The rules for how segments should be presented in the annual report are governed by external financial accounting rules. The information you gathered for the previous requirements would be used by investors and other external stakeholders in their analysis of the company and its stock. Internally, the company most likely has many segments. Based on what you know about the company and its products or services, list at least five potential segments that the company might use for internal reporting. Explain why this way of segmenting the company for internal reporting could be useful to managers.
> Describe at least one department that would have ending work in process. What do the units look like as they are “in process”?
> Justify why you think this production process would dictate the use of a process costing system.
> List at least three costs that would be incurred in each of the six business activities in the value chain.
> List at least two separate processes that are performed in creating this product. What departments would house these processes?
> Summarize the production process.
> A hospital can use activity-based costing (ABC) for costing its services. In a hospital, what activities might be considered to be value-added activities? What activities at that hospital might be considered to be non-value-added?
> Using activity-based costing, why are indirect costs allocated while direct costs are not allocated?
> What are the four categories of quality-related costs? Name a cost in each of the four cat- egories for each of the following types of organizations: a. Restaurant b. Hospital c. Law firm d. Bank e. Tire manufacturer f. University
> What skills are required of a management accountant? In what college courses are these skills taught or developed? What skills would be further developed in the workplace?
> What are the similarities between sustainability and lean thinking? What are the differences between sustainability and lean thinking?
> It has been said that external failure costs can be catastrophic and much higher than the other categories. What are some examples of external failure costs? Why is it often difficult to arrive at the cost of external failures?
> Compare a traditional production system with a lean production system. Discuss the similarities and the differences.
> A company makes shatterproof, waterproof cases for the S-series of Samsung smart- phones. The company makes only one model and has been very successful in marketing its cases; no other company in the market has a similar product. The only customization a
> Explain the potential problem that could arise from using ROI as the incentive measure for managers. What are some specific actions a company might take to resolve this potential problem?
> Assume a company uses a plantwide predetermined manufacturing overhead rate that is calculated using direct labor hours as the cost driver. The use of this plantwide predetermined manufacturing overhead rate has resulted in cost distortion. The company’s
> How can using a single predetermined manufacturing overhead rate based on a unit-level cost driver cause a high-volume product to be overcosted?
> Explain why departmental overhead rates might be used instead of a single plantwide overhead rate.
> Why might a company want to take lean thinking a step further by including operations and methods associated with sustainability?
> For each of the key activities, list a potential cost driver for that activity and describe why this cost driver would be appropriate for the associated activity.
> List eight key activities performed at this company. Choose at least one activity in the areas of production, sales, human resources, and accounting.
> A company currently has all of its managerial accountants reporting to the controller. What might be inefficient about this organizational structure? How might the company restructure? What benefits would the restructuring offer?
> Describe the company selected, including its products or services
> Why would it be inappropriate for a custom-home builder to use process costing?
> What product costs must be allocated to jobs? Why must these costs be allocated rather than assigned?
> Compare and contrast a cost center, a revenue center, a profit center, and an investment center. List a specific example of each type of responsibility center. How is the performance of managers evaluated in each type of responsibility center?
> How can job cost records help to promote sustainability efforts within a company?
> What account is credited when manufacturing overhead is allocated to jobs during the period? What account is debited when manufacturing overhead costs are incurred during the period? Would you expect these two amounts (allocated and incurred manufacturin
> Explain why the cost of goods sold should be lower if manufacturing overhead is over- allocated. Should operating income be higher or lower if manufacturing overhead is over - allocated? Why?
> Describe a situation that may cause manufacturing overhead to be overallocated in a given year. Also, describe a situation that may cause manufacturing overhead to be un- derallocated in a given year.
> Why is it acceptable to close overallocated or underallocated manufacturing overhead to Cost of Goods Sold rather than allocating it proportionately to Work in Process Inventory, Finished Goods Inventory, and Cost of Goods Sold? Under what circumstances
> Why does management need to know the cost of a job? Discuss at least five reasons.
