Log out Go to App
Go to App

Learning Materials

Features

Discover

Chapter 20: Q20-23RQ (page 1120)

What is the margin of safety? What are the three ways it can be expressed?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Answer

The margin of safety is a cushion between profit and loss.

Step by step solution

01

Meaning of margin of safety

The expected sales beyond breakeven sales is known as margin of safety. As a result, the margin of safety is the amount sales can drop before the company suffers an operating loss. It is like a cushion between profit and loss.

02

What are the three ways it can be expressed?

  1. Margin of safety in units
  2. Margin of safety in dollars
  3. Margin of safety ratio

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Start your free trial

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

Calculating breakeven point in units, contribution margin ratio given

Ocean Company sells a product with a contribution margin ratio of 80%. Fixed costs are \(2,800 per month. What amount of sales (in dollars) must Ocean Company have to break even? If each unit sells for \)30, how many units must be sold to break even?

What is the margin of safety? What are the three ways it can be expressed?

Use the following information to complete Short Exercises S20-16 and S20-17.

Wild Waters Swim Park sells individual and family tickets. With a ticket, each person receives a meal, three beverages, and unlimited use of the swimming pools. Wild Waters has the following ticket prices and variable costs for 2018:

Individual Family Sales price per ticket \( 50 \) 150 Variable cost per ticket 35 140

Wild Waters expects to sell one individual ticket for every four family tickets. Wild Waters’s total fixed costs are $27,500.

S20-17 Calculating breakeven point for two products

For 2019, Wild Waters expects a sales mix of four individual tickets for every one family ticket.

Requirements

1. Compute the new weighted-average contribution margin per ticket.

2. Calculate the total number of tickets Wild Waters must sell to break even.

3. Calculate the number of individual tickets and the number of family tickets the company must sell to break even.

Diversified Investor Group is opening an office in Boise, Idaho. Fixed monthly costs are office rent (\(8,000), depreciation on office furniture (\)1,700), utilities (\(2,400), special telephone lines (\)1,500), a connection with an online brokerage service (\(2,500), and the salary of a financial planner (\)11,900). Variable costs include payments to the financial planner (9% of revenue), advertising (11% of revenue), supplies and postage (4% of revenue), and usage fees for the telephone lines and computerized brokerage service (6% of revenue).

Requirements

  1. Use the contribution margin ratio approach to compute Diversified’s breakeven revenue in dollars. If the average trade leads to \(800 in revenue for Diversified, how many trades must be made to break even?
  2. Use the equation approach to compute the dollar revenues needed to earn a monthly target profit of \)11,200.
  3. Graph Diversified’s CVP relationships. Assume that an average trade leads to \(800 in revenue for Diversified. Show the breakeven point, the sales revenue line, the fixed cost line, the total cost line, the operating loss area, the operating income area, and the sales in units (trades) and dollars when monthly operating income of \)11,200 is earned.
  4. Suppose that the average revenue Diversified earns increases to $2,000 per trade. Compute the new breakeven point in trades. How does this affect the breakeven point?

What is a company’s cost structure? How can cost structure affect a company’s profits?
See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Business Studies Textbooks

Nature of Business

Read Explanation

Influences On Business

Read Explanation

Business Operations

Read Explanation

Intermediate Accounting

Read Explanation

Human Resources

Read Explanation

Change Management

Read Explanation
View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free