Ch05 Activity-Based Management and Activity-Based Costing.docx

Chapter 5 Activity-Based Management and Activity-Based Costing TRUE/FALSE 1. Business value-added activities add value to a product. ANS: F 2. Management should strive to reduce or eliminate non-value added activities from a production process. ANS: T 3. Business value-added activities increase the value of a product without increasing production time. ANS: F 4. The first step in performing activity analysis is to prepare a process map. ANS: T 5. Preparation of a value chart is the first step in activity analysis ANS: F 6. Lead time in a production process includes both value and non-value added time. ANS: T 7. A company should strive to reduce all non-value added activities to a minimum. ANS: T 8. When non-value added time is greater, manufacturing cycle efficiency is higher. ANS: F 9. When non-value added time is greater, manufacturing cycle efficiency is lower. ANS: T 10. Direct materials are normally considered as unit-level costs. ANS: T 11. Direct materials are normally considered as batch-level costs. ANS: F 12. Unit level costs occur once for each unit produced. ANS: T 13. Batch level costs occur once for each unit produced. ANS: F 14. Machine setup is normally considered a batch-level cost ANS: T 15. Machine setup is normally considered a unit-level cost ANS: F 16. Building depreciation is generally considered an organizational or facility cost. ANS: T 17. Building depreciation is generally considered an product or process level cost. ANS: F 18. Activity-based costing is appropriate for a company that manufactures a wide variety of products ANS: T 19. Activity-based costing is appropriate for a company that manufactures a single product. ANS: F 20. Activity-based costing is appropriate for a company that has low overhead costs that are proportional to the unit volumes of products. ANS: F 21. Activity-based costing is appropriate for a company that has high overhead costs that are not proportional to unit volumes of individual products. ANS: T 22. There is a direct relationship between the complexity of a production process and overhead costs. ANS: T 23. Activity-based costing conforms to GAAP with regard to which costs should be expensed. ANS: F 24. An activity-based costing system should be evaluated with regard to the benefits it can provide an organization versus the costs of implementing it. ANS: T \ COMPLETION 1. An activity that a customer is willing to pay for and increases the worth of a product is referred to as a _______________________ activity. ANS: value-added 2. An activity that does not increase the value of a product for a customer is referred to as a _______________________ activity. ANS: non-value added 3. An activity that is essential for business operations but does not add value to a product is referred to as a __________________________ activity. ANS: business value-added 4. A chart that indicates each step in a production process is referred to as a ____________________. ANS: process map 5. A series of activities that when performed together satisfy a specific objective is referred to as a _____________. ANS: process 6. The actual time taken to perform all necessary manufacturing functions in a process is referred to as ______________________. ANS: processing or service time 7. The sum of value-added processing time plus non-value added time equals __________________________. ANS: cycle (lead) time 8. The proportion of value added processing time to total cycle time equals ________________________________. ANS: manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE). 9. Costs that are associated with the production of a single unit of a product are referred to as ________________________. ANS: unit-level costs 10. Costs that are associated with the production of a group of similar products at the same time are referred to as ________________________. ANS: batch-level costs 11. Costs that support a product type or process are referred to as ________________________. ANS: product/process level costs 12. Costs that support an overall production or service process are referred to as ________________________. ANS: organizational or facility costs 13. A segment of a production or service process for which management wants a separate report is referred to as a(n) ______________________________. ANS: activity center 14. A(n) __________________________ measures the resources consumed by a manufacturing process. ANS: activity driver 15. _____________________________ refers to the number of different processes