Question

Jackson County Senior Services is a nonprofit organization devoted to providing essential services to seniors who live in their own homes within the Jackson County area. Three services are provided for seniors—home nursing, Meals On Wheels, and housekeeping. Data on revenue and expenses for the past year follow:

		Total		Home Nursing		Meals On Wheels		House- keeping
Revenues	$	929,000	$	268,000	$	409,000	$	252,000
Variable expenses		471,000		111,000		201,000		159,000
Contribution margin		458,000		157,000		208,000		93,000
Fixed expenses:
Depreciation		70,100		8,900		40,400		20,800
Liability insurance		42,900		20,100		7,400		15,400
Program administrators’ salaries		113,400		40,100		38,200		35,100
General administrative overhead*		185,800		53,600		81,800		50,400
Total fixed expenses		412,200		122,700		167,800		121,700
Net operating income (loss)	$	45,800	$	34,300	$	40,200	$	(28,700)

*Allocated on the basis of program revenues.

The head administrator of Jackson County Senior Services, Judith Miyama, considers last year’s net operating income of $45,800 to be unsatisfactory; therefore, she is considering the possibility of discontinuing the housekeeping program.

The depreciation in housekeeping is for a small van that is used to carry the housekeepers and their equipment from job to job. If the program were discontinued, the van would be donated to a charitable organization. None of the general administrative overhead would be avoided if the housekeeping program were dropped, but the liability insurance and the salary of the program administrator would be avoided.

Required:

1-a. What is the financial advantage (disadvantage) of discontinuing the Housekeeping program?

1-b. Should the Housekeeping program be discontinued?

2-a. Prepare a properly formatted segmented income statement.

2-b. Would a segmented income statement format be more useful to management in assessing the long-run financial viability of the various services?

Answer 1

Solution 1-a:

Computation of Financial Advantage (Disadvantage) of discontinuing House-keeping Program
Particulars	Continue House-keeping	Discontinue House-keeping	Financial advantage (disadvantage) of House-keeping
Revenues	$2,52,000	$0	-$2,52,000
Variable expenses	$1,59,000	$0	-$1,59,000
Contribution Margin	$93,000	$0	-$93,000
Fixed Expenses:
Depreciation	$20,800	$20,800	$0
Liability Insurance	$15,400	$0	-$15,400
Program administrators' salaries	$35,100	$0	-$35,100
General administrative overhead	$50,400	$50,400	$0
Net Income	-$28,700	-$71,200	-$42,500

Solution 1-b:

No, the Housekeeping program should not be discontinued because there is financial disadvantage of $42500 if discontinued.

Solution 2-a:

Segmanted Income Statement - Jackson Country Senior Services
Particulars	Total	Home Nursing	Meals on Wheels	House-Keeping
Sales	$9,29,000.00	$2,68,000.00	$4,09,000.00	$2,52,000.00
Variable expenses	$4,71,000.00	$1,11,000.00	$2,01,000.00	$1,59,000.00
Contribution margin	$4,58,000.00	$1,57,000.00	$2,08,000.00	$93,000.00
Traceable Fixed Expenses:
Depreciation	$70,100.00	$8,900.00	$40,400.00	$20,800.00
Liability Insurance	$42,900.00	$20,100.00	$7,400.00	$15,400.00
Program administrators' salaries	$1,13,400.00	$40,100.00	$38,200.00	$35,100.00
Total Tracable Fixed Expenses	$2,26,400.00	$69,100.00	$86,000.00	$71,300.00
Product Line segment margin (loss)	$2,31,600.00	$87,900.00	$1,22,000.00	$21,700.00
Common fixed expenses	$1,85,800.00
Net Operating Income (Loss)	$45,800.00

Solution 1-b:

Yes, a segmented income statement format would be more useful to management in assessing the long-run financial viability of the various services.