Relevant Costs and Benefits Decision making: Relevant Costs and Benefits

Let’s take a look at a decision faced by many businesses. Make versus Buy Let’s take a look at a decision faced by many businesses. We need a particular component for our manufacturing process. Do you think we should make or buy this particular item? W

Make or Buy Han Products manufactures 30,000 units of part S-6 each year for use on its production line. At this level of activity, the cost per unit for part S-6 is as follows: Direct materials $3.60 Direct labor 10.00 Variable manufacturing overhead 2.40 Fixed manufacturing overhead   9.00 Total cost per part $25.00

Make or Buy (continued) An outside supplier has offered to sell 30,000 units of part S-6 each year to Han Products for $21 per part. If Han Products accepts this offer, the facilities now being used to manufacture part S-6 could be rented to another company at an annual rental of $80,000. However, Han Products has determined that two-thirds of the fixed manufacturing overhead being applied to part S-6 would continue even if part S-6 were purchased from the outside supplier. Prepare computations showing how much profits will increase or decrease if the outside supplier’s offer is accepted.

Analysis of Special Pricing Decisions Let’s take a look at another decision faced by many businesses: Another firm has offered to pay us $10 for a product that normally sells for $25. Do you think we should accept this special order? W

Accept/Reject Special Orders Polaski Company manufactures and sells a single product called a Ret. Operating at capacity, the company can produce and sell 30,000 Rets per year. Costs associated with this level of production and sales are given below: The Rets normally sell for $50 each. Fixed manufacturing overhead is constant at $270,000 per year within the range of 25,000 through 30,000 Rets per year.   Unit Total Direct materials $15 $450,000 Direct labor 8 240,000 Variable manufacturing overhead 3 90,000 Fixed manufacturing overhead 9 270,000 Variable selling expense 4 120,000 Fixed selling expense 6 180,000 Total cost $45 $1,350,000

Accept/Reject Special Orders (continued) Assume that due to a recession, Polaski Company expects to sell only 25,000 Rets through regular channels next year. A large retail chain has offered to purchase 5,000 Rets if Polaski is willing to accept a 16% discount off the regular price. There would be no sales commissions on this order; thus, variable selling expenses would be slashed by 75%. However, Polaski Company would have to purchase a special machine to engrave the retail chain’s name on the 5,000 units. This machine would cost $10,000. Polaski Company has no assurance that the retail chain will purchase additional units in the future. Determine the impact on profits next year if this special order is accepted.

Accept/Reject Special Orders (continued) Refer to the original data. Assume again that Polaski Company expects to sell only 25,000 Rets through regular channels next year. The U.S. Army would like to make a one-time-only purchase of 5,000 Rets. The Army would pay a fixed fee of $1.80 per Ret, and it would reimburse Polaski Company for all costs of production (variable and fixed) associated with the units. Because the army would pick up the Rets with its own trucks, there would be no variable selling expenses associated with this order. If Polaski Company accepts the order, by how much will profits increase or decrease for the year?

Accept/Reject Special Orders (continued) Assume the same situation as that described in the previous slide, except that the company expects to sell 30,000 Rets through the regular channels next year. Thus, accepting the U.S. Army’s order would require giving up regular sales of 5,000 Rets. If the Army’s order is accepted, by how much will profits increase or decrease from what they would be if the 5,000 Rets were sold through regular channels?

Utilizing a Constrained Resource Let’s take a look at another decision faced by many businesses: One of our machines is a constraint in the operation. What products should we produce on this machine? W

Scarce Resource Constraint A company has two products: a plain cellular phone and a fancier cellular phone with many special features: Plain Fancy Phone Phone Selling price $ 80 $ 120 Variable costs 64 84 Contribution margin $ 16 $ 36 Contribution-margin ratio 20% 30%

Scarce Resource Constraint Which product is more profitable? On which should the firm spend its resources? It depends. If sales are restricted by demand for only a limited number of phones, fancy phones are more profitable.