through which a product flows. ANS: Process complexity MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. An objective of activity-based management is to a. eliminate the majority of centralized activities in an organization. b. reduce or eliminate non-value-added activities incurred to make a product or provide a service. c. institute responsibility accounting systems in decentralized organizations. d. all of the above ANS: B 2. Which of the following is/are part of activity-based management? Activity analysis Cost driver analysis a. yes yes b. no yes c. no no d. yes no ANS: A 3. Which of the following falls under the Activity-Based Management umbrella? Continuous improvement Business process reengineering Activity-based costing a. no no yes b. yes no no c. yes yes yes d. no yes no ANS: C 4. The sum of the non-value-added time and the value-added time equals a. inspection time. b. production time. c. the product life cycle. d. cycle time. ANS: D 5. Which of the following add customer value? a. setup time b. storage time c. idle time d. processing time ANS: D 6. Lead time minus production time is equal to a. idle time. b. storage time. c. non-value-added time. d. value-added time. ANS: C 7. When a firm redesigns a product to reduce the number of component parts, the firm is a. increasing consumer value. b. increasing the value added to the product. c. decreasing product variety. d. decreasing non-value-added costs. ANS: D 8. Non-value-added activities that are necessary to businesses, but not costs that customers are willing to pay for are known as a. business-value-added activities. b. long-term variable activities. c. short-term variable activities. d. superior business activities. ANS: A 9. Which of the following would not be considered a value-added activity in the preparation of a tax return? a. printing a copy of the return for the client b. printing a copy of the return for the IRS c. installing tax software d. checking for accuracy ANS: C 10. Which of the following is considered a value-added activity? Idle time Inspection time Transfer time a. yes yes no b. no no no c. yes no yes d. no yes yes ANS: B 11. A process map a. should indicate only value-added activities. b. is also known as a detailed flowchart. c. should indicate only those steps/processes that are obvious in the production of goods/services. d. is also known as a value chart. ANS: B 12. A value chart should include which of the following? Service time Inspection time Transfer time a. yes no yes b. no no yes c. yes yes no d. yes yes yes ANS: D 13. The actual time it takes to perform a specific task is called a. inspection time. b. service time. c. transfer time. d. quality time. ANS: B 14. Manufacturing cycle efficiency is a measure of a. bottlenecks. b. effectiveness. c. efficiency. d. quality. ANS: C 15. Which of the following is typically regarded as a cost driver in traditional accounting practices? a. number of purchase orders processed b. number of customers served c. number of transactions processed d. number of direct labor hours worked ANS: D 16. When a company is labor-intensive, the cost driver that is probably least significant would be a. direct labor hours. b. direct labor dollars. c. machine hours. d. cost of materials used. ANS: C 17. An activity driver is used for which of the following reasons? To measure demands To measure resources consumed a. yes yes b. yes no c. no yes d. no no ANS: A 18. The term cost driver refers to a. any activity that can be used to predict cost changes. b. the attempt to control expenditures at a reasonable level. c. the person who gathers and transfers cost data to the management accountant. d. any activity that causes costs to be incurred. ANS: D 19. Cost allocation bases in activity-based costing should be a. cost drivers. b. value-added activities. c. activity centers. d. processes. ANS: A 20. Costs that are common to many different activities within an organization are known as ____________ costs. a. product- or process-level b. organizational-level c. batch-level d. unit-level ANS: B 21. In activity-based costing, cost reduction efforts are directed at specific a. cost categories. b. cost pools. c. processes. d. cost drivers. ANS: D 22. Setup time is A batch cost A value-added cost A production cost a. no no yes b. yes yes no c. yes no yes d. no yes yes ANS: C 23. Which of the following have an impact on long-term variable costs? Product variety Product complexity Process complexity a. no no no b. no yes yes c. yes no yes d. yes yes yes ANS: D 24. In allocating