Exam 9: Differential Analysis: the Key to Decision Making

Wright, Inc. produces three products. Data concerning the selling prices and unit costs of the three products appear below: Fixed costs are applied to the products on the basis of direct labor hours. Demand for the three products exceeds the company's productive capacity. The tapping machine is the constraint, with only 2,400 minutes of tapping machine time available this week. Required: a. Given the tapping machine constraint, which product should be emphasized? Support your answer with appropriate calculations. b. Assuming that there is still unfilled demand for the product that the company should emphasize in part (a) above, up to how much should the company be willing to pay for an additional hour of tapping machine time?

Adamyan Co. manufactures and sells medals for winners of athletic and other events. Its manufacturing plant has the capacity to produce 15,000 medals each month; current monthly production is 12,750 medals. The company normally charges $120 per medal. Cost data for the current level of production are shown below: The company has just received a special one-time order for 700 medals at $83 each. For this particular order, no variable selling and administrative costs would be incurred. This order would also have no effect on fixed costs. Required: Should the company accept this special order? Why?

An avoidable cost is a cost that can be completely eliminated irrespective of whether one chooses one alternative or another in a decision.

Lusk Corporation produces and sells 20,000 units of Product X each month. The selling price of Product X is $30 per unit, and variable expenses are $21 per unit. A study has been made concerning whether Product X should be discontinued. The study shows that $50,000 of the $250,000 in fixed expenses charged to Product X would not be avoidable even if the product was discontinued. If Product X is discontinued, the company's overall net operating income would:

A cost that can be avoided by choosing one alternative over another is not relevant for decision purposes.

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 that Melrose expects to sell 60,000 units of Product C to regular customers next year. At what selling price for the 7,000 units would Melrose be economically indifferent between accepting and rejecting the special order from Moore?

Dockwiller Inc. manufactures industrial components. One of its products, which is used in the construction of industrial air conditioners, is known as D53. Data concerning this product are given below: The above per unit data are based on annual production of 8,000 units of the component. Direct labor is a variable cost -The company has received a special, one-time-only order for 500 units of component D53. There would be no variable selling expense on this special order and the total fixed manufacturing overhead and fixed selling and administrative expenses of the company would not be affected by the order. Assuming that Dockwiller has excess capacity and can fill the order without cutting back on the production of any product, what is the minimum price per unit below which the company should not accept the special order?

The Madison Corporation produces three products with the following costs and selling prices: -If direct labor-hours is the company's production constraint, then the ranking of the products from the most profitable to the least profitable use of the constrained resource is:

Benjamin Signal Company produces products R, J, and C from a joint production process. Each product may be sold at the split-off point or be processed further. Joint production costs of $92,000 per year are allocated to the products based on the relative number of units produced. Data for Benjamin's operations for the current year are as follows: Product R can be processed beyond the split-off point for an additional cost of $26,000 and can then be sold for $105,000. Product J can be processed beyond the split-off point for an additional cost of $38,000 and can then be sold for $117,000. Product C can be processed beyond the split-off point for an additional cost of $12,000 and can then be sold for $57,000. Required: Which products should be processed beyond the split-off point?

Gwinnett Barbecue Sauce Corporation manufactures a specialty barbecue sauce. Gwinnett has the capacity to manufacture and sell 10,000 cases of sauce each year but is currently only manufacturing and selling 9,000. The following costs relate to annual operations at 9,000 cases: Gwinnett normally sells its sauce for $30 per case. A local school district is interested in purchasing Gwinnett's excess capacity of 1,000 cases of sauce but only if they can get the sauce for $15 per case. This special order would not affect regular sales or total fixed costs or variable costs per unit. If this special order is accepted, Gwinnett's profits for the year will:

