Fixed Costs
In order to prepare a segmented income statement for Herrestad Company, it is necessary to focus not only on variable costs but also on fixed costs. It is possible to allocate all fixed costs for manufactured Product A and Product B with the help of the activity-based costing (ABC) method (Martin, n.d.). It is important to concentrate on cost activities and cost drivers to determine the activity rate (Hermanson, Edwards, & Invacevich, 2011). Thus, the fixed manufacturing overhead for two products equals $200,000, and there are 100 production runs for these products. As a result, the cost of one run is $2,000. Fixed selling and administrative costs equal $100,000, and there are 25 sales representatives. As a result, the cost per one sale representative is $4,000. For Product A, the fixed manufacturing overhead is calculated with reference to 65 runs and $2,000/run. For Product B, the fixed manufacturing overhead is $70,000. Table 1 provides a segmented income statement developed for Herrestad Company.
Table 1. A segmented income statement for Herrestad Company.
It is possible to state that Product B contributes significantly to Herrestad Company’s profitability. Thus, in 2015, the company received high profits associated with manufacturing Product B. On the contrary, costs related to manufacturing Product A were not covered by revenues. Furthermore, the number of runs, as well as costs, for Product B is also lower in comparison to Product A.
Budgeting
In order to conclude about the profitability of Product C, it is necessary to develop the cost structure with the focus on amounts and expenses associated with manufacturing a new product (Walther, 2010). Moreover, it is necessary to calculate the contribution margin per unit and compare it to contribution margins for Product A and Product B. Table 2 provides the cost structure for Product C.
Table 2. The cost structure of Product C.
The contribution margin per unit is $42 (the selling price after cost deduction). If 1,000 products are sold, it is possible to expect revenues of $47,000. However, the calculated contribution per unit is lower than it is for Product A ($87) and Product B ($51). Therefore, the expected revenues will be comparably low. If Herrestad Company receives only $140 per unit, the contribution margin will become even lower ($32 per unit) (Table 3).
Table 3. The cost structure of Product C ($140/unit).
Therefore, the manager in Herrestad Company should not accept the order because of the potential low profitability. Instead of gaining more revenues, it is possible to expect increases in costs that are associated with training human resources for manufacturing the new product. Furthermore, all production processes can be affected, and the expected revenues will not cover non-financial expenses.
References
Hermanson, R. H., Edwards, J. D., & Invacevich, S. D. (2011). Accounting principles: A business perspective. Web.
Martin, J. R. (n.d.).Management accounting: Concepts, techniques, and controversial issues. Web.
Walther, L. M. (2010). Principles of accounting: A complete online text. Web.