> Why should manufacturing overhead be allocated to a job even though the costs cannot be directly traced to a job? Give at least two reasons.
> Make a list of all other expenses that would be needed to create your product. Examples of other expenses would be rent, utilities, and insurance. Estimate the cost of each of these expenses per year.
> When the predetermined manufacturing overhead rate is calculated, why are estimated costs and cost driver levels used instead of actual dollars and amounts?
> For what types of products is job costing appropriate? Why? For what types of products is process costing appropriate? Why?
> Describe at least four advantages of decentralization. Also describe at least two disadvantages of decentralization.
> Why should companies estimate the environmental costs of a given job? Why have EPR (extended producer responsibility) laws come into existence?
> Would a job-order costing system or a process costing system be used for this production process? Give specific reasons for your choice of which costing system would be most appropriate for this manufacturer.
> Describe the jobs of the workers who would be considered “indirect labor” in the making of this product.
> Describe the jobs of the workers who would be considered “direct labor” in the making of this product
> What indirect materials are used to make this product?
> What raw materials are used to make this product?
> Describe the product that is being produced and the company that makes it
> Define manufacturing overhead. In addition to the indirect materials and indirect labor previously described, what other manufacturing overhead costs would be incurred in this production process? Be specific and thorough. Make reasonable “guesses” if yo
> What skills do employers value highly? What does that tell you about “what accountants do” at their companies?
> Summarize the production process that is used in making this product.
> List and describe the four perspectives found on a balanced scorecard. For each perspective, list at least two examples of KPIs that might be used to measure performance on that perspective.
> List the segments as reported in the annual report. Make a table listing each operating segment, its revenues, income, and assets.
> Use the data you collected in Requirement 2 to calculate each segment’s capital turnover. Interpret your results.
> What are financial budgets? List at least three financial budgets
> What are operating budgets? List at least four operating budgets.
> What is a budget committee? What is the budget committee’s role in the budgeting process?
> Describe the process for developing a budget.
> Describe the difference between an operating budget and a capital expenditures budget.
> List at least four reasons why a company would use budgeting.
> Describe the product that is being produced and the company that produces it.
> “The sales budget is the most important budget.” Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.
> Why might a company want to state environmental goals for increased sustainability in its budgets? Explain.
> How does the master budget for a service company differ from a master budget for a manufacturing company? Which (if any) operating budgets differ and how, specifically, do they differ? Which (if any) financial budgets differ and how, specifically, do the
> Give an example of a sustainable practice that would affect a company’s budget. How might this sustainable practice, if adopted, impact the company’s budget in both the short-term and in the long-term?
> Compare and contrast “participative budgeting” with “top-down” budgeting.
> Describe your product. What is your cost of this product? What size (quantity) will you purchase? At what price will you sell your repackaged product? Make projections of your sales in units in each of the upcoming three months.
> Prepare a budgeted income statement that reflects the budgets you prepared, including the sales budget, direct materials budget, direct labor budget, and the operating expenses budget. This budgeted income statement should include one column for each of
> Think about any other expenses you are likely to have (i.e., booth rental at a flea market or a vendor license). Prepare the operating expenses budget for each of the upcoming three months.
> Prepare a direct labor budget (for your labor) for each of the upcoming three months.
> Prepare the direct material budgets for the upcoming three months, assuming that you need to keep 10% of the direct materials needed for next month’s sales on hand at the end of each month (this requirement is why you needed to estimate unit sales for fo
> List a direct cost and an indirect cost for each of the three different cost objects in question 5. • Advertising • Internal control • Environmental sustainability
> Prepare a sales budget for each of the upcoming three months.
> Estimate how many hours you will spend in each of the upcoming three months doing the purchasing, repackaging, and selling. Select a reasonable wage rate for yourself. What will your total labor costs be in each of the upcoming three months?
