Question

Marta Enterprise is a large corporation that had business activities in such areas as building, maintenance services, real-estate investment, and truck leasing and auto parts distribution. The   following selected data was obtained from the company’s comparative income statements and statements of financial position.

Income Statements Data For the Year ended
	31/12/ YEAR 2	31/12/YEAR 1
	Ksh. ‘000’	Kshs. ‘000’
Net sales	97,000	82,000
Cost of goods sold	57,500	47,500
Selling expenses	14,000	12,000
Administrative expenses	16,500	15,000
Interest expense on long-term debt	1,500	2,100
Statement of Financial Position
	31/12/ YEAR 2	31/12/YEAR 1
	Ksh. ‘000’	Ksh. ‘000’
Cash	127,000	119,500
Short-term investments	52,500	68,000
Inventories	18,000	14,000
Pre-paid expenses	79,000	65,500
Total current liabilities	3,500	5,000
Long-term debt	112,000	107,500
	15,000	21,500

At the beginning of year 2, top management implemented a firm-wide cost control program aimed at selling and administrative expenses. The company rounds all computations to one decimal place and has no cash sales.

Required:

2. By performing a vertical analysis of selling expenses and administrative expenses, determine whether the cost control programs are working. Comment on your findings.

  

Answer 1

Vertical analysis of selling and administrative expenses of Marta Enterprise for year 1 and year 2

Particulars	year 2 Ksh.'000'	Year 2 Percentage	Year 1 Ksh. '000'	Year 1 Percentage
Net sales	97,000	100%	82,000	100%
Selling expenses	14,000	14.43%	12,000	14.63%
Administrative expenses	16,500	17%	15,000	18.29%

Selling expenses percentage in year 2

= (14,000 / 97,000) × 100 = 14.43%

Selling expenses percentage in year 1

= (12,000 / 82,000) × 100 = 14.63%

Administrative expenses percentage in year 2

= (16,500 / 97,000) × 100 = 17%

Administrative expenses percentage in year 1

= (15,000 / 82,000) × 100 = 18.29%

* The selling expenses in year 1 is 14.63% and in year 2 is 14.43%. Selling expenses is down by .2% as compared year 2 to year 1.

* The administrative expenses in year 1 is 18.29% and year 2 is 17% . It reduced by 1.29%

The cost control program are work well . Because the selling expenses and administrative expenses are down compared to each year sales in year 2 as compared to year 1.

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The above are the detailed calculations and explanations.

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