Questions
USE THIS INFORMATION AND IMPLEMENT IT ONA FORM 104 TAX YEAR 2017 FORM THOMAS AND VANESSA...

USE THIS INFORMATION AND IMPLEMENT IT ONA FORM 104 TAX YEAR 2017 FORM

THOMAS AND VANESSA KILEY ARE MARRIED. THEY ALWAYS FILE A JOINT TAX RETURN. THEY HAVE ONE SON, RYAN, AGE 14. RYAN IS A DEPENDENT AND SO IS TOM'S ELDERLY MOTHER, ANN KILEY. TOM IS AN ACCOUNTANT AND VANESSA IS SELFEMPLOYED. SHE PROVIDES DATA PROCESSING SERVICES FOR PHYSICIAN CLIENTS. TOM IS 39, VANESSA IS 41, AND ANN IS 66.

THEIR ADDRESS IS 982 WILLIS AVENUE PAWTUCKET, RI 02860.

THOMAS      035-22-6363         RYAN        358-66-1970

VANESSA       037-40-1040          ANN          040-23-7450

INCOME:

THOMAS' SALARY:

TAXABLE WAGES                                                            81,000

FEDERAL INCOME TAX WITHHELD                               6,800

STATE INCOME TAX WITHHELD                                     2,800

VANESSA RECEIVED LIFE INSURANCE PROCEEDS FROM HER DECEASED BROTHER.       50,000

CAPITAL GAIN DISTRIBUTIONS FROM VANGUARD FUNDS.                                          7,600

INTEREST INCOME FROM WEBSTER BANK.                                                                     850

INTEREST INCOME FROM MUNICIPAL BONDS.                                                2,100

DIVIDEND INCOME E*TRADE FUNDS. THE PORTION OF QUALIFIED DIVIDENDS IS                  1,800

$1,200.

GROSS RECEIPTS FROM VANESSA’S DATA PROCESSING BUSINESS. SHE USES THE CASH BASIS. THE BUSINESS BEGAN 1/1/2011.                                                                                                          19,500

VANESSA RECEIVES ALIMONY FROM HER EX-HUSBAND.                                                 6,000

DEDUCTIONS:

THESE ARE VANESSA’S DATA PROCESSING BUSINESS EXPNSES                                     800

PENALTIES PAID TO THE STATE BUSINESS REGULATION DEPARTMENT                      1,200

BUSINESS INSURANCE                                           1,100

OFFICE SUPPLIES                                                          750

TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT RENTAL                                                    1,500

INTERNET                                                                                              900

BUSINESS LICENSE                                                                                600

INTEREST EXPENSE PAID ON THE BUSINESS CREDIT CARD               440

VANESSA USES HER CAR FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES. HER TOTAL MILES FOR THE YEAR IS 8,500 AND THE BUSINESS MILES IS 1,495. SHE USES THE STANDARD MILEAGE METHOD.

VANESSA USES ONE ROOM OF HER HOME AS A HOME OFFICE TO PERFORM THE DATA ENTRY. THE TOTAL SQUARE FOOTAGE OF THE HOME IS 2,400. THE BUSINESS AREA IS 200 SQUARE FEET. SHE USES THE SIMPLIFIED METHOD.

THOMAS PAID STUDENT LOAN INTEREST.

ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS:

REAL ESTATE TAXES                                                                 3,700

AUTOMIBILE TAXES                                                                300

HOME MORTGAGE INTEREST ON $425,000 MORTGAGE                  10,500

CASH CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS                                                       5,200

THOMAS’ UNREIMBURSED EMPLOYEE EXPENSES                                    1,200

TAX PREPERATION FEES                                                                        300

OUT-OF-POCKET MEDICAL EXPENSES PAID                                            2,400

STATE INCOME TAX BALANCE DUE FOR 2016 PAID IN 2017                      600

VANESSA CONTRIBUTED TO A ROTH IRA.                                               4,000

VANESSA MADE FOUR QUARTERLY ESTIMATED TAX PAYMENTS OF $250.                            1,000

FOREIGN TAXES PAID ON THE E*TRADE MUTUAL FUNDS. THE KILEYS ALWAYS TAKE THEM AS A TAX CREDIT.                                                                                     200

OTHER INFORMATION:

THE FAMILY WAS COVERED BY HEALTH INSURANCE ALL YEAR. THOMAS’ EMPLOYER PAYS THE HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR THE FAMILY. ANN IS COVERED BY MEDICARE INSURANCE.