variable costs to products, a. a volume-based cost driver should be used. b. direct labor hours should always be used as the allocation base. c. a company should use the same allocation base that it uses for fixed costs. d. a company should never use more than one cost driver. ANS: A 25. Which of the following is not a drawback of mass customization? a. The choices are too numerous. b. The potential for errors is great. c. Only a small percentage of available choices is normally selected. d. All of the above are drawbacks. ANS: D 26. Simultaneous engineering helps companies accomplish which of the following? Reduces product Reduces process complexity complexity a. no no b. yes yes c. yes no d. no yes ANS: B 27. For traditional costing purposes, R&D costs are a. capitalized and allocated over the product life cycle. b. expensed as incurred. c. capitalized and amortized over three years. d. charged to the future accounting periods that receive the benefit of the R&D expenditures. ANS: B 28. Traditionally, managers have focused cost reduction efforts on a. activities. b. processes. c. departments. d. costs. ANS: D 29. Today, traditional accounting methods are a. still appropriate for financial reporting. b. still appropriate for providing useful cost information to internal managers. c. still appropriate for both internal and external financial reporting. d. outdated for all purposes. ANS: A 30. Product costing systems in use over the last 40 years a. concentrated on using multiple cost pools and cost drivers. b. were often technologically incapable of handling activity-based costing information. c. have generally been responsive to changes in the manufacturing environment. d. have been appropriate for managerial decision purposes as long as they met the requirements of generally accepted accounting principles. ANS: B 31. Traditional overhead allocations result in which of the following situations? a. Overhead costs are assigned as period costs to manufacturing operations. b. High-volume products are assigned too much overhead, and low-volume products are assigned too little overhead. c. Low-volume products are assigned too much, and high-volume products are assigned too little overhead. d. The resulting allocations cannot be used for financial reports. ANS: B 32. Traditionally, overhead has been assigned based on direct labor hours or machine hours. What effect does this have on the cost of a high-volume item? a. over-costs the product b. under-costs the product c. has no effect the product cost d. cost per unit is unaffected by product volume ANS: A 33. Relative to traditional product costing, activity-based costing differs in the way costs are a. processed. b. allocated. c. benchmarked. d. incurred. ANS: B 34. Under activity-based costing, benchmarks for product cost should contain an allowance for a. idle time. b. idle time and scrap materials. c. spoilage. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: D 35. In activity-based costing, final cost allocations assign costs to a. departments. b. processes. c. products. d. activities. ANS: C 36. In activity-based costing, preliminary cost allocations assign costs to a. departments. b. processes. c. products. d. activities. ANS: D 37. In allocating fixed costs to products in activity-based costing, a. direct labor hours should always be used as the allocation base. b. a company should use the same allocation base that it uses for variable costs. c. a cost driver that is not volume-related should be used. d. machine hours should always be used. ANS: C 38. Of the following, which is the best reason for using activity-based costing? a. to keep better track of overhead costs b. to more accurately assign overhead costs to cost pools so that these costs are better controlled c. to better assign overhead costs to products d. to assign indirect service overhead costs to direct overhead cost pools ANS: C 39. ABC should be used in which of the following situations? a. single-product firms with multiple steps b. multiple-product firms with only a single process c. multiple-product firms with multiple processing steps d. in all manufacturing firms ANS: C 40. Activity-based costing and activity-based management are effective in helping managers do all of the following except a. trace technology costs to products. b. promote excellence standards. c. identify only value-added activities. d. analyze performance problems. ANS: C 41. Global competition has forced American industry to a. seek increased governmental regulation. b. improve product quality and customer