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 $ 20,500,000

Manufacturing expenses:

Variable $ 7,950,000

Fixed overhead 2,940,000 10,890,000

Gross margin 9,610,000

Selling and administrative expenses:

Commissions to agents 3,075,000

Fixed marketing expenses 270,000*

Fixed administrative expenses 2,550,000 5,895,000

Net operating income 3,715,000

Fixed interest expenses 690,000

Income before income taxes 3,025,000

Income taxes (30%) 907,500

Net income $ 2,117,500

*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 17%.” “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 17% 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 7.9% 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 $3,075,000 per year, but that would be more than offset by the $3,485,000 (17% × $20,500,000) that we would avoid on agents’ commissions.”

The breakdown of the $3,075,000 cost follows:

Salaries:

Sales manager $ 250,000

Salespersons 1,350,000

Travel and entertainment 1,000,000

Advertising 475,000

Total $ 3,075,000

“Super,” replied Karl. “And I noticed that the $3,075,000 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 $150,000 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 17%. c. The company employs its own sales force.

2. Assume that Pittman Company decides to continue selling through agents and pays the 17% 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 17% 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 17%. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.) c. The company employs its own sales force. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

Answer 1

Solution:

1) Calculation of the Pitman Company's Break Even Point in Dollar Sales for Next Year Assuming: a. The agents’ commission rate remains unchanged at 15%. b. The agents’ commission rate is increased to 17%. c. The company employs its own sales force:

	15% Commission (in '000)		17% Commission (in '000)		Own Sales Force (in '000)
Sales	$20,500.00	100%	$20,500.00	100%	$20,500.00	100%
Variable expenses:
Manufacturing	7,950.00		7,950.00		7,950.00
Commissions (15%,17%, 7.9%)	3,075.00		3,485.00		1,619.50
Total variable expenses	$11,125.00	53.8%	$11,435.00	55.8%	$9, 569.50	46.7%
Contribution margin	$9,475.00	46.2%	$9,065.00	44.2%	$10,930.50	53.3%
Fixed expenses:
Manufacturing overhead	2,940.00		2,940.00		2,940.00
Marketing	270.00		270.00		3,345.00*
Administrative	2,550.00		2,550.00		2,400.00**
Interest	690.00		690.00		690.00
Total fixed expenses	$6,450.00		$6,450.00		$9,375.00
Income before income taxes	3,025.00		2,615.00		1,555.50
Income taxes (20%)	907. 50		784.50		466.65
Net income	$2,117.50		$1,830.50		$1,088.85

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

b. The agents’ commission rate is increased to 17%

c. The company employs its own sales force

2) Determining the Volume of Sales that would be Required to Generate the Same Net Income as contained in the budgeted income statement for next year:

3) Determining the Volume of Sales at which net income would be equal regardless of whether Pittman Company sells through agents (at a 17% commission rate) or employs its own sales force:

4) Calculation of the Degree of Operating Leverage for a. The agents’ commission rate remains unchanged at 15%. b. The agents’ commission rate is increased to 17%. c. The company employs its own sales force:

	15% commission	17% commission	own sales force
Contribution margin (a)	$9,475,000	$9,065,000	$10,930,500
Income before taxes (b)	$3,025,000	$2,615,000	$1,555,500
Degree of operating leverage a/b)	3.13	3.47	7.03