In: Accounting
Cotopaxi makes backpacks. Traditionally, they bought fabric in
quantity, and cut out the forms for their...
Cotopaxi makes backpacks. Traditionally, they bought fabric in
quantity, and cut out the forms for their backpacks from large
pieces, discarding the interstitial material as scrap. Due to the
integrated nature of the production facility, the cost of all this
fabric was considered a joint cost, allocated by the approximate
relative sales value method, and the scraps were considered a waste
by-product.
Recently however, an enterprising employee had the great idea to
use these scraps and make small, unique bags from the
heretofore-discarded pieces of fabric. The company agreed to
implement this idea on a trial basis, and the accounting department
decided to consider these bags a by-product using the net
realizable value method.
The marketing department set the price for the by-product bags
at $50, and in the first year of production, 10,000 of these scrap
bags were sold. At the end of the first year, the accounting
department determined that each bag incurred an additional
processing cost of $40 on average in additional materials (straps,
buckles, thread, etc.), labor, and variable overhead (not including
the cost of the scrap fabric from whence they came).
What happened to the joint cost of fabric allocated to the main
product lines when the new by-product bags were introduced?
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Increased the joint costs allocated to the other products |
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Decreased the joint costs allocated to the other products |
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No change in joint costs allocated to the other products
What did this new line of by-product bags do to the recognized
profitability of Cotopaxi’s main backpack products?
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Increased the profitability of the main products |
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Decreased the profitability of the main products |
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No change in the profitability of the main products
What did this new line of by-product bags do to the total
profitability of Cotopaxi’s as a whole? (Note: assume the new bags
only incurred the variable costs listed above)
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Increased overall profitability |
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Decreased overall profitability |
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No change to overall profitability
If Cotopaxi had instead allocated the joint-cost of fabric using
the physical units method, how would this affect their overall
profitability for the company as a whole (compared to allocating by
the approximate relative sales value method)? (Note: assume all
produced products were sold)
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No effect on profitability
If Cotopaxi had instead accounted for the new bags as a full
product instead of a by-product, how would this affect their
overall profitability for the company as a whole (compared to
considering the new bags a by-product)? (Note: assume all produced
products were sold)
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No effect on profitability |
In the first year of tests, some of the main-product line bag
divisions decided to bundle the by-product bags with their sales.
What should the manager of the by-product bags charge as the
transfer price assuming the capacity to produce these by-product
bags is effectively infinite (far greater than external market
demand for the by-product bag)?
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$50 per bag
After the first year, Cotopaxi realized that the demand for the
by-product bags is so great that they cannot supply enough for both
the direct market sales and as bundled products. What is the
optimal transfer price that the by-product bag division should
charge given this capacity constraint?
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