service. c. narrow product lines. d. decrease its social responsibility. ANS: B 42. The costs of non-quality work do not include a. the cost of handling complaints. b. the cost of scrap. c. warranty costs. d. original design costs. ANS: D 43. In the "new era" of manufacturing, good performance indicators are a. production-based. b. sales-based. c. cost-based. d. consumer-based. ANS: D 44. Traditional standard costs are inappropriate measures for performance evaluation in the "new era" of manufacturing because they a. build in allowances for non-value-adding activities. b. are based on historical information. c. don't reflect current costs. d. are ideal goals. ANS: A 45. The amount of time between the development and the production of a product is a. the product life cycle. b. lead time. c. production time. d. value-added time. ANS: B 46. For one product that a firm produces, the manufacturing cycle efficiency is 20 percent. If the total production time is 12 hours, what is the total manufacturing time? a. 15.0 hours b. 60.0 hours c. 12.0 hours d. 2.4 hours ANS: B 47. Activity analysis allows managers to a. classify activities so that processes can be eliminated. b. devise ways to minimize or eliminate non-value-added activities. c. evaluate process performance to gain competitive advantages. d. all of the above. ANS: B 48. Which of the following statements about business-value-added activities (BVAs) is true? a. BVAs reflect the same processes in all organizations. b. A process map will not reflect BVAs because such activities are not essential to process performance. c. BVAs are actually value-added activities of an organization that relate to administrative processes. d. It is impossible to eliminate all BVAs in an organization. ANS: D 49. A value chart indicates a. all steps in a process and the time it takes for them to be completed. b. the value-added steps in a process and the time it takes for them to be completed. c. the time and cost of all value-added steps in a process. d. the time and costs of all value-added and non-value-added steps in a process. ANS: A 50. In the pharmaceutical or food industries, quality control inspections would most likely be viewed as a. non-value-added activities. b. business-value-added activities. c. value-added-activities. d. process-efficiency activities. ANS: C 51. A just-in-time manufacturing process should have substantially less of which of the following than a traditional manufacturing process? Idle time Transfer time Value-added time Cycle time a. yes yes yes yes b. yes no no yes c. yes yes no yes d. no yes yes no ANS: C 52. Manufacturing cycle efficiency should be increased by employing which of the following techniques? JIT Flexible Batch Inventory Manufacturing Systems Manufacturing a. yes yes yes b. yes yes no c. no no no d. yes no yes ANS: B 53. A key concept underlying cost driver analysis is that a. all cost drivers identified should be used for cost accumulation. b. the cost of measuring a driver does not exceed the benefits of using it. c. only costs occurring at the unit-level should be assigned to products or services. d. organizational/facility costs are non-value-added and should never be assigned to products or services. ANS: B 54. When cost driver analysis is used, organizational profit or loss can be determined by subtracting a. organizational costs from total margin provided by products. b. organizational costs from total product revenue. c. total product costs from total product revenue. d. total unit, batch, product/process, and organizational level costs incurred for a period from total product revenue. ANS: A 55. An activity center is an organizational unit a. that makes a single product or performs a single service. b. in which only value-added activities are performed. c. that incurs only unit, batch, or product/process level costs. d. for which management wants separate activity information. ANS: D 56. The following items are used in tracing costs in an ABC system. In which order are they used? (1) cost object (2) cost driver (3) activity driver (4) cost pool a. 1, 2, 3, 4 b. 2, 3, 4, 1 c. 2, 4, 3, 1 d. 4, 3, 1, 2 ANS: C 57. The "Rule of One" underlies the premise that all costs are a. variable. b. fixed. c. unit-based. d. short-term. ANS: A 58. Crawford Company makes ten different styles of inexpensive feather masks. Which of the following is this company most likely to have? a. Product complexity b. Process complexity c. Product variety d. Process customization ANS: C 59. Mass customization can be achieved through the