Juett Company produces a single product. The cost of producing and selling a single unit of this product at the company's normal activity level of 70,000 units per month is as follows: The normal selling price of the product is $72.90 per unit. An order has been received from an overseas customer for 2,000 units to be delivered this month at a special discounted price. This order would have no effect on the company's normal sales and would not change the total amount of the company's fixed costs. The variable selling and administrative expense would be $1.10 less per unit on this order than on normal sales. Direct labor is a variable cost in this company. Required: a. Suppose there is ample idle capacity to produce the units required by the overseas customer and the special discounted price on the special order is $66.10 per unit. By how much would this special order increase (decrease) the company's net operating income for the month? b. Suppose the company is already operating at capacity when the special order is received from the overseas customer. What would be the opportunity cost of each unit delivered to the overseas customer? c. Suppose there is not enough idle capacity to produce all of the units for the overseas customer and accepting the special order would require cutting back on production of 1,300 units for regular customers. What would be the minimum acceptable price per unit for the special order?

A customer has asked Goes Corporation to supply 6,000 units of product Y19, with some modifications, for $31.30 each. The normal selling price of this product is $46.50 each. The normal unit product cost of product Y19 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 Y19 that would increase the variable costs by $8.90 per unit and that would require a one-time investment of $20,000 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!

Part S00 is used in one of Morsey Corporation's products. The company makes 6,000 units of this part each 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 this part and sell it to the company for $16.10 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 $6,000 of these allocated general overhead costs would be avoided. If management decides to buy part S00 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 cost that is traceable to a segment through activity-based costing may or may not be an avoidable cost for decision making.

A study has been conducted to determine if one of the departments in Barry Corporation should be discontinued. The contribution margin in the department is $60,000 per year. Fixed expenses charged to the department are $75,000 per year. It is estimated that $34,000 of these fixed expenses could be eliminated if the department is discontinued. These data indicate that if the department is discontinued, the company's overall net operating income would:

Gary Corporation produces products X, Y, and Z from a single raw material input. Budgeted data for the next month is as follows: If the cost of raw material input is $150,000, which of the products should be processed beyond the split-off point?

Eley Corporation produces a single product. The cost of producing and selling a single unit of this product at the company's normal activity level of 40,000 units per month is as follows: The normal selling price of the product is $86.10 per unit. An order has been received from an overseas customer for 2,000 units to be delivered this month at a special discounted price. This order would have no effect on the company's normal sales and would not change the total amount of the company's fixed costs. The variable selling and administrative expense would be $1.20 less per unit on this order than on normal sales. Direct labor is a variable cost in this company. -Suppose the company is already operating at capacity when the special order is received from the overseas customer. What would be the opportunity cost of each unit delivered to the overseas customer?

Pilgrim Corporation makes a range of products. The company's predetermined overhead rate is $23 per direct labor-hour, which was calculated using the following budgeted data: Management is considering a special order for 800 units of product N89E at $69 each. The normal selling price of product N89E is $88 and the unit product cost is determined as follows: If the special order were accepted, normal sales of this and other products would not be affected. The company has ample excess capacity to produce the additional units. Assume that direct labor is a variable cost, variable manufacturing overhead is really driven by direct labor-hours, and total fixed manufacturing overhead would not be affected by the special order. Required: If the special order were accepted, what would be the impact on the company's overall profit?

Oruro Chemical Corporation manufactures a variety of household cleaners, solvents, and beverages. Because of a recent shortage of mytron, a key ingredient needed for three of its products, the corporation has to decide what amount of each product would be most advantageous to produce. Information related to the three products that use mytron are shown below: Assume that Oruro only has 3,000 ounces of mytron available next month. What is the maximum amount of contribution margin that Oruro can generate next month from the three products above given the shortage of mytron?

Kosakowski Corporation processes sugar beets in batches. A batch of sugar beets costs $66 to buy from farmers and $17 to crush in the company's plant. Two intermediate products, beet fiber and beet juice, emerge from the crushing process. The beet fiber can be sold as is for $23 or processed further for $13 to make the end product industrial fiber that is sold for $36. The beet juice can be sold as is for $42 or processed further for $20 to make the end product refined sugar that is sold for $84. How much more profit (loss) does the company make by processing one batch of sugar beets into the end products industrial fiber and refined sugar?