Townson Company Is Making Plans for the Introduction of a New

Essay

Townson Company is making plans for the introduction of a new product, which has a target selling price of $7 per unit. The following estimates of manufacturing costs have been derived for 6 million units, to be produced during the first year:
Direct material: $6,000,000
Direct labor: $2,100,000 (at $14 per hour)
Overhead costs have not yet been estimated, but monthly data on total production and overhead for the past 12 months have been analyzed by using least-squares regression. The major overhead cost driver is direct labor hours, with the following results:
Computed values:
Fixed overhead cost: $3,200,000
Coefficient of independent variable: $2.25
Required:
A. Prepare the company's regression equation (Y = a + bX) to estimate overhead.
B. Calculate the predicted overhead cost at an activity level of 6,300,000 units.
C. What is Townson's dependent variable in this case?