use of a. activity-based costing. b. just-in-time inventory. c. flexible manufacturing systems. d. all of the above. ANS: C 60. Mass customization is closely associated with Product Product Process Pareto variety  complexity errors principle a. yes no no yes b. yes yes yes no c. no yes no no d. yes no yes yes ANS: D 61. The Pareto principle is important to consider when an organization is a. assessing whether to employ activity-based costing versus attribute-based costing. b. evaluating the number of activities that are value-added versus those that are non-value-added. c. deciding whether to offer a product in one color versus in ten colors. d. determining whether simultaneous engineering activities will be impacted by the "Rule of One." ANS: C 62. Simultaneous engineering can be used to a. reduce both product and process complexity. b. integrate activity-based costing with value chain analysis. c. reduce the time-to-market of new products through elimination of batch-level activities. d. reduce manufacturing cycle efficiency by reducing process waste. ANS: A 63. If only one or two overhead cost pools are used, a. it will be easy to determine which products or services are creating the most costs. b. overhead created by a specific product will be assigned to all products. c. the reduction in cost accumulation and allocation time will raise company profits. d. allocations should be made using only unit-based cost drivers. ANS: B 64. A cost accumulation system should most likely be reevaluated when a company has a. automated one or more production processes. b. introduced new products to its customers. c. had its industry deregulated. d. all of the above. ANS: D 65. Engaging in which of the following will result in radical changes being made to an organization's processes? a. Continuous improvement b. Benchmarking c. Reengineering d. Mass customization ANS: C 66. Use of activity-based costing and activity-based management requires a. the creation of an environment for change in an organization. b. elimination of all non-value-added activities in an organization. c. that company processes be automated and the use of direct labor be minimal. d. each process be fully mapped and all activities be identified as value-added or non-value-added. ANS: A 67. Which of the following is most likely to make the implementation of ABC/ABM slow and difficult? a. The inability of all employees to understand the computations involved in ABC. b. A lack of involvement by or support from upper management. c. The need for dual costing systems. d. An inability to eliminate all business-value-added activities. ANS: B 68. Activity-based costing and generally accepted accounting principles differ in that ABC a. does not define product costs in the same manner as GAAP. b. cannot be used to compute an income statement, but GAAP can. c. is concerned only with costs generated from automated processes, but GAAP is concerned with costs generated from both manual and automated processes. d. information is useful only to managers, while GAAP information is useful to all organizational stakeholders. ANS: A 69. If activity-based costing is implemented in an organization without any other changes being implemented, total overhead costs will a. be reduced because of the elimination of non-value-added activities. b. be reduced because organizational costs will not be assigned to products or services. c. be increased because of the need for additional people to gather information on cost drivers and cost pools. d. remain constant and simply be spread over products differently. ANS: D Smithson Company Smithson Company produces two products (A and B). Direct material and labor costs for Product A total $35 (which reflects 4 direct labor hours); direct material and labor costs for Product B total $22 (which reflects 1.5 direct labor hours). Three overhead functions are needed for each product. Product A uses 2 hours of Function 1 at $10 per hour, 1 hour of Function 2 at $7 per hour, and 6 hours of Function 3 at $18 per hour. Product B uses 1, 8, and 1 hours of Functions 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Smithson produces 800 units of A and 8,000 units of B each period. 70. Refer to Smithson Company If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis of units produced, Product A will have an overhead cost per unit of a. $ 88.64. b. $123.64. c. $135.00. