Mathews Company manufactures only one product. For the year ended December 31, the contribution margin increased by $16,224 from the planned level of $545,376. The president of Mathews Company has expressed some concern about this increase and has requested a follow-up report.
The following data have been gathered from the accounting records for the year ended December 31:
Actual |
Planned |
Difference—Increase (Decrease) | ||||
| Sales | $1,071,200 | $1,055,184 | $16,016 | |||
| Variable costs: | ||||||
| Variable cost of goods sold | $405,600 | $426,816 | $(21,216) | |||
| Variable selling and administrative expenses | 104,000 | 82,992 | 21,008 | |||
| Total variable costs | $509,600 | $509,808 | $(208) | |||
| Contribution margin | $561,600 | $545,376 | $16,224 | |||
| Number of units sold | 10,400 | 11,856 | ||||
| Per unit: | ||||||
| Sales price | $103 | $89 | ||||
| Variable cost of goods sold | 39 | 36 | ||||
| Variable selling and administrative expenses | 10 | 7 | ||||
Required:
1. Prepare a contribution margin analysis report for the year ended December 31.
| Mathews Company | ||
| Contribution Margin Analysis | ||
| For the Year Ended December 31 | ||
| Planned contribution margin | $ | |
| Effect of changes in sales: | ||
| Sales quantity factor | $ | |
| Unit price factor | ||
| Total effect of changes in sales | ||
| Effect of changes in variable cost of goods sold: | ||
| Variable cost quantity factor | $ | |
| Unit cost factor | ||
| Total effect of changes in variable cost of goods sold | ||
| Effect of changes in selling and administrative expenses | ||
| Variable cost quantity factor | $ | |
| Unit cost factor | ||
| Total effect of changes in selling and administrative expenses | ||
| Actual contribution margin | $ | |
2. At a meeting of the board of directors on January 30, the president, after reviewing the contribution margin analysis report, made the following comment:
It looks as if the price increase of $14 was a favorable tradeoff for decreased sales volume, yet variable cost of goods sold was less than planned and variable selling and administrative expenses were out of control and needed to be investigated. He went on to say that since the favorable tradeoff between higher price and lower sales volume was so successful, the company should consider increasing the sales price to $130.
Do you agree or disagree with the president's proposal and which reason would best explain your decision about the data?
Disagree with the president because the majority of the decrease in the variable cost of goods sold was due to the variable cost quantity factor and the increased variable selling and administrative expenses are probably a result of additional selling efforts needed to be competitive at higher prices.
Agree with the president because the unit cost factor for the variable selling and administrative cost is greater than the unit cost factor for the variable cost of goods sold, making an investigation necessary.
Agree with the president because the total effect of change in sales is greater than the total effect of changes in variable cost of goods sold, making an additional price raise attractive for more profits.
Disagree with the president because the contribution margin as a percentage of sales is greater for the planned sales level than the actual sales level, making his concern about variable selling and administrative expenses unwarranted.
Agree with the president because the majority of the decrease in the variable cost of goods sold was due to the sales price factor, as well as an increase in the variable selling and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales, making an additional price raise attractive for more profits.
The correct answer is:
In: Accounting
CASE STUDY - Western Power
In response to the steady growth in southern California, Western Power decided to build an innovative $ 1 billion power plant near San Diego, as this new plant will not only generate high levels of clean electrical energy using new technology, but rather the energy generated by some cities will suffice. Nearby, enough energy could also be generated to sell to other utility companies in the rest of southern California and parts of neighboring states.
Therefore, the executive management of Western Power was keen to complete the project as soon as possible due to the large returns expected from these additional sales.
Nevertheless, as soon as news of the proposed power plant construction began to spread, the company found great opposition, especially from residents near the construction site of that station. Once construction began, many proceeded to institute several lawsuits in an attempt to halt construction, and the "Western Power" was only adopting an intensive campaign to build public relations through which the local population could be persuaded of the benefits of this project.
After several months of delay, work on the project continued and the marketing department of the company began contacting other public utility companies so that contracts could be signed to sell energy to them. Then it became clear that the returns resulting from electricity sales would not be as large as expected, and therefore the administration asked Rob Hedge, the project manager, to find ways to reduce the construction budget so that the expected level of profitability from that new plant could be maintained.
