Hartman Company's Lucas plant manufactures thermostatic controls. Plant management has experienced fluctuating monthly overhead costs...
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Hartman Company's Lucas plant manufactures thermostatic controls. Plant management has experienced fluctuating monthly overhead costs and wants to estimate overhead costs accurately to plan its operations and its financial needs. Interviews with plant personnel and studies reported in trade publications suggest that overhead in this industry tends to vary with labor-hours.
A member of the controller's staff proposed that the behavior pattern of these overhead costs be determined to improve cost estimation. Another staff member suggested that a good starting place for determining cost behavior patterns is to analyze historical data. Following this suggestion, monthly data were gathered on labor-hours and overhead costs for the past two years. No major changes in operations occurred over this period of time. The data are shown in the following table:
Month
Labor-Hours
Overhead Costs
1
251,610
$
2,741,520
2
238,510
2,375,380
3
192,900
2,400,300
4
271,450
2,590,830
5
323,950
3,071,970
6
291,010
2,618,320
7
271,450
2,480,390
8
251,630
2,745,710
9
231,975
2,821,500
10
343,600
3,437,860
11
186,010
2,231,490
12
231,960
2,550,830
13
382,880
3,603,870
14
376,450
3,404,940
15
291,000
3,016,650
16
396,010
3,638,490
17
356,630
3,554,050
18
323,830
3,191,770
19
389,455
3,481,870
20
317,260
3,219,670
21
343,520
3,495,580
22
336,950
3,207,410
23
382,890
3,600,780
24
376,330
3,636,800
Required:
a. Use the high-low estimation method to estimate the overhead cost behavior (fixed and variable portions components of cost) for the Lucas plant. (Round variable cost per unit to 2 decimal places and fixed cost to the nearest whole dollar.)
c. Using Excel, compute regression coefficients to describe the overhead cost equation. (Round your answers to 2 decimal places.)
d. Use the results of your regression analysis to develop an estimate of overhead costs assuming 390,000 labor-hours will be worked next month. (Round Cost per Labor hour to 2 decimal places.)
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