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: A Total Overhead Product A Function Hourly Rate Hours Total 1 $ 10 2 $ 20 2 $ 7 1 $ 7 3 $ 18 6 $ 108 Totals 9 $ 135 Product B Function Hourly Rate Hours Total 1 $ 10 1 $ 10 2 $ 7 8 $ 56 3 $ 18 1 $ 18 Totals 10 $ 84 OH/Unit Units Produced Total $ 135 800 $ 108,000 $ 84 8000 $ 672,000 $ 780,000 Total OH Proportion Allocated OH Units Produced OH per Unit $ 780,000 0.090909091 $ 70,909.09 800 $ 88.64 (800/8800) 71. Refer to Smithson Company If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis of units produced, Product B will have an overhead cost per unit of a. $84.00. b. $88.64. c. $110.64. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: B See #70 for Total Overhead Computations Total OH Proportion Allocated OH Units Produced OH per Unit $ 780,000 0.909090909 $ 709,090.91 8000 $ 88.64 (8000/8800) 72. Refer to Smithson Company If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis of direct labor hours, Product A will have an overhead cost per unit of a. $51.32. b. $205.28. c. $461.88. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: B Product DL Hrs/Unit Units Produced Total DL Hours A 4 800 3200 B 1.5 8000 12000 15200 Total OH Proportion Allocated OH Units Produced OH per Unit $ 780,000 0.210526316 $ 164,210.53 800 $ 205.28 (3,200/15,200) 73. Refer to Smithson Company If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis of direct labor hours, Product B will have an overhead cost per unit of a. $51.32. b. $76.98. c. $510.32. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: B See #72 for Direct Labor Computations Total OH Proportion Allocated OH Units Produced OH per Unit $ 780,000 0.789473684 $ 615,789.47 8000 $ 76.98 (12,000/15,200) 74. Refer to Smithson Company If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis of overhead activity hours used, the total product cost per unit assigned to Product A will be a. $86.32. b. $95.00. c. $115.50. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: C Total OH Proportion Allocated OH Units Produced OH per Unit DM and DL/Unit Total $ 780,000 0.082568807 $ 64,403.67 800 $ 80.50 $ 35.00 $ 115.50 (7,200/87,200) 75. Refer to Smithson Company If total overhead is assigned to A and B on the basis of overhead activity hours used, the total product cost per unit assigned to Product B will be a. $115.50. b. $73.32. c. $34.60. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: D Total OH Proportion Allocated OH Units Produced OH per Unit DM and DL/Unit Total $ 780,000 0.917431193 $ 715,596.33 8000 $ 89.44 $ 22.00 $ 111.44 (80,000/87,200) Phelps Company Phelps Company produces 50,000 units of Product Q and 6,000 units of Product Z during a period. In that period, four set-ups were required for color changes. All units of Product Q are black, which is the color in the process at the beginning of the period. A set-up was made for 1,000 blue units of Product Z; a set-up was made for 4,500 red units of Product Z; a set-up was made for 500 green units of Product Z. A set-up was then made to return the process to its standard black coloration and the units of Product Q were run. Each set-up costs $500. 76. Refer to Phelps Company. If set-up cost is assigned on a volume basis for the department, what is the approximate per-unit set-up cost for Product Z? a. $.010. b. $.036. c. $.040. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: B Total setup cost: $500 x 4 = $2,000 $2,000/56,000 = $0.0357 77. Refer to Phelps Company. If set-up cost is assigned on a volume basis for the department, what is the approximate per-unit set-up cost for the red units of Product Z? a. $.036. b. $.111. c. $.250. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: A Total setup cost: $500 x 4 = $2,000 $2,000/56,000 = $0.0357 78. Refer to Phelps Company. Assume that Phelps Company has decided to allocate overhead costs using levels of cost drivers. What would be the approximate per-unit set-up cost for the blue units of Product Z? a. $.04. b. $.25. c. $.50. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: C Setup cost for blue units = $500.00 Number of blue units produced = 1,000 $500/1,000 = $.50 79. Refer to Phelps Company. Assume that Phelps Company has decided to allocate overhead costs using levels of cost drivers. What would be the approximate per-unit set-up cost for the green units of Product Z? a. $1.00. b. $0.25. c. $0.04. d. None of the responses are correct. ANS: A Setup cost = $500.00 Units produced = 500 $500.00/500 = $1.00/unit Lafayette Savings and Loan Lafayette Savings and Loan had the following activities, traceable costs, and physical flow of driver units: Traceable Physical flow of Activities Costs Driver Units Open new accounts $50,000 