THE KILEYS WANT THEIR TAX REFUND, IF ANY, TO BE DEPOSITED DIRECTLY INTO THEIR CHEICKING ACCOUNT. THE ROUTING NUMBER IS 011500120 AND THE ACCOUNT NUMBER IS 000654550.

In: Accounting

Happy Valley is the only available camping area in Rural County. It is owned by the...

Happy Valley is the only available camping area in Rural County. It is owned by the county, which allows free access to campers. Almost all visitors to Happy Valley come from the six towns in the county. Rural County is considering leasing Happy Valley for logging, which would require that it be closed to campers. Before approving the lease, the county executive would like to know the magnitude of annual benefits that campers would forgo if Happy Valley were to be closed to the public.

An analyst for the county has collected data for a travel cost study to estimate the benefits of Happy Valley camping. On five randomly selected days, he recorded the license plates of vehicles parked overnight in the Happy Valley lot. With cooperation from the state motor vehicle department, he was able to find the town of residence of the owner of each vehicle. He also observed a sample of vehicles from which he estimated that each vehicle carried 3.2 persons (1.6 adults), on average.

In order to translate the distance traveled into an estimate of the cost campers faced in using Happy Valley, the analyst made the following assumptions. First, the average operating cost of vehicles is $0.36 per mile. Second, the average speed on county highways is 50 miles per hour. Third, the opportunity cost to adults of travel time is 40 percent of their wage rate; it is zero for children. Fourth, adult campers have the average county wage rate of $9.25 per hour. The analyst has asked you to help him use this information to estimate the annual benefits accruing to Happy Valley campers. Specifically, assist with the following tasks.

  1. Calculate the time spent travelling from each town for the round-trip (Hint: Time = Distance/Speed). Note that the data posted on distance is for only one way.
  2. Calculate the opportunity cost of time spent travelling for adults per vehicle from each town for the roundtrip.
  3. Calculate the operating vehicle cost from each town for the round-trip.
  4. Calculate the total cost of travelling per vehicle from each town (Hint: add the values you got from (b) and (c))
  5. Calculate the total cost of travelling per vehicle per person (Hint: divide the values you derived from (d) by

3.2 for each town).

  1. For the six observations, regress visit rate on Total Cost of travelling per person (TC) derived from (e) and a constant.
Town Miles from Happy Valley (one-way) Population (thousands) Estimated Number of Visitors for Season Visit Rate (Visits per 1,000 People)
A 22 50.1 3,893 77.7
B 34 34.9 2,267 65.0
C 48 15.6 587 37.6
D 56 89.9 4,800 53.4
E 88 98.3 1,947 19.8
F 94 60.4 666 11.0
Total 14,160

In: Accounting

As part of a study designed to compare hybrid and similarly equipped conventional vehicles, Consumer Reports...

As part of a study designed to compare hybrid and similarly equipped conventional vehicles, Consumer Reports tested a variety of classes of hybrid and all-gas model cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) were tested. The following data show the miles-per-gallon rating Consumer Reports obtained for two hybrid small cars, two hybrid midsize cars, two hybrid small SUVs, and two hybrid midsize SUVs; also shown are the miles per gallon obtained for eight similarly equipped conventional models.