Scarce Resource Constraint Suppose annual demand for phones of both types is more than the company can produce in the next year. Only 10,000 hours of capacity are available If in one hour plant workers can make either three plain phones or one fancy phone, which phone is more profitable?

Scarce Resource Constraint Plain Fancy Phone Phone 1. Units per hour 3 1 2. Contribution margin per unit $ 16 $ 36 Contribution margin per hour Total contribution for 10,000 hours

Constrained Resources Westford Company produces three products, A110, B382, and C657. Unit data for the three products follows:   Product A110 B382 C657 Selling Price $84 $56 $70 Variable Costs Direct materials 24 15 9 Labor and other costs 28 27 40 Quantity of Bistide per unit 8 lb. 5 lb. 3 lb.

Constrained Resources (continued) All three products use the same direct material, Bistide. The demand for the products far exceeds the direct materials available to produce the products. Bistide costs $3 per pound and a maximum of 5,000 pounds is available each month. Westford must produce a minimum of 200 units of each product. How many units of product A110, B832, and C657 should Westford produce? What is the maximum amount Westford would be willing to pay for another 1,000 pounds of Bistide?

Analysis of Equipment Replacement Decisions Let’s take a look at another decision faced by many businesses: Should we replace a machine with a newer and more efficient one? W

Equipment Replacement Decision A manager at White Co. wants to replace an old machine with a new, more efficient machine:

Should the manager purchase the new machine? Equipment Replacement Decision White’s sales are $200,000 per year Fixed expenses, other than depreciation, are $70,000 per year Should the manager purchase the new machine?

Another Equipment Replacement Decision Toledo Company is considering replacing a metal-cutting machine with a newer model. The new machine is more efficient than the old machine, but it has a shorter life. Revenues from aircraft parts ($1.1 million per year) will be unaffected by the replacement decision. Here’s the data on the existing (old) machine and the replacement (new) machine:

Equipment Replacement Decision (cont.) Old Machine New Machine Original Cost $1,000,000 $600,000 Useful Life 5 years 2 years Current age 3 years 0 years Remaining useful life Accumulated Depreciation Not acquired yet Book Value $400,000 Current disposal value (in cash) $40,000 Terminal disposal value (in cash 2 years from now) $0 Annual operating costs (maintenance, energy, repairs, coolants, and so on) $800,000 $460,000

Equipment Replacement Decision (cont.) Toledo Corporation uses straight-line depreciation. To focus on relevance, we ignore time value of money and income taxes. Should Toledo replace its old machine?

Sell or Process Further Let’s take a look at another decision faced by many businesses: We have a joint process in our manufacturing operation. How should we decide whether to sell a joint product as is, or process it further? W

Joint Products Joint Costs Separable Split-Off Product Point Costs Separate Processing Final Sale Oil Common Production Process Joint Input Final Sale Gasoline Separate Processing Final Sale Chemicals Separable Product Costs Split-Off Point

Sell-or-Process Further Decisions In Sell-or-Process Further decisions, joint costs are irrelevant since they are “sunk” costs at the decision point Decision should be based on whether the incremental revenue due to further processing is greater/less than the separable costs for the same

Sell or Process Further Wexpro, Inc., produces several products from processing 1 ton of clypton, a rare mineral. Material and processing costs total $60,000 per ton, one-fourth of which is allocated to product X15. Seven thousand units of product X15 are produced from each ton of clypton. The units can either be sold at the split-off point for $9 each, or processed further at a total cost of $9,500 and then sold for $12 each. Should product X15 be processed further or sold at the split-off point?

Joint Products - Practice The wood spirits company produces two products, turpentine and methanol, by a joint process. Joint costs are $120,000 per batch of output. Each batch totals 10,000 gallons, 25% methanol and 75% turpentine. At split-off, methanol sells for $21/gallon and turpentine sells for $14/ gallon.

Joint Products - Practice (continued) The company has discovered an new process by which the methanol can be made into a pleasant-tasting beverage. The selling price for this beverage would be $40 per gallon. The additional processing would cost $12 per gallon s and the company would have to pay excise taxes of 20% on the selling price. Should the company undertake further processing?