Unfortunately, Rob was unable to find different ways in which to reduce construction costs due to the presence of strict regulations from environmental protection organizations and many other government agencies regarding the foundations of building power plants, so he was only asked by architects and designers to suggest some changes in designs Through which construction costs can be reduced, the designers made a number of suggestions that would reduce costs significantly, but unfortunately construction engineers were unable to make the proposed changes due to the advanced technology used to generate power at that plant. In spite of this, they finally agreed to make some changes, which were implemented immediately. Rob called on architects and construction engineers to be present on the construction site permanently so that other ways to adjust design can be sought to reduce costs.
After one year of a five-year project, the head of the construction company requested an urgent meeting with the head of the "Western Power" company, where he complained about the numerous design changes that caused severe confusion to the workers as well as overtime. He explained that the building engineers make changes during construction on the site without informing the design engineers so that they can update the plans. Also, construction managers are often unaware of these changes, which means that some tasks were sometimes done in error. In addition, design engineers have made some inappropriate design changes without consulting construction engineers, causing them to be re-worked more than once.
Also, after extensive investigations, the Western Power administration received notifications from government oversight agencies that two essential parts of the first phase of the project did not meet government standards and had to be rebuilt. When the administration also learned that the project was six months behind schedule, and there was an additional 10% cost to the budget, it fired the project manager.
If you are appointed as a new project manager. What actions will you take to better address problems and control this project?
In: Operations Management
Scenario
The Department of Technology is planning to replace the packaging machine in the graphic communication lab in the Spring of 2021. The one currently in use was purchased from ESKO in 2011 for $100,000. The installation of the machine was done by the facility department on campus with a price tag of $5,000, including the labor and all the necessary harness. The new machine to be purchased has a cutting table doubles the size of the old one, with a throughput capacity four times of the old machine.
Q1. According to the vendor, ESKO, the price for the new machine for academic usage is directly related to the machine’s throughput capacity (not its physical size). If the cost-capacity factor between 2011 and 2021 is 0.85, what will be the estimated purchase price of the new machine?
Hint. No cost indexing information is needed here as the vendor has already incorporated the time-related cost change into the price they charge for the new machine.
Q2. In order to estimate the cost of operations, the graphic communication area coordinator needs to estimate the time of usage in the class setting. If it takes 45 minutes to set up and finish cutting the first box, and the learning curve slope is 0.75 according to the past experience, how long will it take to set up and finish cutting the third box?
In: Finance
You are the CFO of a publicly held company and need to raise capital for the firm by issuing some kind of equity. Why would a firm want to issue both preferred stock and common stock rather than just one category of stock? Search an article or the Internet for an academic or industry-related article. Select an article that relates to these concepts in the context of doing business in Saudi Arabia. For your discussion post, your first step is to summarize the article in two paragraphs, describing what you think are the most important points made by the authors (remember to use citations where appropriate). For the second step, include the reference listing with a hyperlink to the article. Do not copy the article into your post and limit your summary to two paragraphs. Let your instructor know if you have any questions and enjoy your search. You need to reply to at least two of your peers’ answer posts to this discussion question. These replies need to be substantive and constructive in nature. They should add to the content of the post and evaluate/analyze the answer. Normal course dialogue doesn’t fulfill these two peer replies, but is expected throughout the course. Answering all course questions is also required.
In: Accounting
A. Roles in Career Development: What is the employee's role in the career development process? Themanger's role? The employer's role?
B. Career Development Activities: Give several examples of career development activities that employers can use to foster employee commitment. Does your current employer make use of any of these examples?
C. Linked-In: A growing number of recruiters and organizations are turning to Linked-In to strategically extend their global reach, speed recruitment, sourcing and cut costs (SHRM, 2010). Linked-In is the most used professional network, so whether you are looking for a job or looking to fill a job or improve your know-how through networking, this social media connection may be for you.
View the Linked-In video What is LinkedIn? at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzT3JVUGUzM which is about 2.5 minutes in length; then, go to the social media website located at http://www.LinkedIn.com to find out more. What is your opinion of this social media solution? Do you already have an account? Is Linked-In for you? Why or why not?
Posting is to be 200-300 words in length and supported by at least two sources properly cited and referenced an academic journal article published within the last 3-5 years.