1,000 accounts Process deposits 36,000 400,000 deposits Process withdrawals 15,000 200,000 withdrawals Process loan applications 27,000 900 applications The above activities are used by the Jennings branch and the Crowley branch: Jennings Crowley New accounts 200 400 Deposits 40,000 20,000 Withdrawals 15,000 18,000 Loan applications 100 160 80. Refer to Lafayette Savings and Loan. What is the cost per driver unit for new account activity? a. $0.09 c. $30.00 b. $0.075 d. $50.00 ANS: D $50,000 / 1,000 = $50.00 per account 81. Refer to Lafayette Savings and Loan. What is the cost per driver unit for the deposit activity? a. $0.09 c. $30.00 b. $0.075 d. $50.00 ANS: A $36,000/400,000 = $0.09 82. Refer to Lafayette Savings and Loan. What is the cost per driver unit for the withdrawal activity? a. $0.09 c. $30.00 b. $0.075 d. $50.00 ANS: B $15,000/200,000 = $0.075 83. Refer to Lafayette Savings and Loan. What is the cost per driver unit for the loan application activity? a. $0.09 c. $30.00 b. $0.075 d. $50.00 ANS: C $27,000/900 = $30.00 84. Refer to Lafayette Savings and Loan. How much of the loan application cost will be assigned to the Jennings branch? a. $3,000 c. $ 7,800 b. $4,800 d. $27,000 ANS: A $30.00 x 100 = $3,000 85. Refer to Lafayette Savings and Loan. How much of the deposit cost will be assigned to the Crowley branch? a. $1,800 c. $ 5,400 b. $3,600 d. $36,000 ANS: A $0.09 * 20,000 = $1,800 86. Refer to Lafayette Savings and Loan. How much of the new account cost will be assigned to the Crowley branch? a. $10,000 c. $30,000 b. $20,000 d. $50,000 ANS: B 400 * $50 = $20,000 Hazel Company uses activity-based costing. The company produces two products: coats and hats. The annual production and sales volume of coats is 8,000 units and of hats is 6,000 units. There are three activity cost pools with the following expected activities and estimated total costs: Activity Cost Pool Estimated Cost Expected Activity Coats Expected Activity Hats Total Activity 1 $20,000 100 400 500 Activity 2 $37,000 800 200 1,000 Activity 3 $91,200 800 3,000 3,800 87. Refer to Hazel Company. Using ABC, the cost per unit of coats is approximately: a. $2.40 c. $ 6.60 b. $3.90 d. $10.59 ANS: C Activity Cost Allocation Cost per Unit 1 $20,000 * 100/500 = $ 4,000 / 8,000 $0.50 2 $37,000 * 800/1,000 = $29,600 / 8,000 3.70 3 $91,200 * 800/3,800 = $19,200 / 8,000 2.40 Total Cost per Unit 6.60 88. Refer to Hazel Company. Using ABC, the cost per unit of hats is approximately: a. $2.40 c. $12.00 b. $3.90 d. $15.90 ANS: D Activity Cost Allocation Cost per Unit 1 $20,000 * 400/500 = $ 16,000 / 6,000 $2.67 2 $37,000 * 200/1,000 = $ 7,400/ 6,000 1.23 3 $91,200 * 3,000/3,800 = $72,000 / 6,000 12.00 Total Cost per Unit 15.90 SHORT ANSWER 1. How has the increase in product variety affected the costs of American business? ANS: The increase in product variety has increased the overhead costs of American firms. These costs include significant setup costs to switch from the production of one product to another, costs of additional technology, inventory carrying costs, purchasing costs, and scheduling costs. 2. What are the three classes of activities defined by activity-based management. What is customer response to each of these activities? What is management’s reaction to each of these activities? ANS: Value added activities--increase the worth of a product or service to a customer and are activities for which the customer is willing to pay. Management is willing to keep performing these activities. Non-value added activities--increase the time spent on a product or service but does not increase its worth. Such activities are unnecessary from the customer’s point of view; therefore management will strive to reduce or eliminate such activities. Business value-added activities--are essential to business operations; however, the customer is not willing to pay for them. Management must decide which of these activities are truly essential and reduce those which are not in order to achieve a higher profit margin. 3. In activity-based costing, how are cost drivers selected? ANS: Cost drivers are selected based on their underlying relationship to organizational costs. Ideally, a causal relationship exists between the cost driver and a cost pool. Once identified, cost drivers are used to allocate organizational costs to activities and products and are the focus of cost control efforts. 