Make/Model Class Type MPG
Honda Civic Small Car Hybrid 36
Honda Civic Small Car Conventional 28
Toyota Prius Small Car Hybrid 44
Toyota Corolla Small Car Conventional 33
Chevrolet Malibu Midsize Car Hybrid 26
Chevrolet Malibu Midsize Car Conventional 22
Nissan Altima Midsize Car Hybrid 31
Nissan Altima Midsize Car Conventional 26
Ford Escape Small SUV Hybrid 27
Ford Escape Small SUV Conventional 20
Saturn Vue Small SUV Hybrid 28
Saturn Vue Small SUV Conventional 22
Lexus RX Midsize SUV Hybrid 24
Lexus RX Midsize SUV Conventional 19
Toyota Highlander Midsize SUV Hybrid 23
Toyota Highlander Midsize SUV Conventional 17

At the  level of significance, test for significant effects due to class, type, and interaction.

Assume that Factor A is Class of vehicle tested and Factor B is Type.

Source
of Variation
Sum of Squares
(to 2 decimals)
Degrees
of Freedom
Mean Square
(to 2 decimals)
F
(to 2 decimals)
Factor A
Factor B
Interaction
Error
Total

The p-value for Factor A is - Select your answer from the following: less than .01, between .01 and .025, between .025 and .05, between .05 and .10, or greater than .10

What is your conclusion with respect to Factor A?

- Select your answer from the following - Factor A is not significant OR Factor A is significant

The pvalue for Factor B is - Select your answer from the following - less than .01, between .01 and .025, between .025 and .05, between .05 and .10, OR greater than .10

What is your conclusion with respect to Factor B?

- Select your answer from the following - Factor B is not significant OR Factor B is significant

The p-value for the interaction of factors A and B is - Select your answer - less than .01, between .01 and .025, between .025 and .05, between .05 and .10 OR greater than .10

What is your conclusion with respect to the interaction of Factors A and B?

- Select your answer - The interaction of factors A and B is not significant OR The interaction of factors A and B is significant

In: Statistics and Probability

You may need to use the appropriate technology to answer this question. As part of a...

You may need to use the appropriate technology to answer this question.

As part of a study designed to compare hybrid and similarly equipped conventional vehicles, a group tested a variety of classes of hybrid and all-gas model cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Suppose the following data show the miles-per-gallon rating obtained for two hybrid small cars, two hybrid midsize cars, two hybrid small SUVs, and two hybrid midsize SUVs; also shown are the miles per gallon obtained for eight similarly equipped conventional models.

Class Type MPG
Small Car Hybrid 36
Small Car Conventional 29
Small Car Hybrid 43
Small Car Conventional 33
Midsize Car Hybrid 27
Midsize Car Conventional 23
Midsize Car Hybrid 32
Midsize Car Conventional 25
Small SUV Hybrid 28
Small SUV Conventional 20
Small SUV Hybrid 29
Small SUV Conventional 21
Midsize SUV Hybrid 23
Midsize SUV Conventional 19
Midsize SUV Hybrid 24
Midsize SUV Conventional 18

At the α = 0.05 level of significance, test for significant effects due to class, type, and interaction.

Find the value of the test statistic for class. (Round your answer to two decimal places.)

Find the p-value for class. (Round your answer to three decimal places.)

p-value =

State your conclusion about class.

Because the p-value ≤ α = 0.05, class is not significant.

Because the p-value > α = 0.05, class is significant.    

Because the p-value > α = 0.05, class is not significant.

Because the p-value ≤ α = 0.05, class is significant.

Find the value of the test statistic for type. (Round your answer to two decimal places.)

Find the p-value for type. (Round your answer to three decimal places.)

p-value =

State your conclusion about type.

Because the p-value ≤ α = 0.05, type is not significant.

Because the p-value ≤ α = 0.05, type is significant.    

Because the p-value > α = 0.05, type is not significant.

Because the p-value > α = 0.05, type is significant.

Find the value of the test statistic for interaction between class and type. (Round your answer to two decimal places.)

Find the p-value for interaction between class and type. (Round your answer to three decimal places.)

p-value =

State your conclusion about interaction between class and type.

Because the p-value ≤ α = 0.05, interaction between class and type is significant.

Because the p-value > α = 0.05, interaction between class and type is not significant.

