Exam 9: Differential Analysis: the Key to Decision Making

Holt Company makes three products in a single facility. Data concerning these products follow: The mixing machines are potentially the constraint in the production facility. A total of 25,800 minutes are available per month on these machines. Direct labor is a variable cost in this company. Required: a. How many minutes of mixing machine time would be required to satisfy demand for all three products? b. How much of each product should be produced to maximize net operating income? (Round off to the nearest whole unit.) c. Up to how much should the company be willing to pay for one additional hour of mixing machine time if the company has made the best use of the existing mixing machine capacity? (Round off to the nearest whole cent.)

Product Q77H has been considered a drag on profits at Zenke Corporation for some time and management is considering discontinuing the product altogether. Data from the company's accounting system appear below: In the company's accounting system all fixed expenses of the company are fully allocated to products. Further investigation has revealed that $71,000 of the fixed manufacturing expenses and $43,000 of the fixed selling and administrative expenses are avoidable if product Q77H is discontinued. What would be the effect on the company's overall net operating income if product Q77H were dropped?

The Talbot Corporation makes wheels that it uses in the production of bicycles. Talbot's costs to produce 100,000 wheels annually are: An outside supplier has offered to sell Talbot similar wheels for $1.25 per wheel. If the wheels are purchased from the outside supplier, $15,000 of annual fixed overhead could be avoided and the facilities now being used could be rented to another company for $45,000 per year. Direct labor is a variable cost. -If Talbot chooses to buy the wheel from the outside supplier, then annual net operating income would:

A product whose revenues do not cover the sum of its variable costs, its traceable fixed costs, and its allocated share of general corporate administrative expenses should usually be dropped.

In a factory operating at capacity, not every machine and person should be working at the maximum possible rate.

Manico Corporation produces three products -- X, Y, & Z -- with the following characteristics: The company has only 2,000 machine-hours available each month. If demand exceeds the company's capacity, in what sequence should orders be filled if the company wants to maximize its total contribution margin?

Wehn Refiners, Inc., processes sugar cane that it purchases from farmers. Sugar cane is processed in batches. A batch of sugar cane costs $40 to buy from farmers and $13 to crush in the company's plant. Two intermediate products, cane fiber and cane juice, emerge from the crushing process. The cane fiber can be sold as is for $28 or processed further for $18 to make the end product industrial fiber that is sold for $37. The cane juice can be sold as is for $31 or processed further for $25 to make the end product molasses that is sold for $66. -How much more profit (loss) does the company make by processing the intermediate product cane juice into molasses rather than selling it as is?

Farnsworth Television makes and sells portable television sets. Each television regularly sells for $200. The following cost data per television are based on a full capacity of 12,000 televisions produced each period: A special order has been received by Farnsworth for a sale of 2,500 televisions to an overseas customer. The only selling costs that would be incurred on this order would be $10 per television for shipping. Farnsworth is now selling 7,200 televisions through regular distributors each period. What should be the minimum selling price per television in negotiating a price for this special order?

A cost that is relevant in one decision may not be relevant in another decision.

Tullius Corporation has received a request for a special order of 8,000 units of product C64 for $50.00 each. The normal selling price of this product is $53.25 each, but the units would need to be modified slightly for the customer. The normal unit product cost of product C64 is computed as follows: Direct labor is a variable cost. The special order would have no effect on the company's total fixed manufacturing overhead costs. The customer would like some modifications made to product C64 that would increase the variable costs by $5.00 per unit and that would require a one-time investment of $43,000 in special molds that would have no salvage value. This special order would have no effect on the company's other sales. The company has ample spare capacity for producing the special order. Required: Determine the effect on the company's total net operating income of accepting the special order. Show your work!

Foster Company makes 20,000 units per year of a part it uses in the products it manufactures. The unit product cost of this part is computed as follows: An outside supplier has offered to sell the company all of these parts it needs for $51.80 a unit. If the company accepts this offer, the facilities now being used to make the part could be used to make more units of a product that is in high demand. The additional contribution margin on this other product would be $44,000 per year. If the part were purchased from the outside supplier, all of the direct labor cost of the part would be avoided. However, $5.10 of the fixed manufacturing overhead cost being applied to the part would continue even if the part were purchased from the outside supplier. This fixed manufacturing overhead cost would be applied to the company's remaining products. Required: a. How much of the unit product cost of $56.70 is relevant in the decision of whether to make or buy the part? b. What is the net total dollar advantage (disadvantage) of purchasing the part rather than making it? c. What is the maximum amount the company should be willing to pay an outside supplier per unit for the part if the supplier commits to supplying all 20,000 units required each year?