> Do an Internet search on the terms carbon offset and carbon footprint. What is a carbon footprint? What is a carbon offset? Why would carbon offsets be of interest to a company? What are some companies that offer (sell) carbon offsets?
> How can “make-or-buy” concepts be applied to decisions at a service organization? What types of make-or-buy decisions might a service organization face?
> What is the difference between segment margin and contribution margin? When would each be used?
> Why could a manager be justified in ignoring fixed costs when making a decision about a special order? When would fixed costs be relevant when making a decision about a special order?
> What undesirable result can arise from allocating common fixed costs to product lines?
> What is an opportunity cost? List possible opportunity costs associated with a make-or-buy decision.
> A beverage company is considering whether to discontinue its line of grape soda. What factors will affect the company’s decision? What is a qualitative factor? Which of the factors you listed are qualitative?
> A computer manufacturer is considering outsourcing its technical support call center to India. Its current technical support call center is located in Dellroy, Ohio. The current call center is one of the top employers in Dellroy and employs about 10% of
> How can what is taught in managerial accounting help you in other careers other than accounting?
> List the qualitative factors that could influence the company’s decision of whether or not to outsource this business operation. Again, you need to make reasonable guesses about the qualitative factors that might influence the company’s decision to outso
> List the revenues and costs that might be impacted by this outsourcing decision. The article will not list many, if any, of these revenues and costs; you should make reasonable guesses about what revenues and/or costs would be associated with the busines
> Why did the company decide to outsource (or is considering outsourcing)?
> Describe the company that is making the decision to outsource. What area of the business is the company looking to outsource, or did it already outsource?
> How can CVP techniques be used in supporting a company’s sustainability efforts? Conversely, how might CVP be a barrier to sustainability efforts?
> Rondell Pharmacy is considering switching to the use of robots to fill prescriptions that consist of oral solids or medications in pill form. The robots will assist the human pharma- cists and will reduce the number of human pharmacy workers needed. This
> Is the contribution margin ratio of a grocery store likely to be higher or lower than that of a plastics manufacturer? Explain the difference in cost structure between a grocery store and a plastics manufacturer. How does the cost structure difference im
> Why is it necessary to calculate a weighted-average contribution margin ratio for a multi- product company when calculating the breakeven point for that company? Why can’t all of the products’ contribution margin ratios just be added together and average
> What conditions must be met for cost-volume-profit analysis to be accurate?
> “Breakeven analysis isn’t very useful to a company because companies need to do more than break even to survive in the long run.” Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.
> Why is managerial accounting more suitable for internal reporting than for financial accounting?
> The purchasing manager for Rockwell Hall Bags has been able to purchase the material for its signature handbags for $9 less per bag than in the prior year. Keeping everything else the same, what effect would this reduction in material cost have on the br
> Define breakeven point. Why is the breakeven point important to managers?
> Describe three ways that cost-volume-profit concepts could be used by a service organization.
> Describe four different ways cost-volume-profit analysis could be useful to management.
> Alston Jewelry had sales revenues last year of $2.4 million, while its breakeven point (in dollars) was $2.2 million. What was Alston Jewelry’s margin of safety in dollars? What does the term margin of safety mean? What can you discern about Alston Jewel
> Now decide how much you would like to make in before-tax operating income (target profit) in each of the upcoming five years. Calculate how many units you would need to sell in each of the upcoming years to meet these target profit levels.
> Calculate the margin of safety in units for each of the five years in your projection.
> Calculate how many units of your product you will need to sell to break even in each of the five years you have projected.
> Now classify all of the expenses you have listed as being either fixed or variable. For mixed expenses, separate the expense into the fixed component and the variable component.
> Make a list of all of the equipment you will need to make your product. Estimate the cost of each piece of equipment that you will need.
> What business trends are influencing managerial accounting today? How do these trends impact management accountants’ roles in the organization?