Because the p-value ≤ α = 0.05, interaction between class and type is not significant.

Because the p-value > α = 0.05, interaction between class and type is significant.

In: Statistics and Probability

Gallatin Carpet Cleaning is a small, family-owned business operating out of Bozeman, Montana. For its services,...

Gallatin Carpet Cleaning is a small, family-owned business operating out of Bozeman, Montana. For its services, the company has always charged a flat fee per hundred square feet of carpet cleaned. The current fee is $22.85 per hundred square feet. However, there is some question about whether the company is actually making any money on jobs for some customers—particularly those located on remote ranches that require considerable travel time. The owner’s daughter, home for the summer from college, has suggested investigating this question using activity-based costing. After some discussion, a simple system consisting of four activity cost pools seemed to be adequate. The activity cost pools and their activity measures appear below:


  Activity Cost Pool                Activity Measure     Activity for the Year       
  Cleaning carpets Square feet cleaned (00s) 10,500 hundred square feet
  Travel to jobs Miles driven 228,000 miles
  Job support Number of jobs 2,000 jobs
  Other (costs of idle capacity and
    organization-sustaining costs)
None Not applicable


     The total cost of operating the company for the year is $361,000, which includes the following costs:


  Wages $ 147,000   
  Cleaning supplies 33,000   
  Cleaning equipment depreciation 9,000   
  Vehicle expenses 30,000   
  Office expenses 67,000   
  President’s compensation 75,000   
  Total cost $ 361,000   


Resource consumption is distributed across the activities as follows:


  Distribution of Resource Consumption Across Activities

Cleaning Carpets Travel to Jobs Job Support Other Total
  Wages 75 % 12 % 0 % 13 % 100 %
  Cleaning supplies 100 % 0 % 0 % 0 % 100 %
  Cleaning equipment depreciation 72 % 0 % 0 % 28 % 100 %
  Vehicle expenses 0 % 75 % 0 % 25 % 100 %
  Office expenses 0 % 0 % 56 % 44 % 100 %
  President’s compensation 0 % 0 % 25 % 75 % 100 %


Job support consists of receiving calls from potential customers at the home office, scheduling
jobs, billing, resolving issues, and so on.


Required:
1.

Prepare the first-stage allocation of costs to the activity cost pools.

     

2. Compute the activity rates for the activity cost pools. (Round your answers to 2 decimal places.)

      

3.

The company recently completed a 6 hundred square foot carpet-cleaning job at the Flying N ranch—a 54.00-mile round-trip journey from the company’s offices in Bozeman. Compute the cost of this job using the activity-based costing system. (Round your intermediate and final answers to 2 decimal places.)

      

4.

The revenue from the Flying N ranch was $137.10 (6 hundred square feet at $22.85 per hundred square feet). Prepare a report showing the margin from this job. (Round your intermediate calculations and final answers to 2 decimal places.)

     

In: Finance

Gallatin Carpet Cleaning is a small, family-owned business operating out of Bozeman, Montana. For its services,...

Gallatin Carpet Cleaning is a small, family-owned business operating out of Bozeman, Montana. For its services, the company has always charged a flat fee per hundred square feet of carpet cleaned. The current fee is $22.50 per hundred square feet. However, there is some question about whether the company is actually making any money on jobs for some customers—particularly those located on remote ranches that require considerable travel time. The owner’s daughter, home for the summer from college, has suggested investigating this question using activity-based costing. After some discussion, a simple system consisting of four activity cost pools seemed to be adequate. The activity cost pools and their activity measures appear below:

Activity Cost Pool Activity Measure Activity for the Year
Cleaning carpets Square feet cleaned (00s) 14,500 hundred square feet
Travel to jobs Miles driven 172,000 miles
Job support Number of jobs 1,900 jobs
Other (costs of idle capacity
and organization-sustaining costs)
None Not applicable

The total cost of operating the company for the year is $353,000, which includes the following costs:

Wages $ 136,000
Cleaning supplies 32,000
Cleaning equipment depreciation 12,000
Vehicle expenses 28,000
Office expenses 63,000
President’s compensation 82,000
Total cost $ 353,000


