Highlights
Learning Outcomes
a) Identify and analyze ethical and organizational issues confronting contemporary management accountants.
b) Categorize and identify the nature of various types of costs, cost objects, and cost behaviors and use cost estimation techniques to develop cost functions.
c) Apply cost accounting techniques to calculate the cost of a range of cost objects, as well as analyze costs.
d) Apply cost information to planning, control, and decision-making.
e) Critically evaluate the relevance of both quantitative and qualitative costing information to management decision making.
Context:
This case study illustrates motivation and design for an activity-based cost system. Students estimate the new cost model, which provides a different perspective on product line profitability. Students are required to suggest actions, based on the new cost model, to improve the company's profitability.
Case Study Questions
1. What is the competitive situation currently being faced by Wilkerson Company’s executives?
2. Given some of the apparent problems with Wilkerson’s cost system, should executives abandon overhead assignments to products entirely by adopting a contribution margin approach in which manufacturing overhead is treated as a period expense? Why or why not?
3. How does Wilkerson’s existing cost system operate? Develop a diagram to show how costs flow from factory expense accounts to products in the existing cost system? Are there any flaws in their existing cost system?
4. Develop a diagram for an activity-based cost model using the information in the case.
5. Classify each activity using the ABC cost hierarchy categories.
6. Calculate the activity rates for each of the activity pools. Use both actual and capacity- based cost drivers for your calculation. Which cost driver rates should be used, actual or capacity-based?
7. Provide your best estimates about the cost and profitability of Wilkerson’s three product lines using the ABC system? Report your results using both actual and capacity-based cost drivers.
8. Compare the product cost and profitability under the existing system and ABC system. What difference does your ABC cost assignment have on reported product cost and
profitability? What causes any shifts in cost and profitability?
9. Based on the analysis done using the ABC system, what actions might Wilkerson’s management team consider for improving the company’s profitability?
10. Looking just at the product costs under the direct-labor-based cost allocation system, what actions can management take to reduce product costs.
11. What concerns, if any, do you have with the cost estimates you prepared using the ABC system?
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