Brown Corporation makes four products in a single facility. These products have the following unit product costs: Additional data concerning these products are listed below. The grinding machines are potentially the constraint in the production facility. A total of 10,500 minutes are available per month on these machines. Direct labor is a variable cost in this company. -Up to how much should the company be willing to pay for one additional minute of grinding machine time if the company has made the best use of the existing grinding machine capacity? (Round off to the nearest whole cent.)

An outside supplier has offered to sell the company all of these parts it needs for $46.20 a unit. If the company accepts this offer, the facilities now being used to make the part could be used to make more units of a product that is in high demand. The additional contribution margin on this other product would be $264,000 per year. If the part were purchased from the outside supplier, all of the direct labor cost of the part would be avoided. However, $21.90 of the fixed manufacturing overhead cost being applied to the part would continue even if the part were purchased from the outside supplier. This fixed manufacturing overhead cost would be applied to the company's remaining products. -What is the net total dollar advantage (disadvantage) of purchasing the part rather than making it?

The following are the Jensen Corporation's unit costs of making and selling an item at a volume of 1,000 units per month (which represents the company's capacity): Present sales amount to 700 units per month. An order has been received from a customer in a foreign market for 100 units. The order would not affect current sales. Fixed costs, both manufacturing and selling and administrative, are constant within the relevant range between 700 units and 1,000 units. The variable selling and administrative expenses would have to be incurred on this special order as well as for all other sales. Direct labor is a variable cost. -How much will the company's profits be increased or (decreased) if it prices the 100 units at $7 each?

The Melrose Corporation produces a single product, Product C. Melrose has the capacity to produce 70,000 units of Product C each year. If Melrose produces at capacity, the per unit costs to produce and sell one unit of Product C are as follows: The regular selling price of one unit of Product C is $100. A special order has been received by Melrose from Moore Corporation to purchase 7,000 units of Product C during the upcoming year. If this special order is accepted, the variable selling expense will be reduced by 75%. Total fixed manufacturing overhead and fixed selling expenses would be unaffected except that Melrose will need to purchase a specialized machine to engrave the Moore name on each unit of product C in the special order. The machine will cost $10,500 and will have no use after the special order is filled. Assume that direct labor is a variable cost. -Assume Melrose expects to sell 60,000 units of Product C to regular customers next year. If Moore company offers to buy the 7,000 special units at $90 per unit, the effect of accepting the special order on Melrose's net operating income for next year will be:

An outside supplier has offered to sell the company all of these parts it needs for $46.20 a unit. If the company accepts this offer, the facilities now being used to make the part could be used to make more units of a product that is in high demand. The additional contribution margin on this other product would be $264,000 per year. If the part were purchased from the outside supplier, all of the direct labor cost of the part would be avoided. However, $21.90 of the fixed manufacturing overhead cost being applied to the part would continue even if the part were purchased from the outside supplier. This fixed manufacturing overhead cost would be applied to the company's remaining products. -What is the maximum amount the company should be willing to pay an outside supplier per unit for the part if the supplier commits to supplying all 40,000 units required each year?

Hermenegildo Corporation is presently making part P42 that is used in one of its products. A total of 10,000 units of this part are produced and used every year. The company's Accounting Department reports the following costs of producing the part at this level of activity: An outside supplier has offered to produce and sell the part to the company for $23.90 each. If this offer is accepted, the supervisor's salary and all of the variable costs, including direct labor, can be avoided. The special equipment used to make the part was purchased many years ago and has no salvage value or other use. The allocated general overhead represents fixed costs of the entire company. If the outside supplier's offer were accepted, only $4,000 of these allocated general overhead costs would be avoided. -If management decides to buy part P42 from the outside supplier rather than to continue making the part, what would be the annual impact on the company's overall net operating income?

A fixed cost cannot be a differential cost.

Lafoe Corporation produces two intermediate products, A and B, from a common input. Intermediate product A can be further processed into end product X. Intermediate product B can be further processed into Product Y. The common input is purchased in batches that cost $40 each and the cost of processing a batch to produce intermediate products A and B is $18. Intermediate product A can be sold as is for $28 or processed further for $19 to make Product X that is sold for $50. Intermediate product B can be sold as is for $30 or processed further for $21 to make product Y that is sold for $49. Required: a. Assuming that no other costs are involved in processing the common input or in selling products, what is the profit (loss) from processing one batch of the common input into the products X and Y? Show your work! b. Should each of the intermediate products, A and B, be sold as is or processed further? Explain.

Crane Corporation makes four products in a single facility. Data concerning these products appear below: The milling machines are potentially the constraint in the production facility. A total of 22,600 minutes are available per month on these machines. -Up to how much should the company be willing to pay for one additional minute of milling machine time if the company has made the best use of the existing milling machine capacity? (Round your answer to the nearest whole cent.)