4. Discuss the characteristics of a company for which ABC would be appropriate. ANS: Companies having the following characteristics find ABC useful: (1) hard-to-make products that show large profits and easy-to-make products that show losses; (2) profit margins that are difficult to explain; (3) considerable automation that makes it difficult to assign overhead to products that use machine hours or direct labor as bases; (4) substantial overhead costs that are not in proportion to the number of products; and (5) a wide variety of services or products. 5. Discuss the four different levels of costs identified by activity based costing (ABC). How should these types of costs be treated in the determination of product cost? ANS: The four different levels are unit-level costs, batch-level costs, product- or process-level costs, and organizational or facility costs. Unit-level costs include direct material, direct labor, and some traceable machine costs. These are incurred once for each item produced and are considered part of total product cost. Batch-level costs include machine setup, material handling, and purchasing or ordering costs. These are incurred once for each batch of items produced and are allocated over the total number of units in the batch. These are also considered part of total product cost. Product- or process-level costs include engineering changes, design, and development costs. These are allocated to the total number of units produced in the product line and are considered part of total product cost. Organizational or facility costs include building depreciation, administrative salaries, and organizational advertising. These costs are not product-related and should be deducted from net product revenue. 6. ABC has been criticized for a variety of reasons. Discuss these criticisms. ANS: One criticism is that ABC does not promote total quality management and continuous improvement. Another criticism of ABC is that ABC does not adhere to generally accepted accounting principles. An ABC system might allocate nonproduct costs (research and development) to products, while not allocating some traditional product costs (factory depreciation on machines) to products. A third criticism of ABC relates to the cost of implementation. An ABC system takes considerable time to implement, and therefore, it is very costly. PROBLEM 1. Heirloom Company. manufactures hand-made pine storage boxes for a variety of clients. As production manager, you have developed the following value chart: Operation Average Number of Days Receiving materials 1 Storing materials 2 Handling materials 3 Cutting/measuring materials 6 Assembling materials 4 Building boxes 7 Attaching hinges 2 Inspection 1 a. Determine the value-added activities and their total time. b. Determine the non-value-added activities and their total time. c. Calculate the manufacturing cycle efficiency. ANS: a. Value-added activities Time Cutting/measuring materials 6 Assembling materials 4 Building boxes 7 Attaching hinges   2   Total production time (days) 19   b. Non-value-added activities Time Receiving 1 Storing 2 Handling 3 Inspection 1 Total nonproduction time (days) 7 c. Total lead time = 19 + 7 = 26 days MCE = 19/26 = 73.1% 2. McMahon Company would like to institute an activity-based costing system to price products. The company's Purchasing Department incurs costs of $550,000 per year and has six employees. Purchasing has determined the three major activities that occur during the year. Activity Allocation Measure # of People Total Cost Issuing purchase orders # of purchase orders 1 $150,000 Reviewing receiving reports # of receiving reports 2 $175,000 Making phone calls # of phone calls 3 $225,000 During the year, 50,000 phone calls were made in the department; 15,000 purchase orders were issued; and 10,000 shipments were received. Product A required 200 phone calls, 150 receiving reports, and 50 purchase orders. Product B required 350 phone calls, 400 receiving reports, and 100 purchase orders. a. Determine the amount of purchasing department cost that should be assigned to each of these products. b. Determine purchasing department cost per unit if 1,500 units of Product A and 3,000 units of Product B were manufactured during the year. ANS: a. $150,000/15,000 = $10 per purchase order $175,000/10,000 = $17.50 per receiving report $225,000/50,000 = $4.50 per phone call Product A Product B 50 purchase orders ? $10 $  500 100 purchase orders ? $10 $1,000 150 receiving reports ? $17.50  2,625 400 receiving reports ? $17.50  7,000 200 phone calls ? $4.50    900 350 phone calls ? $4.50  1,575 Total cost $4,025 $9,575 b. Product A= $4,025/1,500 = $2.68 per unit Product B= $9,575/3,000 = $3.19 per unit