Concept explainers
United States Postal Service: Mail sorting time variance
One of the operations in the United States Postal Service is a mechanical mail sorting operation. In this operation, handwritten letter mail is sorted at a rate of 1.5 letters per second. An operator sitting at a keyboard mechanically sorts the letter from a three-digit code. The manager of the mechanical sorting operation wishes to determine the number of temporary employees to hire for December. The manager estimates that there will be an additional 24,192,000 pieces of mail in December, due to the upcoming holiday season.
Assume that the sorting operators are temporary employees. The union contract requires that temporary employees be hired for one month at a time. Each temporary employee is hired to work 160 hours in the month.
- A. How many temporary employees should the manager hire for December?
- B. If each temporary employee earns a standard $17 per hour, what would be the direct labor time variance if the actual number of additional letters sorted in December was 23,895,000?
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Chapter 23 Solutions
Financial And Managerial Accounting
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- Name s Sharp, Inc., is preparing a budget for next vear and requires a breakdown of the cost of steam used in its factory into fixed and variable components. The following data on the cost of steam used and the units produced are available for the last six months: Cost of Steam Units Produced July August September. October. November. December.. Total... $ 15,850 13,000 16.370 20,000 2 17,600 18.500 $101.320 s 16970 003,000 22,000 2,900 3,750 2,670 2.650 AwVstentns Sharp uses the high-low method of analysis. Required: Show your work in answering the question. Failure to do so results in zero points a. What is the estimated variable cost of steam per unit produced? b. What is the total fixed cost? c. If there were 2,500 units produced the cost of steam would be?arrow_forwardThe controller at Speedy Delivery wants to break-out the cost of deliveries into fixed and variable components so that it will be better able to predict costs for next year. Below are the delivery costs incurred each month and the number of deliveries. Delivery Cost January $2,176.00 February 2,272.00 March 1,926.40 April 1,696.00 May 1,600.00 75 [] June 2,752.00 135 July 3,616.00 180 August 1,849.60 88 September 1,676.80 79 October 3,808.00 November 3,961.60 4,000.00 Month December Required: 2. Calculate the fixed cost of overhead. $ = = Deliveries 105 110 92 Using the high-low method: 1. Calculate the variable cost rate per deliveries. Round the answer to two decimal places. $ + 80 + 190 3. Construct the cost formula for total overhead cost. If required, round your answer to two decimal places. Total cost Fixed cost Variable cost ($ per unit x Number of deliveries) 4. The company is estimating that in January the number of deliveries will be 125. How much should it estimate to have…arrow_forwardThe controller of Moonshine has requested a quick estimate of the manufacturing supplies needed for July when production is expected to be 470,000 units. Below are actual data from the prior three months of operations: Production in units Manufacturing supplies March 450,000 April 540,000 May 480,000 Using these data and the high-low method, what is the best estimate of the cost of manufacturing supplies that would be needed for July? (Assume that this activity is within the relevant range.) a. $755,196 b. $752,060. C. $781,060. d. $723,060 853,560 $805,284 766,560arrow_forward
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- Nozama.com Inc. sells consumer electronics over the Internet. For the next period, the budgeted cost of the sales order processing activity is 250,000 and 50,000 sales orders are estimated to be processed. a. Determine the activity rate of the sales order processing activity. b. Determine the amount of sales order processing cost associated with 30,000 sales orders.arrow_forwardCalen Company manufactures and sells three products in a factory of three departments. Both labor and machine time are applied to the products as they pass through each department. The nature of the machine processing and of the labor skills required in each department is such that neither machines nor labor can be switched from one department to another. Calens management is attempting to plan its production schedule for the next several months. The planning is complicated by the fact that labor shortages exist in the community and some machines will be down several months for repairs. Following is information regarding available machine and labor time by department and the machine hours and direct labor hours required per unit of product. These data should be valid for at least the next six months. Calen believes that the monthly demand for the next six months will be as follows: Inventory levels will not be increased or decreased during the next six months. The unit cost and price data for each product are as follows: Required: 1. Calculate the monthly requirement for machine hours and direct labor hours for producing Products 401, 402, and 403 to determine whether or not the factory can meet the monthly sales demand. 2. Determine the quantities of 401, 402, and 403 that should be produced monthly to maximize profits. Prepare a schedule that shows the contribution to profits of your product mix. 3. Assume that the machine hours available in Department 3 are 1,500 instead of 2,700. Calculate the optimal monthly product mix using the graphing approach to linear programming. Prepare a schedule that shows the contribution to profits from this optimal mix. (CMA adapted)arrow_forwardJohnston Company cleans and applies powder coat paint to metal items on a job-order basis. Johnston has budgeted the following amounts for various overhead categories in the coming year. In the coming year, Johnston expects to powder coat 120,000 units. Each unit takes 1.3 direct labor hours. Johnston has found that supplies and gas (used to run the drying ovensall units pass through the drying ovens after powder coat paint is applied) tend to vary with the number of units produced. All other overhead categories are considered to be fixed. (Round all overhead rates to the nearest cent.) Required: 1. Calculate the number of direct labor hours Johnston must budget for the coming year. Calculate the variable overhead rate. Calculate the total fixed overhead for the coming year. 2. Prepare an overhead budget for Johnston for the coming year. Show the total variable overhead, total fixed overhead, and total overhead. Calculate the fixed overhead rate and the total overhead rate (rounded to the nearest cent). 3. What if Johnston had expected to make 118,000 units next year? Assume that the variable overhead per unit does not change and the total fixed overhead amounts do not change. Calculate the new budgeted direct labor hours and prepare a new overhead budget. Calculate the fixed overhead rate and the total overhead rate (rounded to the nearest cent).arrow_forward
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