824% 11.7647%
Operat ing Depart ment s Women's 30% 35.2941% 10 45.4545% 30% 35.2941%
Men's 25% 29.4118% 6 27.2727% 40% 47.0588%
Total 85% 100% 22 100% 85% 100%
Solver for Variable Cos ts: AccountV
HRV
JanitorV
Change cells for Solver
$25,748
$33,667
$72,540
Simultaneous equations
$25,748
$33,667
$72,540
$18,420
$22,104
$60,360
(25,748) 3,061 4,267 $0
3,029 (33,667) 8,534 $0
6,058 6,121 (72,540) $0
Target function: $131,954
Variable support costs Allocations: Accounting Human resources Janitorial Total allocations
$100,884 9,087 15,303 25,602 $49,993
7,573 9,182 34,136 $50,891
0 0 0 $100,884
C. For accounting I would use time spent because it probably reflects the use of accounting employees and their salaries would be a large part of the fixed costs. Number of employees is already used for both fixed and variable costs, so I would continue to use it. Time spent in janitorial services probably provides a more accurate reflection of the resources used by each department for janitorial staff, and it’s likely as they spend more time in an area they also use more supplies. D. Managers may want to use this information for benchmarks to compare current performance to past performance. It’s possible that they use these calculations to develop a transfer price policy for the use of support services.
8-42 Cost Management E. If Vines is using this information for transfer prices, the variable portion is probably a better reflection of the marginal costs to the company of providing support services. These categories also give more precise information for benchmarks. It would be easier to investigate variances if cost pools are smaller and reflect only fixed or variable costs.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-43
BUILD YOUR PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES 8.34 Focus on Professional Competency: Leverage Technology to Develop and Enhance Functional Competencies
A sample spreadsheet for this problem is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). A. 1 and 2. Business decisions addressed in Chapter 8 and relevant information that might be stored in an electronic database: Examples of Electronic Decisions in Chapter 8 Database Information Data used to estimate future relevant Business Decisions: Insourcing or outsourcing costs: Historical costs Product pricing Data used to estimate future prices, costs and profits: Historical average product cost per unit, historical overhead costs Improve cost control and efficiency Data used to evaluate trends: Historical and budgeted costs, volumes, and profits Departments currently used for Accounting Method Decisions: Identifying appropriate cost pools for budgeting and accounting support and operating departments Whether to establish separate pools Evaluate the behavior of costs: for fixed and variable costs Historical costs and volumes of cost drivers How to assign costs to cost pools (this Electronically-stored policy manuals and includes classification of overhead contractual terms; Classifications used costs under governmental cost-based for similar items in the past based on contracts) historical accounting and cost report records Identifying the most appropriate Data currently available, such as allocation bases for each cost pool historical production volumes, employee time records, direct costs, etc. Identifying the most appropriate Information for making this decision allocation method would not likely be stored electronically Whether the benefits exceed the costs Information for making this decision of establishing a more detailed support would not likely be stored electronically cost allocation system Under the step-down method, Historical data that could be used for identifying the best measure for ranking, such as direct costs ranking the amount of service provided by support departments Whether to allocate support costs Information for making this decision based on estimated versus actual costs would not likely be stored electronically and rates.
8-44 Cost Management
B. 1. A sample spreadsheet for this problem is available on the Instructor’s web site for the textbook (available at www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). The documentation in the sample spreadsheet assumes that the data in the spreadsheet is not directly linked to the sources of the data. Therefore, the spreadsheet includes comments describing the sources of information. The sample spreadsheet does not include any other explanations for the reciprocal allocations because it is assumed that the spreadsheet will be used only by people who are familiar with the reciprocal method and how it is performed. 2. This answer will vary from student to student. The purpose is to engage students in a discussion of what it means to document work performed and also to gain an appreciation of the need to design spreadsheets that can be easily understood by other people. 3. This answer will vary from student to student. The purpose is to encourage students to implement recommendations. C. This answer will vary from student to student. The purpose is to help students reflect on their approaches to technology adoption.
8.35 Integrating Across the Curriculum: Governmental Accounting
A. This answer will vary from student to student. Additional guidance for locating information on the web about state or local government internal service funds is available on the textbook web site (www.wiley.com/college/eldenburg). The descriptions of funds for the state and local governments listed in the problem are as follows: City of Laguna Beach, California:1 An internal service fund is a revolving fund established to isolate the costs of a particular function and then to allocate those costs to the various operating divisions. Costs for the functions of the internal service funds are allocated to individual operating divisions through the use of an annual rate which is adjusted each year to reflect anticipated costs. For example, the rates for vehicle replacement are based on the specific vehicles assigned to each division, and the rates for employee medical insurance are based on the number of employees in each division. Based on this rate, each division pays to the internal service fund an annual amount which is shown as an expenditure item in the division budget. This 1
Quoted from “Internal Service Funds,” Adopted Budget—Fiscal Year 2003–04, City of Laguna Beach, California, available at 4.18.61.11/government/reference/budget/.
Chapter 8: Measuring and Assigning Support Department Costs 8-45 payment becomes the revenue for the internal service fund which in turn directly pays for the goods and services provided, such as new vehicles or medical insurance. State of Michigan, Department of Management and Budget:2 The State Sponsored Group Insurance Fund, which was administratively established to reflect financial transactions of the state -sponsored insurance plans. The Information Technology and Energy Fund was established to account for various services provided to all state agencies. These services include telecommunication and information technology and the purchase of bulk natural gas used by State agencies. The Motor Transport Fund was created to provide vehicle and travel services to state agencies. Services include lease, purchase, replacement, and maintenance of automotive equipment. Vehicles are furnished to agencies on a permanently assigned basis or through the motor pool for short-term usage. The Office Services Revolving Fund was created to provide printing, reproduction, microfilm, mailing, and material management services. The c ost of these services is charged to user departments and agencies. The Risk Management Fund was established to account for centralized risk management functions performed by DMB [Department of Management and Budget] for other state agencies. The Fund provides automotive and other insurance coverage to state departments and agencies. City of Arlington, Texas: 3 Internal Service Funds - includes General Services, Communication Services, Fleet Services, and Information Technology Services. These funds provide services such as printing, computer support, communications and vehicle maintenance for all City departments, and are supported by scheduled transfers or direct charges from other funds. Multnomah County, Oregon:4 These funds account for activities and services performed primarily for other organizational units within the County. Charges to the County agencies are calculated to recover costs and maintain capital. The County accounts for certain 2
Adapted from Executive Digest #0713701, Selected Internal Service Funds, Michigan Office of the Auditor General, June 2002, available at www.audgen.michigan.gov/digests/01_02/0713701.htm. 3 Quoted from Executive Summary, FY 2004 Annual Operating Budget, City of Arlington, Texas, available at www.ci.arlington.tx.us/budgets/. 4 Quoted from Internal Service Funds (under Supplementary Information), Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, fiscal year ended June 30, 2002, available at www.co.multnomah.or.us/dbcs/finance/cafr2002/