Resource consumption is distributed across the activities as follows:


Distribution of Resource Consumption Across Activities

Cleaning Carpets Travel to Jobs Job Support Other Total
Wages 72 % 11 % 0 % 17 % 100 %
Cleaning supplies 100 % 0 % 0 % 0 % 100 %
Cleaning equipment depreciation 73 % 0 % 0 % 27 % 100 %
Vehicle expenses 0 % 80 % 0 % 20 % 100 %
Office expenses 0 % 0 % 59 % 41 % 100 %
President’s compensation 0 % 0 % 31 % 69 % 100 %


Job support consists of receiving calls from potential customers at the home office, scheduling
jobs, billing, resolving issues, and so on.


Required:

1. Prepare the first-stage allocation of costs to the activity cost pools.


2. Compute the activity rates for the activity cost pools. (Round your answers to 2 decimal places.)


3. The company recently completed a 6 hundred square foot carpet-cleaning job at the Flying N ranch—a 51.00-mile round-trip journey from the company’s offices in Bozeman. Compute the cost of this job using the activity-based costing system. (Round your intermediate and final answers to 2 decimal places.)


4. The revenue from the Flying N ranch was $135.00 (6 hundred square feet at $22.50 per hundred square feet). Prepare a report showing the margin from this job. (Round your intermediate calculations and final answers to 2 decimal places.)

In: Accounting

Complete the partial balance sheet on the bottom. Show all formulas and work. All information is...

Complete the partial balance sheet on the bottom. Show all formulas and work. All information is provided but may not neccessarily be needed.

You have been asked to make some recommendations to a company regarding financing for an upcoming major expansion. The company has been very successful but they will need a major inflow of cash to purchase the fixed assets they need for the expansion and hire additional employees. They believe they will need at least $1,500,000 and have asked for your recommendations as to how they should obtain the necessary funds. They have also asked for depreciation schedules for the new assets they plan to purchase. Assume the split between Current Assets and Long Term Assets is 20% current and 80% long term.

NFT Consulting and Sales Inc
Post Closing Trial Balance
October 31, 2018
Cash $              304,900
Accounts Receivable                    76,580
Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts $                  5,690
Supplies                    56,500
Inventory                    68,596
Prepaid Insurance                    57,890
Land                  260,000
Building                  550,000
Accumulated Depr – Building                    25,650
Office Equipment                  856,850
Accumulated Depr – Office Equip                    22,500
Computer Equipment                  556,500
Accumulated Depr - Computer Equip                    10,250
Accounts Payable                    56,560
Utilities Payable                    16,850
Wages Payable                    58,950
Interest Payable                    25,000
Long term Note Payable                 390,000
Mortgage Payable                 406,800
Common Stock ($1 par, 1,000,000,                 400,000
shares authorized, 400,000 issued
     and outstanding)
Retained Earnings              1,369,566
$           2,787,816 $          2,787,816
PLANNED ASSET ACQUISITIONS
Reminder that the company’s fiscal year is November 1 through October 31.
Asset Cost Useful life Salvage Value Depreciation Method Purchase Date
Land 100,000 N/A N/A N/A 1-Nov-18
Building 465,500 30 15,500 Straight line 1-Nov-18
Office Equipment 150,500 4 10,500 Straight line 1-Apr-19
Delivery Equipment 200,000 6 20,000 production 1-May-19
Additional information related to the $200,000 delivery equipment purchase: It is ESTIMATED that the equipment will be ABLE TO DRIVE 150,000 total miles over its lifetime. To complete the depreciation schedule, PRESUME that the actual miles driven for its useful life are as indicated below. Also, round depreciation expense per unit to the nearest cent and depreciation expense to the nearest dollar.
Year 1      12,560
Year 2      32,560
Year 3      31,650
Year 4      29,850
Year 5      26,500
Year 6      22,350
155,470

Complete:

The company could issue 400,000 additional shares of $1 par value common stock for $4 per share The company will begin paying a dividend to ALL the common shareholders of $0.12 per share and this will continue into the future.