In: Finance
1. A high-school administrator who is concerned about the amount of sleep the students in his district are getting selects a random sample of 14 seniors in his district and asks them how many hours of sleep they get on a typical school night. He then uses school records to determine the most recent grade-point average (GPA) for each student. His data and a computer regression output are given below. (remember to do ALL parts).
Sleep (hrs) 9 8.5 9 7 7.5 6 7 8 5.5 6 8.5 6.5 8 8
GPA 3.8 3.3 3.5 3.6 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.1 3.4 3.7
(a) Do these data provide convincing evidence of a linear relationship between the hours of sleep students typically get and their academic performance, as measured by their GPA? Carry out a significance test at the α = 0.05 level. (10 points)
(b) Construct and interpret at 95% confidence interval for the slope of the regression of GPA on hours of sleep for seniors in this school district. (5 points)
(c) Can we conclude from these data that students’ GPA will improve if they get more sleep? Explain. (
In: Statistics and Probability
English 1
The topic of this essay is a current issue facing African Americans today.
Write a 4-1/2 to 5-page formal academic essay in which you choose two documentary/news photographs, two paintings, or two advertisements to analyze in a closed-form essay. Your two visual texts should have enough in common to facilitate meaningful comparisons. Show these images in your essay (if you are analyzing videos, you’ll need to show screen captures), but also describe your two visual texts in detail to highlight what you want viewers to see and to provide a foundation for your analysis. For this closed-form analysis, choose several key points of contrast as the focus. Your thesis statement should make a claim about key differences in the way that your chosen visual texts establish their purposes and achieve their persuasive effects.
What challenges do African Americans currently face?
What are current issues about race equality and how do we improve our society’s approach to these issues?
How are African Americans Discrimina Ted against in our society today?
What are solutions to resolve racial discrimination against African Americans?
In: Economics
NRS 434VN Topic 2 Assignment Assessment of the Child: Functional Health Pattern Analysis Worksheet
Details:
In this assignment, you will be exploring actual and potential health problems in the childhood years using a functional health assessment and Erickson’s Stages of Child Development. To complete this assignment, do the following:
While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are not required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.
NRS 434 Topic 2 Collaborative Learning Community (CLC) Agreement
Details:
As a group, complete the “Collaborative Learning Community (CLC)
Agreement.”You are not required to submit this assignment to
LopesWrite.NRS-434VN-R-CLC-Agreement-Student.docx
In: Nursing
Directions This assignment will assess the competency 1. Evaluate the role of HR, 3. Examine organization capabilities for human resource management, & 4. Create a human resource capabilities model. As part of understanding the respective theories discussed and applying them to organizations to create a competitive advantage, you will have the opportunity to assess a particular aspect or aspects of the HR strategy at an organization and how the particular strategy supports the organization’s strategic business objectives. An introduction. An overview of the organization of your choice – briefly describe the nature of the organization including its history, products/services, size, and competition. The organization’s business strategy. The role of HR in contributing to the business strategy – What HR strategies are relevant in helping to foster the attainment of the business strategy? Recommendations – what are the effective practices, what else should be done, what can be done differently, etc? Conclusion Your final paper should be a 1200-1800 word APA style paper. Your content should be supported by no less than four academic/scholarly sources that are cited per APA 6th edition conventions. Your work should demonstrate your critical thinking skills, including analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Can you provide the refrences?
Thank you
In: Operations Management
Johanna and Ryan Younan 1.Johanna and Ryan Younan just put their two boys (grades 6 and 2) on their respective school buses for the first day of school and realized that they are growing up fast. As their financial planner, Johanna and Ryan called you and stated that they wanted to save, starting today, at the beginning of every month for the next six years (until the older child goes to college) to pay for one-half of school expenses for both children. You know that tuition, room, and board this year cost $18,000 at their selected school, and you expect 5 percent effective annual inflation for education expenses. Johanna and Ryan also said that they know the children’s grandparents are going to make a gift of $48,000 toward this cause in exactly three years. Assume that both children attend the same college for four years each. Also assume that the annual tuition bill is due at the beginning of each academic year, and the first payment is exactly seventy two months away. How much money will Johanna and Ryan need to invest on a monthly basis to meet their education goal assuming a required effective annual rate of 10.471 percent (10 percent APR with monthly compounding)?
In: Finance