Question

Pittman Company is a small but growing manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. The company has no sales force of its own; rather, it relies completely on independent sales agents to market its products. These agents are paid a sales commission of 15% for all items sold.

Barbara Cheney, Pittman’s controller, has just prepared the company’s budgeted income statement for next year. The statement follows:

Pittman Company Budgeted Income Statement For the Year Ended December 31
Sales			$	18,700,000
Manufacturing expenses:
Variable	$	7,650,000
Fixed overhead		2,700,000		10,350,000
Gross margin				8,350,000
Selling and administrative expenses:
Commissions to agents		2,805,000
Fixed marketing expenses		210,000*
Fixed administrative expenses		2,250,000		5,265,000
Net operating income				3,085,000
Fixed interest expenses				630,000
Income before income taxes				2,455,000
Income taxes (25%)				613,750
Net income			$	1,841,250

*Primarily depreciation on storage facilities.

As Barbara handed the statement to Karl Vecci, Pittman’s president, she commented, “I went ahead and used the agents’ 15% commission rate in completing these statements, but we’ve just learned that they refuse to handle our products next year unless we increase the commission rate to 20%.”

“That’s the last straw,” Karl replied angrily. “Those agents have been demanding more and more, and this time they’ve gone too far. How can they possibly defend a 20% commission rate?”

“They claim that after paying for advertising, travel, and the other costs of promotion, there’s nothing left over for profit,” replied Barbara.

“I say it’s just plain robbery,” retorted Karl. “And I also say it’s time we dumped those guys and got our own sales force. Can you get your people to work up some cost figures for us to look at?”

“We’ve already worked them up,” said Barbara. “Several companies we know about pay a 8.4% commission to their own salespeople, along with a small salary. Of course, we would have to handle all promotion costs, too. We figure our fixed expenses would increase by $2,805,000 per year, but that would be more than offset by the $3,740,000 (20% × $18,700,000) that we would avoid on agents’ commissions.”

The breakdown of the $2,805,000 cost follows:

   

Salaries:
Sales manager	$	190,000
Salespersons		1,050,000
Travel and entertainment		760,000
Advertising		805,000
Total	$	2,805,000

“Super,” replied Karl. “And I noticed that the $2,805,000 is just what we’re paying the agents under the old 15% commission rate.”

“It’s even better than that,” explained Barbara. “We can actually save $120,000 a year because that’s what we’re having to pay the auditing firm now to check out the agents’ reports. So our overall administrative expenses would be less.”

“Pull all of these numbers together and we’ll show them to the executive committee tomorrow,” said Karl. “With the approval of the committee, we can move on the matter immediately.”

Required:

1. Compute Pittman Company’s break-even point in dollar sales for next year assuming: (Enter your answer in whole dollars and not in thousands. Round CM ratio to 3 decimal places and final answers to the nearest dollar amount.)

  

a. The agents’ commission rate remains unchanged at 15%.

    

b. The agents’ commission rate is increased to 20%.

   

c. The company employs its own sales force.

2. Assume that Pittman Company decides to continue selling through agents and pays the 20% commission rate. Determine the volume of sales that would be required to generate the same net income as contained in the budgeted income statement for next year. (Enter your answer in whole dollars and not in thousands. Round CM ratio to 3 decimal places.)

   

3. Determine the volume of sales at which net income would be equal regardless of whether Pittman Company sells through agents (at a 20% commission rate) or employs its own sales force. (Enter your answer in whole dollars and not in thousands. Round CM ratio to 3 decimal places.)

4. Compute the degree of operating leverage that the company would expect to have on December 31 at the end of next year assuming:

  

a. The agents’ commission rate remains unchanged at 15%. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

b. The agents’ commission rate is increased to 20%. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

c. The company employs its own sales force. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

Answer 1

	15% Commission						20% Commission						Own Sales Force
Sales	$	18700		100	%		$	18700		100	%		$	18700		100.0	%
Variable expenses:
Manufacturing		7650						7650						7650
Commissions (15%, 20%, 8.4%)		2805						3740						1570.80
Total variable expenses		10455		55.9	%			11390		60.9	%			9220.80		49.3	%
Contribution margin		8245		44.1	%			7310		39.1	%			9479.20		50.7	%
Fixed expenses:
Manufacturing overhead		2700						2700						2700
Marketing		210						210						3015
Administrative		2250						2250						2130
Interest		630						630						630
Total fixed expenses		5790						5790						8475
Income before income taxes		2455						1520						1004.20
Income taxes (25%)		613.75						380						251.05
Net income	$	1841.25					$	1140					$	753.15

210000+2805000 = 3015000 2250000-120000 = 2130000

Part 1 A

Dollar sales to break even= fixed expenses/CM ratio = 5790000/0.441 = 13129252

Part 1 B

Dollar sales to break even= fixed expenses/CM ratio = 5790000/0.391 = 14808184

Part 1 C

Dollar sales to break even= fixed expenses/CM ratio = 8475000/0.507 = 16715976

Part 2

In order to generate a $1841250 net income, the company must generate $2455000 in income before taxes

Dollar sales to attain target= target income before taxes + fixed expenses / contribution margin ratio = (2455000+5790000)/0.391 = 21086957

Part 3

X = total sales revenue

0.609x + 5790000 = 0.493x + 8475000

0.116x = 2685000

X = 23146552

Part 4

	15% Commission	20% Commission	Own Sales Force
Contribution margin (Part 1) (a)	8245000	7310000	9479200
Income before taxes (Part 1) (b)	245000	1520000	1004200
Degree of operating leverage: (a) ÷ (b)	3.36	4.81	9.44