This is really an odd situation, said Jim Carter, general manager of Highland Publishing Company....

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Accounting

This is really an odd situation, said Jim Carter, general manager of Highland Publishing Company. We get most of the jobs we bid on that require a lot of press time in the Printing Department, yet profits on those jobs are never as high as they ought to be. On the other hand, we lose most of the jobs we bid on that require a lot of time in the Binding Department. I would be inclined to think that the problem is with our overhead rates, but were already computing separate overhead rates for each department. So what else could be wrong?

Highland Publishing Company is a large organization offering a variety of printing and binding work. The Printing and Binding departments are supported by three service departments. The costs of these service departments are allocated to other departments in the order listed below. The Personnel cost is allocated based on number of employees. The Custodial Services cost is allocated based on square feet of space occupied and the Maintenance cost is allocated based on machine-hours.

Department Total Labor-Hours Square Feet of Space Occupied Number of Employees Machine-Hours Direct Labor-Hours
Personnel 16,500 12,500 26
Custodial Services 8,900 3,700 50
Maintenance 14,500 10,300 60
Printing 30,300 40,500 109 164,000 13,000
Binding 107,000 20,600 307 41,000 75,000
177,200 87,600 552 205,000 88,000

Budgeted overhead costs in each department for the current year are shown below:

Personnel $ 350,000
Custodial Services 65,800
Maintenance 93,400
Printing 411,000
Binding 170,000
Total budgeted cost $ 1,090,200

Because of its simplicity, the company has always used the direct method to allocate service department costs to the two operating departments.

Required:

  1. Using the step-down method, allocate the service department costs to the consuming departments. Then compute predetermined overhead rates in the two operating departments. Use machine-hours as the allocation base in the Printing Department and direct labor-hours as the allocation base in the Binding Department.
  2. Repeat (1) above, this time using the direct method. Again compute predetermined overhead rates in the Printing and Binding departments.
  3. Assume during the current year the company bids on a job requiring machine and labor time as follows:
Machine-Hours Direct Labor-Hours
Printing Department 2,600 1,100
Binding Department 800 13,500
Total hours 3,400 14,600

imageimageimageimageimage "This is really an odd situation," said Jim Carter, general manager of Highland Publishing Company. "We get most of the jobs we bid on that require a lot of press time in the Printing Department, yet profits on those jobs are never as high as they ought to be. On the other hand, we lose most of the jobs we bid on that require a lot of time in the Binding Department. I would be inclined to think that the problem is with our overhead rates, but we're already computing separate overhead rates for each department. So what else could be wrong?" Highland Publishing Company is a large organization offering a variety of printing and binding work. The Printing and Binding departments are supported by three service departments. The costs of these service departments are allocated to other departments in the order listed below. The Personnel cost is allocated based on number of employees. The Custodial Services cost is allocated based on square feet of space occupied and the Maintenance cost is allocated based on machine-hours. Budgeted overhead costs in each department for the current year are shown below: Because of its simplicity, the company has always used the direct method to allocate service department costs to the two operating departments. Required: 1. Using the step-down method, allocate the service department costs to the consuming departments. Then compute predetermined overhead rates in the two operating departments. Use machine-hours as the allocation base in the Printing Department and direct labor-hours as the allocation base in the Binding Department. 2. Repeat (1) above, this time using the direct method. Again compute predetermined overhead rates in the Printing and Binding departments. 3. Assume during the current year the company bids on a job requiring machine and labor time as follows: a. Calculate the overhead cost assigned to the job if the company used the overhead rates developed in (1) above. Then calculate the overhead cost assigned to the job if the company used the overhead rates developed in (2) above. Using the step-down method, allocate the service department costs to the consuming departments. Then compute predetermined overhead rates in the two operating departments. Use machine-hours as the allocation base in the Printing Department and direct laborhours as the allocation base in the Binding Department. Note: Please enter allocations from a department as negative and allocations to a department as positive. The line should add across to zero. Do not round intermediate calculations. Round "Predetermined overhead rate" to 2 decimal places and rest of the answers to the nearest whole dollar amount. Complete this question by entering your answers in the tabs below. Repeat requirement 1 above, this time using the direct method. Again compute predetermined overhead rates in the Printing and Binding departments. Note: Please enter allocations from a department as negative and allocations to a department as positive. The line should add across to zero. Do not round intermediate calculations. Round "Predetermined overhead rate" to 2 decimal places and rest of the answers to the nearest whole dollar amount. Complete this question by entering your answers in the tabs below. Calculate the overhead cost assigned to the job if the company used the overhead rates developed in requirement 1 above. Then calculate the overhead cost assigned to the job if the company used the overhead rates developed in requirement 2. Note: Round your intermediate calculations to 2 decimal places and final answers to the nearest whole dollar amount
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