In: Accounting

Liz Ortega builds custom cabinets. The process usually begins with a preliminary visit to a potential...

Liz Ortega builds custom cabinets. The process usually begins with a preliminary visit to a potential customer location to take measurements and prepare a bid. Measurements and bidding are done by a salesperson. Many times, this preliminary visit does not result in an order. Once an order is received, there are a number of order-specific "shop setup" processes (calibrating saws, lathes, sanders, etc.). The "shop setup" process is the same no matter how many individual cabinets are produced for each order (i.e., some orders are for just a few cabinets, and some orders are for hundreds of identical units). Setup is followed by production, and the amount of time and labor is heavily correlated to the number of units produced in the order. The final step is delivery to the job site, and the cost for this activity is mostly a function of distance from shop to job site.

Liz has been applying factory overhead based on direct labor hours, and realizes that this costing model is sometimes ineffective in producing competitive and/or profitable bids. She has read about "activity-based costing" and is interested in perfecting her bidding process based upon ABC methodology.  
Ortega's total cost for a recent period are as follows:
Direct material $    300,000
Direct labor        200,000
Indirect material         40,000
Indirect labor         60,000
Shop depreciation        150,000
Shop maintenance         25,000
Other shop costs         35,000
Administrative salaries         90,000
Sales salaries         55,000
Transportation         20,000
Liz has examined her business and concluded that she has four basic activities: bidding, machine set up, production, and delivery. During the period for which the above costs were incurred, 75 jobs were bid, resulting in 25 orders. The ratio of bids to orders was about normal. Each order required a separate shop setup. There were 2,000 cabinets produced. Delivery distance for the orders totaled 4,000 miles. Ortega conducted a study to determine the portion of each cost category that is attributable to the four activities. The results of this study are summarized in the following table.  
Bidding Set Up Production Delivery Unallocated
Indirect material 5% 15% 75% 5% 0%
Indirect labor 10% 20% 50% 20% 0%
Shop depreciation 0% 15% 80% 5% 0%
Shop maintenance 0% 40% 55% 5% 0%
Other shop costs 0% 60% 40% 0% 0%
Administrative salaries 20% 0% 25% 10% 45%
Sales salaries 95% 5% 0% 0% 0%
Transportation 30% 0% 0% 60% 10%
(a) Determine the total cost of each activity, and calculate a cost per unit of measure.
(b) Ortega's salesperson has been asked to bid on an order involving 50 cabinet units. Delivery requires 60 miles of driving. If the goal is to price orders at 200% of the activity-based cost (including direct material and direct labor, but excluding unallocated costs), what price should be quoted?

In: Accounting

Gallatin Carpet Cleaning is a small, family-owned business operating out of Bozeman, Montana. For its services,...

Gallatin Carpet Cleaning is a small, family-owned business operating out of Bozeman, Montana. For its services, the company has always charged a flat fee per hundred square feet of carpet cleaned. The current fee is $23.25 per hundred square feet. However, there is some question about whether the company is actually making any money on jobs for some customers—particularly those located on remote ranches that require considerable travel time. The owner’s daughter, home for the summer from college, has suggested investigating this question using activity-based costing. After some discussion, she designed a simple system consisting of four activity cost pools. The activity cost pools and their activity measures appear below:

Activity Cost Pool Activity Measure Activity for the Year
Cleaning carpets Square feet cleaned (00s) 12,000 hundred square feet
Travel to jobs Miles driven 328,500 miles
Job support Number of jobs 2,000 jobs
Other (organization-sustaining costs and idle capacity costs) None Not applicable

The total cost of operating the company for the year is $349,000 which includes the following costs:

Wages $ 138,000
Cleaning supplies 27,000
Cleaning equipment depreciation 7,000
Vehicle expenses 38,000
Office expenses 61,000
President’s compensation 78,000
Total cost $ 349,000

Resource consumption is distributed across the activities as follows:

Distribution of Resource Consumption Across Activities
Cleaning Carpets Travel to Jobs Job Support Other Total
Wages 80 % 15 % 0 % 5 % 100 %
Cleaning supplies 100 % 0 % 0 % 0 % 100 %
Cleaning equipment depreciation 70 % 0 % 0 % 30 % 100 %
Vehicle expenses 0 % 82 % 0 % 18 % 100 %
Office expenses 0 % 0 % 59 % 41 % 100 %
President’s compensation 0 % 0 % 27 % 73 % 100 %

Job support consists of receiving calls from potential customers at the home office, scheduling jobs, billing, resolving issues, and so on.

Required:

1. Prepare the first-stage allocation of costs to the activity cost pools.

Cleaning Carpets Travel to Jobs Job Support Other Total
Wages
Cleaning supplies
Cleaning equipment depreciation
Vehicle expenses
Office expenses
President’s compensation
Total cost

2. Compute the activity rates for the activity cost pools

Activity Cost Pool Activity Rate
Cleaning carpets per hundred square feet
Travel to jobs per mile
Job support per job

3. The company recently completed a 800 square foot carpet-cleaning job at the Flying N Ranch—a 59-mile round-trip journey from the company’s offices in Bozeman. Compute the cost of this job using the activity-based costing system.

4. The revenue from the Flying N Ranch was $186.00 (800 square feet @ $23.25 per hundred square feet). Calculate the customer margin earned on this job.

In: Accounting

Wilson Puckett, president of Wabash Waste Management, had a stack of proposals on his desk from...

Wilson Puckett, president of Wabash Waste Management, had a stack of proposals on his desk from several truck companies. Two of the companies, Roper and Rollins, offered trucks on a lease basis, while three dealers wanted Wabash to buy their trucks. In the past Wabash always purchased their trucks. Which proposal would be best, he wondered as he picked up the proposals for the third or fourth time.

Wabash Waste Management is an industrial waste recycling company. It picks up grease and oil from several manufacturing facilities in the region, cleans the waste and oil, and then sells it to a company that packages the material for resale. Wabash also picks up frying grease from restaurants for recycling. The company is about to enter a new regional market, and needed four new trucks to pick up the used grease and oil.

The trucks were tank trucks with a pump that pumped the grease or oil from a holding tank at the restaurant or manufacturing plant. Darnell Gates, fleet manager, wanted Puckett to choose the Hauler 2000, a tank truck with a McLaren pump capable of pumping 50 gallons in about five minutes. It has a capacity of 5,000 gallons. The truck is rated at 10 miles per gallon of gasoline and has one of the better maintenance records of all the trucks. The Hauler 2000 is one of the trucks for sale, but could be leased through Wabash’s bank.

On the other hand, Betty Roberts, vice-president of finance, has been pushing the Roper offering, a Fleetwood truck that pumps fifty gallons in ten minutes. The Fleetwood holds 4,800 gallons of grease or oil, and the truck gets twelve miles to the gallon. The lease option on the Fleetwood is the most attractive of all the proposals according to Roberts. In addition, by leasing through Roper, the company does not use any of its line of credit from the bank, keeping that free for some other needed purchases. The company has operated close to the edge and needs to fill some excess capacity in order to make enough profit.

Gates told Puckett that the Fleetwood is too slow and would lead to at least three fewer pickups per day by each truck. Three drivers have also told Puckett that the Fleetwood is a deathtrap with a bad safety record. These drivers told Puckett that the current fleet will need at least two trucks replaced in the next year. The maintenance manager, however, thinks the company could get by with replacing only one truck and he also likes working on the Fleetwood better than the Hauler 2000.

1. How did problem recognition occur in this case?

2. Discuss risk (what each person is most concerned with) from the perspective of each member of the buying center. Discuss how the tank truck firms could reduce risk (address the concerns) for each member.   

3. Assume this buying center is an accurate portrayal of the average buying center for tank trucks? How would this information influence the emphasis of your sales presentations to each individual?

In: Computer Science